Flirt pole - increasing prey drive???

[karennj]

So Bear LOVES the flirt pole. Part of the plan to help his behavior with the kids is a lot more exercise and the flirt pole is great for that especially as it is the only thing I can do off leash with him at the moment since he is not yet trained on our underground fencing. He is so focused on that toy a Deer could walk right past him! Anyway, I follow the flirt pole rules of making him wait, drop and release. We do only about 5 minutes at a time a couple times a day and it absolutely takes the edge off. As soon as I see him getting too focused on the kids I take him to run after the flirt pole and he comes back in and is pooped. Before starting his exercise regimen (we are also walking and adding a lot of mental exercises as well) he was getting into everything and was VERY reactive to the kids. I literally had to give him time outs constantly and he was leashed a lot in the house. So it has been 2.5 days since the trainer was here and he is getting better each day. Today he only tried to nip at my youngest one time and he was on the floor and banging his feet on the ground. It's a major improvement.

So anyway, my concern is am I increasing his prey drive by using the flirt pole? He has met my cat but they are NOT yet ok with each other. He has sniffed the cat while it was laying in the bed and could care less about him. When he sees the cat walking he will run over to him but the cat is already long gone. The cat has the upstairs and basically uses stealth mode to get down to the basement to his food/litter box. I am afraid I am basically conditioning Bear to efficiently snatch a small animal (my cat). Could using the flirt pole be a problem?

 

[karennj]

I suppose the other concern is, is the flirt pole not appropriate for a dog that is reactive to small children? His behavior is absolutely getting better but I don't want to be doing something that could make his over arousal worse (maybe with other small children).

 

[DennasMom]

I'd like to think it does the opposite... it satisfies the prey drive, so they can "let it go" in other situations...
Dogs are pretty good about smelling the difference between the toy and a live animal, too, so I think the cat should be safe (as long as proper protocols are followed in that matter, too, which it sounds like are going well), no matter if the flirt-toy gets "caught" with gusto.

But, I'd love to hear what other's have to say on this subject, in case I'm totally wrong.

 

[scorning]

We have a high prey drive Doberman who won't play with the flirt pole (or usually any toys) and a Dane puppy who loves the flirt pole but hasn't really demonstrated any prey drive with real animals. So I tend to think it shouldn't cause a problem, but it could just be my dogs.

 

[karennj]

Well Bear LOVES the pole. I leave it in our porch and he stops at it on our way outside and paws at the toy as if to say "please can we play?"! I just want to make sure I am not doing something that overall is not good for his training to be less reactive to small things (my children)

 

[season]

I use a flirt pole daily with Solo....no issues.

 

[season]

If you want your dog to be less reactive to small things then it's up to you to teach him that.

 

[DMikeM]

That's a good question. I use a flirt pole with my 2 Boerboels and I have no idea if they have any increased prey drive. Odi is like your dog though. When I get home he goes to where the pole is and just stares at it hoping it is time to chase. I ended up hiding it from him on the side of the house but he found it and sits and stares at it just the same.