I didn't know where to post this, so Mods, if I am in the inappropriate place, feel free to move this.
I have been playing with my 14 week old American Bulldog with a flirtpole. He has a total blast with it. He is soooo enthusiastic with the game.
My question is once he catches the prey item, he will hunker down with it in a death grip does not want to let go. I don't know if this is a common Bulldog thing. I have been distracting him with treats, using the word "out" and exchanging the treat for the prey item. This usually works fine. Other times when he won't exchange the toy for the treat, I just end the game and walk away.
I don't have much experience with playing with flirtpoles and dogs. My last dog had limited prey drive, and this was not an issue at all.
I would love any feedback in the right way to use a flirtpole, and the right way to get the dog to release the item to play again.
I've never tried playing with a flirt pole but Molly loves tug so I've taught her "out" for that. It is a bull dog thing. All bully breeds are characterized by the death grip which was useful when they were being used for bull baiting. What you do about it is a personal matter but it sounds like you are doing the right thing from a training standpoint. If he won't give it up the game ends. You might want to try it using marker training. I've found with Molly that's the easiest way to teach the "out". Give the marker the exact second the dog outs. This way he knows exactly what he did to earn the treat. This works best for us because she doesn't know the nature of the reward until she has already complied with the out command and I alternate between regular kibble and really high value treats.
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Flirt Pole question
#238606 - 05/04/2009 06:57 PM 
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