I'm a new member and other than my intro this is my first post... I've got some questions about the flirt pole - for clarification I mean a "doggie fishing pole" a 6 ft+ length of semi-fleixible something(tubing, bamboo, ect) with a 6-8ft rope and some sort of rag tied onto the end that's meant to be held in the hand and drug in a circle or flipped into the air for dogs to chase and catch as an interactive toy between dog and owner... whew, glad that's cleared up!
I've got 2 nearly year old miniature pinschers and it's been about 29 days since we had our yard fenced in... starting when they were very young pups I played with them with a 'cat teaser' - a spray of feathers attatched directly to a stick called a ballon wand because that's what I play with my rats with and it seemed like a great idea... I had no idea that pups so young could focus so much! well, when they were 5 months old I made my first PVC/rope/mangy sock flirt pole in a normal size and we played in the house with it. These pups bounced before they could walk and by by the time they were 3 months old were already bouncing as high as our waists and it's not something we discouraged like most people would because it's so nice to have a change from having "lazy" dogs... so we played in the house with the flirt pole every day and our games were limited to the spaces between furniture so jumping wasn't really all that safe - the game was self limiting so I didn't have to think too much about what "too hard, too fast, too much" would mean for such young dogs.
The female Tiny is more dominant, sharper, and a lot faster than her brother Brutus so most of the play was with her, tho I tried to include him as well and of course we played fetch and catch and a lot of other games and both pups are amazingly fit.
Now that the yard is fenced in and there's all this space. Every morning the pups hit the yard and run around for 5-10 minutes and get all warmed up and then I tried to break playing with the flirt pole down into 1 to 3 minute chuncks every 10 to 15 minutes and usually Tiny would be the only one playing with me at first. Then Brutus started coming out of know where when I would change directions with Tiny hot on the lure and the rag would be up in the air so he would make these incredible flying leaps all on his own and get the rag, but he still wasn't too interested in just chasing it in a circle on the grass... and things were fine.
The injuries have started when the pups BOTH started going after the rag. There's two modes we play in, let me just say first that I've been extremely cautious moreso than I would be anyways about this type of hard play and how we do it because there is a genetic history of Legg-Perthes disease in these pups ancestors, I waited past the 10 month mark and they've been checked out and are supposedly free of the condition themselves.
So - there are two modes of play, chase the rag as I drag it along the ground, which I use as a warm up and reward for stuff, and catch the rag as it flies by your head towards your behind. The jump/catch I only let the pups do from a stand and not a run and it's very controlled as far as height and speed and angle, and the run is done on it's own because otherwise they just get reckless.
The first injury happened 8 days ago, Brutus stopped expecting me to make the rag "leap" because I'd just changed directions and Tiny was focused on catching the rag as it ran along the ground... Tiny broadsided Brutus with a sickening crunch the front of her chest into the side of his, she limped slightly for a day on a foreleg there was no swelling or real tenderness and we didn't play flirt pole for two days to let her heal.
The second injury was Brutus, 5 days ago, I had the rope in my hand rather than using the pole and Brutus was all warmed up - he made two jumps and caught the rag both times we played some tug-O-war in between, the third jump the pup decided to go for the rope rather than the rag jumped 3 times his height standing on his back legs did a 180 turn in the air came down hind legs first and crumpled on the ground... come to find out the previous evening he got his foot caught under the door and if my parents had told me I wouldn't have played with him like that but I did, so he messed his foot up worse and renched his hip. He's on pain meds and it's a wait and see sort of thing before we know how much damage, nothing's broken tho.
The third injury was yesterday, it was just me and Tiny outside playing, she was all warmed up and doing great we were doing low jumps and she really likes to do a spin - where she jumps as the rag is going by and her hind end goes all the way around sort of like a figure skater, this stays close to the ground so it's fairly safe... I thought, until she came down with the rag in her mouth from a moderate spin and catch and the leg she hurt when she plowed into Brutus gave out and she smacked her head HARD on the ground, which was terrifing for both of us. She seemed dazed and dropped the rag, then ran straight to the door and wanted in. She let me check her mouth carefully and I came away with a smear of blood, closer look inside confirmed that nothing was broken her teeth and jaw were fine she'd just bit her tongue. We still called the vet who said just watch her closely, she's alright today(pupils the same, no vomiting, alert and active) tho there's a little swelling on her chin.
This is my expierence and I'm writing to hear what other people have to say, obviously this is a game the dogs are super addicted to and I'd like to continue it in some fashion once they heal. Has anyone else had dogs who loved to chase so much they'd hurt themselves like this? Anyone play flirt pole with their dogs and have to retire the game because of injury to the dog? How did the dog handle it? Is there anything I should be aware of that I dont already seem to be? Am I working the pups too hard IYO? Any tips for multiple dog games? Thanks for reading.