01/08/2022
Springpole and/or Flirtpole
I use both til late in the keep. I make sure all four feet are on the ground and the pull is on a level plane. From the base of the tree vs. from up the trunk or from a limb/branch. I like to see the dog pull straight back and basically crunch his 'abs/abdomen' with each tug. The shaking back and forth is OK and of the dog lean toward that I ease up/lessen the time. If he is a pull and sn**ch backwards hide worker then I add it a little more.
The flirt pole is a main stay. My best efforts with it was once when I had an open chain link pen, maybe 40X50. I could let the dog run loose. I had a long fiber glass rod like the ones with a little flag on the back of a kids bike. It was like 12' or so. I put the hide on the end and I could stretch the dog out in 30' plus sprints, change of direction and sprint the other way.
I used it all the way thru.
I always question the amount of jumps too. But who am I? LOL I like the feet on the ground. I have seen it done a ton of different ways. I like to see his front legs push against the ground, digging in while he tugs on the hide.
The flirt pole is/can be as effective as any tool in the shed. I am a big fan. For me, the hardest part is getting the most out of it. Putting the dog on a chain or cable run takes a little away from it. When I had the pen open I could let the dog go in any and every direction. I did not have to worry about him going after another dog or a squirrel/rabbit that happened to wander by. I could send him in circles, across the pen, changing direction, stops and starts.
On the chain and the cable runs works as well but an open free run works better. I wish I had not filled that pen back up.
Could be the same and at the same time have absolutely no connection.
Some dogs bite because they want to, and in turn they can bite when they want and bite what they want. There is a male out side right now that will grab onto the 1" cotton rope and fight it til he nearly passes out. The negatives are the strands of cotton come off and he swallows them. I see some strings in his stool on occasion. I tried cow hides and he will not sniff it much less bite it. Without the cotton rope to work three or four times per day he starts in on the bowls, chains, rocks and roots. He is on the edge of being a hard keeper, actually on the edge leaning over looking down.
His littermate sister will bite anything that comes in her chain spot.
I worked a big male once that was really awesome on the flirt pole. He would chase it til no end. No interest in the spring pole. He would not bite it at all. On the flirt pole he would chase it forever, and when he occasionally caught the hide. He would put it on the ground and push it with his foot to make it move again. Game on from there.
And after all that babbling. Every dog is different.
Actually I think you are right. And I think that is where the confusion and myths appears.
There is no way to tell which ones are sinking them the furthest. It is what they do after sinking them that matters.
GRCH Rufus was a pressure biter. He did very little surface damage. Wherever he put his mouth would swell like a balloon.
In the beginning he was not considered a hard mouth dog until they started dropping under him. Even trhu violent shakes and re grips seldom did he leave surface damage to 'indicate mouth'.
An example. With your right arm grab your left wrist. Squeeze as hard as you can and while squeezing attempt to move your right hand up and down your left arm. The harder your squeeze, the better your grip, the least amount of travel. Basically only the skin on your left arm will move.
The slightly lessen your grip. Repeat. Your hand will slide some up and down your left arm.
Completely release the pressure and your right hand will slide up and down the arm freely.
Example 1 is a freak mouth dog. Imagine if there were nails in your hand sunk in. They would be deep, and with the tight grip the holes would remain close to the same size of the nail. The damage would be deep.
Example 2 the damage would be just about as deep, but the holes at the surface would be bigger. And to the eye more damage had been done.
The third example would be appear to be a horrific murder scene, the lacerations would be all over the arm, not all that deep but all over the arm. It would appear to be a lot of damage when in turn mostly skin wounds.
Lots of dogs accredited with hard mouth are really in group 3. it is the lack of mouth that appears to be a lot of mouth. (on the surface)
Mouth should be determined by the total effect not just the outwardly appearance.
There is no correlation between the hide and actual mouth. I had a female once that would hang off a hide for just about forever. In the summer for so long til she passed out, wake up and then go again. Without a hide hanging she would eat rocks, roots houses, etc. So I kept her with a hide off a garage door spring and a hide 24/7.
She had so-so mouth. But what she had was violent shakes. Incredible neck strength and a powerful core. She did not bite incredibly hard but the aftermath looked like she was an axe murderer.
Another story of mouth. DTA's Ch. Charlie. We were walking down a long dirt road with pastures on both sides. The snap hook on the lead broke and he made a 50-60 yard sprint, under the fence and latched onto a goat. It took us a minute or so to get over the fence and to him. We broke him off and headed for the truck. We carried him home and went back to pay for the goat.
Paid $150 for a busted up goat. We brought him home and put him down. As we skinned him the teeth marks looked amazingly similar to buckshot when skinning a dear. Holes were as big as a #2 pencil, the black blood had formed around the hole, the swelling had set it along with deep bruising. It looked awful on the inside.
On a mouth scale of 1-10 Charlie was a 7, an 8 would be stretching it. So if I factored in those freaks graded 9-10.
Then to think these dogs scratch back to this for hours on end. Amazing creatures.
There are so many things that affect bite. Over or under weight can turn a dog who would bite on a 9 to a 5 in a quick minute.
My Hatchet male will fight a cotton rope for hours on end and will not give an actual hide a second look.
A well conditioned dog who has gas in the tank who bites on a 7 and is still biting on a 7 50-75 minutes in, appears to have way more mouth than the one that starts off at 7-8-9 but tires to a 5 in short order.
Dogs who are strong in the neck and core may be more violent in the shakes which in turn looks like more mouth, more bite strength.
If your dog is starting to work it then tease him a little with it between sets. Get his prey drive steaming and let him have it. Your job is to make it fun and a big game for him.
A springpole couple three times per week. I try to mimic as much about the show as possible. I taper off at the end. If in keep I do not let their feet come off the ground. I usually do it at the end of the days work. Let them bite, rip and shake after they are tired. - posts by EWO
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