# Newlie and his Flirt Stick



## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

I had been reading about flirt sticks and decided that I would make one to see if Newlie liked it. It looks ridiculous, two long shoestrings tied together with a plastic bone on one end. I have just been using it in the house as it's cold and dark by the time I get home from work, but Newlie loves it so I am going to have to buy him the real thing for outside. The neatest part about this is how much it's helping his impulse control. He knows he has to stay sitting until I say "OK." I purposely swing the ball all around and even up close to him to see if he will break and lately, he has not. Sometimes, I will put him in a down and he does well with that, too. After he finally captures the bone, he usually has to run a victory lap down the hall squeaking it all the way, then he comes back and I tell him to drop it. We have also been practicing "watch me." So, it's been really good for him to practice basic commands under these conditions.

Lately, I have upped the ante a little bit. While he is in a sit, I take the bone in my hands and squeak it all around and still he did not break, although I could tell he really wanted to. I then put the bone down and jerked it real quick across the floor to sort of mimic the way a critter would take off running. He did break his sit, then, but I made him sit back down again. So we still have more work to do, but I am very, very pleased with how well he is doing.


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## dogma13 (Mar 8, 2014)

Sounds like you both are having a great time!My dogs love the flirt pole too.I agree it's a good training and exercise tool.I made mine from a piece of pvc pipe,cotton clothes line and an old stuffed toy.


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## Nigel (Jul 10, 2012)

All mine love it too, you'll have to update once he gets a chance at it outdoors.


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## BARBIElovesSAILOR (Aug 11, 2014)

Watched all your videos on Newlie on youtube. I'm obsessed with him. He is such a cool dog! Please post more. I had such a huge laugh watching him with the tetherball, and loved seeing him swimming for the first time. Haha. I wanted to know what inspired you to rescue Newlie? (I started a thread about this) but you can respond here if you want. I saw on your youtube that you said you rescued him in 2012?


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## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

My yellow lab, Max, died in November 2012 and I was devastated. I originally planned to wait a bit before getting another dog, but I ended up getting Newlie a little over a month later. He helped me to stop crying over Max. I had been thinking about a GSD for a while, but I was a little particular about what I wanted. Since this was going to be my first GSD, I did not want to take on a dog with alot of known issues, particularly aggression, as I have three neighbor children who come in my yard (I don't mind.) and I certainly did not want them hurt. I also did not want a really dominant dog. I know sometimes you end up with something different than what you wanted, but in my case, Newlie was pretty much as expected. I did not really realize how much energy a young shepherd has nor did I know that Newlie was going to have issues with some dogs, but hey, the rescue only had him a month. Newlie was found as a stray and turned into a high kill shelter and the rescue pulled him out at the last minute.

If you would like to read about more about Newlie's adventures, you can go to his blog or facebook page.

The Adventures of Newlie, German Shepherd Extraordinaire

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-...erman-Shepherd-Extraordinaire/312436628926378


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## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

I have to say again how pleased I am with Newlie's progress using the flirt stick. I feel his impulse control getting better all the time. 99% of the time, he is not moving when he is in a sit or down. And I am giving him every temptation to do so, I almost feel mean sometimes. I squeek the bone, I dangle the bone, I swing the bone close to his head and I put it right in front of him and tell him to leave it. He seems like he is getting "Watch me" although it's still very hard for him to do when I'm swinging the bone around. But I won't say "OK" until he looks at me. I have also been using the command "Back up." Newlie knows this command already, but I am using it now to tell him to back away from the bone and it has been taking a minute for him to respond. It's almost like because he is hyped up, it is taking a minute for him for him to think about it or get himself under enough control to do it. But the neatest thing I have noticed is that he has started self-checking. When he occasionally does break a sit, he is sitting back down before I have a chance to correct him. Such a good boy!


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## Kyleigh (Oct 16, 2012)

Newlie, HUGE congrats! I have one piece of advice to add to your training him with impulse control. 

Have him make eye contact with you BEFORE you let him have it. Even if it's only for a split second the first couple of times ... and then work on hiim holding eye contact with you for 5, then 10, then 15 seconds. 

I did the same thing with Ky and found that while she was following all the commands, there really wasn't any "engagement" with me ... I was just that "thing" waving her favourite toy around!

Once I added in the eye contact for engagement, it's almost like a light went off ... oh it's HER doing this! 

Another thing you can buy is a lunge pole from a horse store (or a long whip???). I paid 8.99 for mine and I tie a cloth to the end of it and use that. I've had the same lunge pole for a year, just had to change cloths every now and then!

Good luck and have fun!


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## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

Kyleigh said:


> Newlie, HUGE congrats! I have one piece of advice to add to your training him with impulse control.
> 
> Have him make eye contact with you BEFORE you let him have it. Even if it's only for a split second the first couple of times ... and then work on hiim holding eye contact with you for 5, then 10, then 15 seconds.
> 
> ...


Thanks Kyleigh! I do swing the ball around but Newlie can't move until I say OK and I won't say OK until he makes eye contact with me. That's the right way, isn't it? But I do have a question about the "watch me" command. After we had been practicing this command for a few days, then I started increasing the time Newlie had to maintain the eye contact. Not alot at first, you understand, maybe 30 seconds or so. But then, I got to wondering if it would confuse him..Would he think "She said watch me and I am watching her, but she is still not giving me my toy. What am I doing wrong?" So, I got confused and went back to an immediate reward. Am I over-thinking this? The answer is probably "yes."


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## Gabby117 (Jan 13, 2014)

I think eye contact is huge.I use "focus" for the word and Gabby always makes eye contact, at a street she must look at me and then the street before she is aloud to move and is not aloud to release from heal ever. I use her ball drive or her Frisbee drive most often treats are not needed because her ball drive is what makes it fun for her. I found that the rubber soft kong toys are indestructible.


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## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

Appreciate all the input, it gives me alot of ideas and tools for working with Newlie. One thing I learned on this forum was the idea of a special high value toy that is put up in between play times. Newlie has always been so focused on balls and I just thought it would always be his favorite thing. But since I have been putting up the plastic bone on the end of the flirt stick, it's like it has become really special to him. He will go over to the refrigerator, stare at the top of it, and whine. I am going to use this to try to get the behaviors I want from him.

Also, I am going to start increasing the time I expect him to make eye contact with me before I say "OK" and he can go after the bone. I don't really anticiapate a problem with this as he seems perfectly willing to look at me as long as I want. But this is in the house. Expecting eye contact out in public with all the other distractions is where he will have problems, I think.


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## Kyleigh (Oct 16, 2012)

I was going to post make the eye contact longer and longer but you beat me to it. The other thing I had to switch with ky - she's very obsessed with this toy - I got her to lay down instead of sit. I got much better and longer eye contact that way

Have fun!!


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## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

Great! I would like at some point to get a friend to video this for me and I will post it if I do. One of the newest challenges I have given Newlie is for him to wait while I run away from him, dragging the bone behind me. The first day I did it, he broke his stay twice to run after me and then did fine the third time. On the second and third day, he just broke his stay the first time but was fine after that. I keep trying fo find ways to challenge him and it's not always easy. Thjat's why I can use all the suggestions I can get.


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## Kyleigh (Oct 16, 2012)

You sound like you are having fun with him ... and he's obviously enjoying it!!!!! They are so smart and catch on so fast, you will be running out of things to teach him!

At 8 months I had Kyleigh on and off leash trained in sit / stay / come / heel / down and wait. I was like, ok now what? 

I moved on to search and rescue (a very informal class - nothing professional or serious) ... but she can find me anywhere in the house and I do hide on her when we are in the woods hiking - I'll put her in a down stay and run around the woods and hide in gulley and call her ... she finds me!!!!

Then I did urban agility (waited til she was about 13-14 months old for this) ... brought her downtown and got her to jump up / over / on picnic benches, tables, bike racks, concrete flower holders, etc. Sometimes I go into the city at 5 in the morning on Saturday or Sunday, take her off leash and run her through the course - she has a blast! The odd time I've run into someone but they've always been so impressed that they haven't complained.

I also bought a dog sled and taught her how to pull the sled. My nephew LOVES that ... he keeps yelling MUSH MUSH MUSH ... even though my word is GO !!!

Recently I started scent detection ... she LOVES that and does really well at it. 

And now, I'm working on what I call useless information - sit pretty / shake a paw (Ok, that one took 10 minutes), spin left / spin right .... She's not so quick to pick up these LOL ... but we are working on it!!!!

HAVE FUN ... the sky is the limit with a GSD!


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