Helping a Caine Corso Develop Self Control with a Flirt Pole

For this Omaha dog training session we use a flirt pole to help 6 month-old Caine Corso Quinn learn to stop getting so excited she can’t listen or loses control.

Quinn is going to be a massive dog, so it was very wise for her guardians to set up this puppy behavior training appointment.

Quinn doesn’t realize how big she is and was trying to play with the puppies in our puppy class too intensely. This was a result of her being so excited that she got carried away, zoning in on a single pup while becoming oblivious to all around her.

During this session, one of her guardians mentioned he used a flirt pole to exercise the puppy. Flirt poles can be a great way to stimulate or exercise a dog, but if we allow the dog to get too intense with this kind of pursuit play (and many others), it can spill over and impact the behavior for some dogs and pups.

Instead of suggesting they stop using the flirt pole, I came up with an exercise that will help them tap into Quinn’s intense play energy; asking her to stop, focus on the humans demonstrate some self control and awareness of the handler. You can watch Anna use a flirt pole to help the puppy develop some self control in the free puppy behavior training video below.

Now being the first time Anna used this overly long flirt pole with this pup, her timing was a little slow at the start of the video. After reviewing the footage afterwords, it would have been great to stop and ask Quinn for a few sits and downs around the one minute mark, possibly sooner.

Stopping a puppy when it starts to get too intense is important for any pup, but even mores when the pup will grow up to be over 100 lbs. Teaching a puppy to settle down this way isn’t hard, it just takes good observation and timing so you don’t have to be a professional Caine Corso Dog trainer to accomplish the same thing.

Id like the guardian to watch for Quinn’s intensity and stop before she gets too aroused when chasing the flirt pole. It will take some practice, but if the guardian can stop the game, help her stop and do a basic command then reward Quinn for compliance, the puppy will start to develop more self control. She will also gain valuable practice at stopping and calming down which will help. Additionally, the guardian will practice helping her stop when she starts to get too intense. This will benefit Quinn and her humans for years to come.

Id also like to see the guardians introduce a clicker to Quinn’s training regimen. After priming the clicker 3-5 times, the guardians can use this technique to help the dog practice listening and obeying them. Once they get enough practice in, they can start walking the house or yard asking for some basic commands at random times.

We covered a number of other puppy behavior tips in this in home Omaha puppy training appointment so I recorded a roadmap to success summary video that you can check out below.