Flirt Pole, it just works!

On Tuesday my wife and I were scheduled to see a local Vet so that Syrus could get a wellness checkup after adoption. Aside from an incident in the waiting room (which will come in another post), everything went very well. Syrus weighed in at 37 pounds and is in excellent health. He had all of his shots prior to adoption, so this visit was routine.

After the checkup was complete, we had a few questions for the Vet. The major one on our minds was what his professional opinion was on the breed of our pup. Our paperwork states that Syrus is a German Shepherd mix, but no one that has seen Syrus feels that is a correct guess. The Vet informed us that he felt that Syrus was some sort of Pit Bull and German Shepherd Combination (which we expected).

Having learned through my research that bully breeds are very different than other breeds, I immediately hit the web for a forum specific to the breeds tendencies. That night I came across Pit Bull Forum, I registered, posted my introduction, and did some light reading before calling it a night. The following morning I found that the forum was shut down as an April Fools joke and I was forced to find another to further my education.

I quickly found Pit Bull Chat and went through the same registration and introduction process. I spent all of my free time on the forum reading up on the breed when I came across this crazy idea for a dog toy. This toy was called a Flirt Pole. It is essentially a really big cat toy, you know, the thing with the stick and string with a fuzzy thing on the end to whip and around and drive a cat bonkers.

I laughed at it and moved on. Later on during the day I came across a mention of it once again. The poster of this thread went on and on about how much their pup loved it and that they recommended it everyone. Being a little skeptical, I read into it some more. By the time I was finished reading I convinced myself to give it a try.

This toy was simple enough to create that even the novice DIY’er could pull it off. Basically all it called for was a broomstick, a length of rope, and some towels or other item to act as a chew toy. Not having a broomstick handy, I swung into Lowes on my way home from work and put my own twist on the toy.

When it was all said and done, I had a toy that my pup absolutely loves and it only cost me $6.77. If built the same way I made mine, you can add another $12.00 for an over sized Kong toy (I had one handy that was too big for Syrus, we wound up buying him a smaller version shortly after adoption).

Materials List:

• 1 Six foot section of PVC pipe (1″ diameter) – $2.17
• 2 PVC end caps (to fit 1″ PVC pipe) – $1.06
• 1 Length of 1/4 inch Solid Braided Nylon Cord (15 feet long) – $3.15
• 1 XL Kong toy (Had this handy but could be swapped out with a towel) – ~$12.00

Construction:

• Using a 5/16 inch drill bit, drill a hole into the center of each end cap
• Slip nylon cord through end cap and tie a knot
• With a lighter, heat the nylon cord so that it begins to melt and welds the knot together
• Slip cord through PVC pipe and apply end cap (No glue, friction fit only)

• Slip nylon cord through the second end cap and apply
• Pull nylon taught to stretch it, then tie a knot and allow it to spring back against the end cap
• With a lighter, heat the nylon cord so that it begins to melt and welds the knot together
• You should now have a piece of PVC pipe with a cord running through it and end caps firmly in place
• Slip the nylon cord through the XL Kong and tie multiple knots
• With a lighter, heat the nylon cord so that it begins to melt and welds the knots together
• Pull the nylon cord firmly into the Kong (or knot around a towel)

• Toss the toy and watch your dog go after it, when he gets close pull it away and watch him frantically chase after it.

After three fifteen-minute sessions with this new toy, my pup is now sound asleep snoring away. This is the first time since adopting him that he has been this pooped. To my amazement, this activity seems to burn far more energy than an hour long session of playing fetch (and Syrus doesn’t get bored nearly as fast)

Have you created any DIY dog toys
that your pet goes crazy for?