spring poles yay or nay?

I know this has probably been done to death but

I've made the boys a spring pole for christmas now Harvs almost 2 he's at the age where i can slowly introduce it without worrying over his joints!

Mine is only high enough so their front feet are a little off the floor, not one a million feet in the air!

They had a go tonight and LOVED it, i need to get a new rope for it as i used a crappy old dead one but hey! They got the idea straight away and were both soon hanging on and are now flat out asleep which is a success in my book! haha!

What's everyones else view on them, any one else got one?

One of the best things in my opinion. Just keep em below full leg extension. Will develope a great chest and legs

axam102 wrote:One of the best things in my opinion. Just keep em below full leg extension. Will develope a great chest and legs

yep mine is

I see nothing wrong in them - great exercise & a lot of fun!

I'd love one for Ledger but with just a treeless yard I don't really have the means to fashion one

I love them and as soon as I have space Suki will have one.

theyre a perfect form of exercise for a staffy mine spends hours on his. i use a heavy duty bungee strap hung of the branch of a tree, less jarring than using just a rope

sorry to be a dumbass but whats a spring pole?

I'm planning on making one for Bailey when he's a bit older, only 14 months just now and Sierra when she's a lot older ! But just worried about what other people will think if they see it as there's houses which look onto my garden

Love to make one for our 2 as they love tug and Tilly will havng off a stick all day , shame I didn' give it any consideration before we cut the tree down out back, have to make something to fix to the 3 ft stump we have (we were going to put a barbie or a sundial something on it

Dave wrote:Love to make one for our 2 as they love tug and Tilly will havng off a stick all day , shame I didn' give it any consideration before we cut the tree down out back, have to make something to fix to the 3 ft stump we have (we were going to put a barbie or a sundial something on it

I don't have trees in my garden either, I was planning on actually making something similar to this, http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=springpole&hl=en&tbo=d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=cWmfUJ6GMcrD0AXu2YCgAw&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=672#biv=i|0;d|XT6HIGS1279kFM:

you can buy wall brackets as well or get one made up for you. needs to be hefty though as I dont see a hanging basket type lasting long.

Isn't that when they jump for something? I'd be worried about Loki thinking it's OK to jump up at things, but maybe when he's older he'd have gotten out of that habit they seem like a good way to tire out the dog without tiring yourself out.

Lexi would never ever go for one, but i like them when they are used as you made it to just have the front legs up a bit. I hate the ones that are totally off the floor that to me is just making the jaws stronger and staffy don't need that!!

Not really my thing, you may want to try a boat chandler/yard for your rope though, it will be tough enough from there.

ANattyRat wrote:Isn't that when they jump for something? I'd be worried about Loki thinking it's OK to jump up at things, but maybe when he's older he'd have gotten out of that habit they seem like a good way to tire out the dog without tiring yourself out.

No they shouldn't jump for one, some people put them way to high so the dog jumps and hangs from it. It should be low enough so they can just stand up and grab it but the back feet stay on the floor

They are great but Max gets bored with them pretty quickly ... I use a flurt pole, which obviously takes your time to use unlike the springpole, but he loves it as he's very prey driven

Andy wrote:They are great but Max gets bored with them pretty quickly ... I use a flurt pole, which obviously takes your time to use unlike the springpole, but he loves it as he's very prey driven

Their certainly not bored yet played for a good half an hour today, but i'm going to get a couple of different ropes for different hight!

I'm going to get a flirt pole for the summer to use in the garden as they both, chance especially have a MASSIVE prey drive!

I might try him again with a springpole actually, I've got loads of old climbing rope I can use which is ideal cus its mega strong while having to be dynamic so will absorb the shock better than most conventional rope

Andy wrote:I might try him again with a springpole actually, I've got loads of old climbing rope I can use which is ideal cus its mega strong while having to be dynamic so will absorb the shock better than most conventional rope

I just got a couple of carabiners and a spring, and that way i can change the rope at the bottom for different sized ones or different toys so they might keep interested more!

ella wrote:

Andy wrote:I might try him again with a springpole actually, I've got loads of old climbing rope I can use which is ideal cus its mega strong while having to be dynamic so will absorb the shock better than most conventional rope

I just got a couple of carabiners and a spring, and that way i can change the rope at the bottom for different sized ones or different toys so they might keep interested more!

Lets have some pics then

ok 1 min

Here you go, I've pinched the tatty rope which is the THIRD of these huge ropes we've had to buy!

I'm going to get a couple of shorter ones as this one is long enough for them both to just tug at it

Looks real good that Ella ... do ya get much recoil from the spring if they let the rope go under tension ?

no very little to no recoil it's a spring made for spring poles and for up to a 50kg dog.

Coolio ... where ya get that then ? ... I could prob rig summut similar up just inside our back door for Maximiser

carabiners from ebay and the spring from:

http://www.k9-equipment.co.uk/heavy-duty-spring-pole-spring-96-p.asp

I LOVE this site, they sent it really quickely too

Oh keep an eye on it for sales, i paid £8 for the spring as it was on sale a couple of weeks ago.

My 2 love weeping willows or a low branch but we do get some funny looks lol but it tires them out

i got a carabiner and 2 trampoline springs on my kids old swing frame with a rope kinda like ellas and it works well

Thats perfect! Might try that myself

bigwazza wrote:i got a carabiner and 2 trampoline springs on my kids old swing frame with a rope kinda like ellas and it works well

I had nothing with spare springs but for £8 i wasn't bothered

axam102 wrote:Thats perfect! Might try that myself

it's a really heavy duty spring should last a loooong time!

I use garage door springs. Great stuff Ella!

How old is safe enough to start your dog on a spring pole? We have a medium sized back yard so would be perfect for us to install and help Brutus burn some energy.
Thanks

brutusindubai wrote:How old is safe enough to start your dog on a spring pole? We have a medium sized back yard so would be perfect for us to install and help Brutus burn some energy.
Thanks

At least 18 months so their joints have time to devolp properly. If you use one make sure they can keep their back legs on the ground as well to avoid any injury problems

As said above, 18 months at least! Back legs should be on the ground at all times and when the dog pulls down, his front legs should touch the ground aswell!

I keep meaning to try and make one though really need somewhere with more room really, we do have a garden but nothing we could do a spring pole off so would need to make a frame out of wood to hand from which would then use a lot of room.

johneva wrote:I keep meaning to try and make one though really need somewhere with more room really, we do have a garden but nothing we could do a spring pole off so would need to make a frame out of wood to hand from which would then use a lot of room.

I'm planning on getting an 8ft railway sleeper and attaching a punchbag bracket to it!