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I have been thinking of getting the "Chase It", as seen on IMOTD, for Koa, but my husband feels like this would be teasing Koa and make his aggression worse. I don't becasue his aggression is fear based, so if anything I think it will keep his mind busy.
It looks like a great toy, I wish I invented it.
Mattie, I know you will have some good input on this, let's hear it.
Also called a 'flirt pole' or fox on a stick' it can also be handmade very easily. Tell hubby flirt poles are used as a reward for police, military or bomb sniffing dogs. It satisfies their need to chase w/o actually killing another animal. It burns off energy, stress. Its all good!
Your husband has a point in that many humans (obviously not you) get a kick out of teasing animals. Teasing is when the dog is not allowed to 'catch' the toy. To satisfy his drive, Koa must be allowed to 'catch' the toy. It doesn't matter if he shreds it. His pleasure is the catch, and making him work progressively harder for the catch will satisfy him more and more.
If he needs to 'kill' the toy when he has caught it, let him. Patch it up and re-use it. For some dogs the catch is the pinnacle moment, but for others it is the 'dissect'. When he has finished whichever he does, give a huge quality treat and put the toy away, so it retains its charm.
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog
We have a German Shepherd, 2-yr. old spayed female, and her prey drive is strong. She'll chase anything given a chance but loves playing fetch with frisbees. She is tireless. She also loves to retrieve in playing fetch just as much. She chews very hard on her toys so the cheap frisbees from PetsMart are good as I can replace them after a couple of weeks as needed.
Dogs love attention and if your attitude is positive and reinforcing, I don't see where it becomes a "tease" to the dog to use that sort of training. I decided against it for my dog, because I use a swiffer to dust and she responds to that like she is chasing a prey-drive enhancing toy. She's had other issues with learning to leave mops, brooms and vacuum cleaners alone for similar reasons. She is doing very well, I may in time get one, she has everything else under the sun which will withstand the pressure of her jaws.
A lot of people, including professional trainers, have never seen true prey drive, and so it is fashionable to call 'chase drive' 'prey drive'. The difference is vitally important, though. To a chase-driven dog like a GSD, the chase is all. To a prey-driven dog, the 'catch' is far more important. Therefore teasing a dog is in this case when you pretend to be about to give the opportunity for it to fulfil its drive and then don't. The GSD is happy with human attention and with chasing its toy, but many breeds are not, and so need to be handled differently.
Neither drive involves aggression - we don't feel aggression towards our dinner
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog
