Cocoa our Spanish water dog is a reactive dog. She always has been. We have had her since a puppy and we have done everything that we could to help with this. We tried to socialise her as much as possible. We took her to various trainers and worked constantly ourselves with her, outside and inside and over the years it has got better but unfortunately it is still there. The breed can be known for this. Generally they don’t like strangers and will protect their family to the ends of the earth and back again, twice over! So as you can imagine when on walks this can be problematic and generally quite noisy as she barks - a lot. The one thing that does help, is Cocoa loves her toys. Balls are her favourite but she never turns her little button nose up at a good tug toy either. She will play catch, fetch and tug until the cows come home. She never tires and will never give up putting the ball or the tug in your lap for a good throw!
So it really helps when out and about that I have something like this in my pocket, that I can pull out to get her attention if I see another dog coming towards us. This magic tug will certainly divert her attention to me and the tug that I have in my hand. It’s like magic. Her eyes will become focused solely on that tug. I keep it in my hand and the incoming dog is completely forgotten.
But to keep a bulky ball in my pocket can be a pain and sometimes not easy to pull out quickly. So I wanted something smaller and easier to manage which made me develop our Pocket Pleaser.
This is small tug in the shape of a handle but with a small furry ball shape on the bottom. It’s easy to fold and slot into any of my pockets, ready to go. Cocoa loves it because it’s the best of both worlds. A ball shape but also something she can tug on if she wants to. It’s a great distraction when needed and also a good play time toy, easy to throw so she can enjoy her game of fetch. Go Cocoa!