How do you teach a dog that has absolutely no concept of what a toy is for to play with one? The humane society regularly gets dogs that have no clue what a toy is for that are otherwise active playful dogs. They learn how to take treats fairly quickly but I'm at a loss as to how to teach them to play with toys. I use squeaky ones and try to get them interested through the fence(frustration) but once I give it to them or throw it they don't know what to do.

Cathy, the only thing that comes to me is perhaps tying the toy to a line that you can move/pull so they might be encouraged to chase it. ?? Falcon wasn't big on balls when he was younger but he loved the flying squirrel. (Now that he is older he is more into the ball and still loves the squirrel.) I'll give it more thought and see if anything else comes to mind. You might do a search on Youtube for dog tricks/toys - something might pop up there!

 Quote: Cathy Goessman

I use squeaky ones and try to get them interested through the fence(frustration) but once I give it to them or throw it they don't know what to do.

Hi Cathy,

Big issue with rescues, I know, and not an easy one.

I think part of the key is going to be lots of interaction; simply tossing the toy to them isn't gonna do it. I'd try being on the same side of the fence with the dog, and I'd have a couple of toys, and I'd play with them myself, acting all silly and excited about the toys. I'd toss it a little way, then race to the toy to get it back for myself...etc.

You can try some marker training too...marking and rewarding for any attention to a toy, touching it, etc.

You could try 101 things to do with a box...just to get the dog used to interacting more.

You could try some tug type things...tie something fuzzy or raggy on the end of a rope and jerk it around in prey-type movements, see what happens.

I think the more you make a toy valuable by hoarding it to yourself, being excited and interested in it yourself, and rewarding any attention to it, over time, you will make progress. I don't think it'll be a one session kind of thing.

You'll probably hear from others who have much more experience with this kind of thing, but this is what I'd try.

leih

I know this will be very difficult, if not impossible, in a shelter environment, but what sprang my mind me was getting a toy-driven dog to help. I think play is one of things they learn best from each other.

Hi Cathy,
One of the things that come to mind for me considering you said they are taking treats is get one of the toys you can load with food or maybe freeze a kong with some peanut butter or cream cheese. Entice their food drive and encourge play that way....

kongs, everlastign treat balls, and other "food" toys might help break the ice, so to speak.once the dog shows interest, nudge it with your foot, to make it move, see if the dog follows. things like that.
after that, there are some interesting dog puzzles out there, using food hidden away, making the dog paw at a lever, push a buttin, etc to get the food. They are an investment, but may be worth a try. They may help the dog learn to paw at its "toys", use its mouth to manipulate objects, etc. while being rewarded doign it.

this really challenging, and frustrating. Not to mention, just sad. I have a dog that just would not "play".he lived on a chain, ignored or beaten before i got him. he wouldn't blink an eye at a ball, a tug, a spring pole, a squeeky, a plush toy, nothing. In fact, the ONLY thing he did that was "fun" or "playful" was that he LOVED to rough house. even then, it was all body slams. It took just about a year to get him to open his mouth, when he finally did, i shoved a tug in there, and hes loved it since, it took another few months of initiating the tug playing by roughhousing on the floor with him before he "got" it, and would go without the horsing around. Now, he works pretty darn good for me.

Now, i know the situation is different, and these are rescue dogs, my story was just to give an idea that though it can take a while, most dogs can learn to "play". You just have to be creative in how you get there.

Our dog's not interested in balls or the everlasting treat ball.

Has anyone tried sticking cheese or bacon inside an everlasting treat ball? And had success with cleaning it afterwards? What other odorful treats can I stick in there to try?

You can try that Simon, but I think direct interaction like
Leih mentioned is the best opportunity to engage the dog (providing of course the dog is not aggressive).
For instantance with new dogs or pups, I've seen decoys get down on all fours, roll around, lay flat on their backs, chase after the sleeve with the dog, anything at all to engage and let the dog know it's okay to do these things.
It's the same thing, whatever it takes to get the dogs interest so he'll interact with you.

tie out the rescued dog and get another dog(s) that is a toy/tug/ball nut and play with them.

Got a rescue that was shut in a room for first 2 yrs of his life. He didn't know how to play or what a toy was. we were lucky that we had another dog so he could copy but we also had to teach him.
With balls, as long as you didn't throw them too far (no eye for following a ball to start with) he would run after them but then just stop and look at you when they landed.
So we ran after the balls and made a big game of picking them up. We kept Ollie on the lead so he had to run with us and could sense and share the excitement.
The first time he picked the ball up he got loads of praise. (we'd already worked on praise with treats as praise scared him when we 1st got him).
We did this in small sessions, eventually moving to when we stopped play it was always with Ollie wanting more.
A took a couple of weeks for him to really get the hang of ball throwing. At first he would only bring the ball back and drop it approx 3/4 meters away from us but now it is normally within 50cm from us. If we are sat down he will drop it in our laps.

Tuggi is still work very much work in progress. It very dominating and we have had to be failry hands off and lesson the dominating games with Ollie to some extent. Although we have had him for nearly 2 yrs now, its only the past 4/5 mths he has reaaly started to want to play tuggi. At the mo I can sometimes get a full min tuggi but normally 30 secs is par for the course.

Tuggi we always introduced after playing with the ball on the ground with him so ball up in the air not away and us sat down on the floor. We would get him very wound up and bouncy and then get the tuggi so he would grab at it. Praise followed and we gradually increased the time he had hold of the tuggi for before we praised. We then moved onto gentle tugging, again with loads of praise and then moved onto kneeling position for us and then upright but carefull not to lean over him.
We've had best results with a tuggi that has a tennis ball on the end and is elasticated.
Timing of praise is essential because if you praise too late you are praising as he lets go, not when he has hold.

Ball worked best for Ollie as it avoided those dominance issues (mentally & physically abused), tuggi is something we can now work on now that trust has been gained and is improving.