# Names of Toys



## GSDSunshine (Sep 7, 2009)

We want to teach Dakota his different toys and their names. Is there anything we need to teach him first? And how do we teach him their names. So far we have:
Bobo, bunny, rope, ball, bone, tire, kong, and chewie.

We ran into a problem with a couple. He has a nylabone and he has a stuff bone...So we need to get better names. Plus he has a fleecy cleans, a Kong Frisbee, and a fox skinneez coming today in the mail.

We try to be consistant with only using the name we give to each toy when we play with him. Except his bunny reminds me of a lamb, and I slip sometimes. 

Any advice from the pros?


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## Ruthie (Aug 25, 2009)

I am certainly NOT a pro, but I can tell you what worked with Moose.

- Everytime the dog has the toy or you touch the toy, you say the name you want it to be called. Do this ALL the time, not just when in a training session. "Hey, Dakota! You got your KONG. What a nice KONG." or "Mommy's picking up your KONG."
- Then combine the name with a command. "Get your bunny!" Each time he picks up the bunny, give a treat. You might have to start out by handing it to him. Once he gets the idea, he will pick it up on his own. Just work with one toy until Dakota understands that you want him to pick up the bunny.
- Then do a seporate session with a different object. "Get your ball". Each time the ball is picked up give a treat. Once he understands, move to the next step.
- Sit the ball and the monkey next to each other on the floor. Say, "get your bunny". If he selects the ball, give a gentle "Eh, Eh" correction and no treat. If he selects the bunny, then say "Good, bunny" and give a treat. Repeat a million times using a random pattern. Otherwise he will anticipate which one you want.
- Follow the same process to add in new toy names.

I combined this with a "toys up" command to have Moose put whatever object he has in his mouth into the toy basket. All combined it is cute. "Moose, get your monkey....Toys up!" He runs and selects the monkey and then runs and puts it in the toy basket.


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## Barb E (Jun 6, 2004)

I also taught Dante the names of his "stuff" by simply using the name over and over while he played etc with each.

The hardest thing







is coming up with different names for similar toys (Wheel vs Tire)


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## TaraM1285 (Sep 24, 2009)

I love that "toys up" is a great idea! I'm going to have to work on that with Tara. She's FANTASTIC at taking toys OUT of her basket, I'd love to get her to put them away!

Agree with the PP that you should pick one (his favorite?) to start with. So far we've taught Tara to find her "duck", which is one of her favorites. Every time she gets it, I make a big deal of saying the word duck A LOT and she picked it up really quickly.


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## 3K9Mom (Jun 12, 2006)

> Originally Posted By: GSDSunshine.
> 
> We ran into a problem with a couple. He has a nylabone and he has a stuff bone...So we need to get better names.


You don't have to give them "reasonable" names. For example, when Zamboni was very young, my then 7 year old niece gave her one of her stuffed toys, a Mickey Mouse toy. That was simply "Mickey." So when she got another mouse toy later on, that was "mouse."

When I run out of labels for toys, I just give them names. The nylabone toy might be Bone and the plush toy might be "Bobo" or "Bob" -- or I've called bone toys Bono.







(For some reason, it makes more sense to me to give "names" to plush toys.







) 

Your dog doesn't care WHAT you call it. It doesn't have to make a bit of sense. Zamboni loved and carried around Mickey long into her 16th year, and my now adult niece was always happy to see that she still had it. That's what mattered, not what we called it.


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## SunCzarina (Nov 24, 2000)

I never tried to teach Otto the names of his toys - they're all balls. He just picked it up from me asking the kids 'Where's Otto's green ball?' 'Where's Otto's squeeky ball' 

If we're out in the yard, I'll tell him, 'Otto, get your green ball' he runs off and comes back with his green ball. It's not really green, it's black rubber with little spikey tips that used to be green. Now they're sort of dirt colored. What are you gonna do, favorite ball.


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## geneSW (Sep 25, 2009)

I'm also trying to get Foxy to reconize different toys... I'm currently starting out with her Kong though as she loves it... What I do is hold the kong up to her face so she can see it and then say the word Kong. Afterwords I throw the kong into the other room and say "go get your kong" and she chases off after it. Then, when she bring it back, I say "good Kong!". Here next week i'll be doing this with her rope as well and then i'll see if she can understand the difference. Good luck!


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## 3K9Mom (Jun 12, 2006)

> Originally Posted By: SunCzarinaI never tried to teach Otto the names of his toys - they're all balls. He just picked it up from me asking the kids 'Where's Otto's green ball?' 'Where's Otto's squeeky ball'
> 
> If we're out in the yard, I'll tell him, 'Otto, get your green ball' he runs off and comes back with his green ball. It's not really green, it's black rubber with little spikey tips that used to be green. Now they're sort of dirt colored. What are you gonna do, favorite ball.


Otto has learned tht "Greenball" is the "name" of that ball. He doesn't know what "green" means. He just knows that Greenball is his favorite spikey ball.

You didn't even have to teach him. He's a genius,


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## SunCzarina (Nov 24, 2000)

Yeah boy wonder still hasn't equated pull Momma by the leash, Momma is going to pull back.

He does have moments of genius. One day he ran up to DS#1 and threw the muddy ball at his feet. My son said Eww, go wash your ball in the pool. Otto looked him, tilted his head then grabbed his ball and ran over to the dog pool with it. 

So if it's got to do with ball, he's all for learning. If it's got to do with walking nicely on a leash, I can just kiss off


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## meisha98 (Aug 27, 2008)

They would all rather play with balls then be restrained on a leash LOL! lainey learned her toys like the others, by repetition mainly. What is scary is she can tell her red, blue, purple and yellow holee balls, which look identical, all apart. You are right about the bones and trying to keep them apart especially where the names are similar - bone, bobo etc. Maybe hard one for Nylabone, soft or plush for the soft one, If they have too many to name you can try getting rid of a few temporarily and cycling them through the mix so there are only one or teo totally different bones or balls at a time to worry about.


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## aubie (Dec 22, 2008)

Anna's learned her toy names just through play...when we play fetch in the house I'll say go get ______! Or if it's rainy outside we'll set some toys up in a row and ask her to find her Cuz out of them and not reward until she gets cuz. 

We have all kinds of weird names...the rubber cuz chicken is "bawk bawk" cause chiken is what is in the fridge for dinner!


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