# Putting Toys Away



## Liz (Oct 2, 2010)

How do you train your dog to put her toys away?


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

No, they trained me to put their toys away :lol:


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Same here, CM! I'd love to know how to encourage them to do the work, though.


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## pudlemom (Apr 16, 2010)

Ha,Ha I put them away and before I pick up the last one half are already back out.


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## Fluffyspoos (Aug 11, 2009)

Vegas takes them out, one by one, throughout the day and spreads them around the house. He then forgets about them. I then put them all away, and upon seeing me handle them, he takes them all out again. I have to put them away without him looking.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

All sounds very familiar - mine seem to need to turf everything out of the toy box before they decide what it was they were looking for ...


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## JE-UK (Mar 10, 2010)

It's always the toy at the bottom that they want!

I've started the first steps of teaching Vasco to put his toys away, using a clicker. I sit on the floor with one or two toys and his toy basket between my legs and CT for fetching and accidentally dropping the toy in the basket.


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## Lilith (Sep 29, 2010)

Ditto!

I find it vastly amusing, though, as I remember my little brother doing the same thing (emptying the toy box, scattering toys all over the house, then going outside to play.. ha!). I guess I can laugh a little easier, though, as I just leave the mess to the housekeeper to deal with the next day (bonus of living in a developing country.. there has to be some!)

I've just started trying to teach my pup "bring it" - will worry about "put it away" later (much later).


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## poodleholic (Jan 6, 2010)

Basic cues:

Get it!
Bring it!
Drop it!

Easy!


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## Lilith (Sep 29, 2010)

*Does your dog understand a pointing finger?*

My last dog, a 12lb mutt, seemed to intuitively know what a pointing finger meant. You could point to a rabbit in the back yard and he'd follow the point, see the rabbit, and take off after it. Or you could tell him to bring you a toy, point at it, and he'd go after the one you were pointing at.

My spoo tried to bite my finger the first few times I pointed, thinking I was offering the finger as a game or something. Yesterday, however, it seemed like she glanced off in the direction I was pointing at for a moment (before she again tried to play with my finger). 

Just wondering if your dog understands to look ahead in the _direction_ of a pointing finger, and if there seemed to be an age when they started to 'get it'?


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## Olie (Oct 10, 2009)

I discovered mine doing it by accident...

I sat by the small waste basket as they took one out I used 
Wait then come, slid the basket to them and used drop it. 

Its easier then you think. Our toys are out more then in though.


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## Chagall's mom (Jan 9, 2010)

poodleholic said:


> Basic cues:
> 
> Get it!
> Bring it!
> ...


Hey, that's_ my_ "secret formula" for getting Chagall to tidy up his things!! Only his last cue is "Leave it!" because as soon as he refills his toy box, he wants to unload it again.


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## poodleholic (Jan 6, 2010)

> Just wondering if your dog understands to look ahead in the direction of a pointing finger, and if there seemed to be an age when they started to 'get it'?


Somehow they do. All I have to do is point, and they understand quickly whatever it is I'm telling them - even to go around to the side door to come inside when they're out in the back yard at the back entrance. 

Beau was 16 months old when I got him, so don't know how old he was when he figured it out. Maddy was about 5 months old when I discovered what a quick study she is! It was raining, raining, raining, the installation of the new fence to enclose the back yard delayed, so I had to come up with some games to play with her inside. With "search and find," I only had to show her 3 times where the item I had hidden was (in plain sight to begin with), by pointing to the item before she "got it." To this day (she's 9 yrs old), search and find is her favorite game to play with me.


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