Do we have to teach our dogs how much fun it can be to play with toys? Do we need toys to train our pets? Is it enough to choose the right pet toy for successful training? If so, what types of toys shall we use? More importantly what should pet owners do if their beloved pets don’t seem to like to play with toys? These are the questions, well more like challenges of dog owners, I most often hear.
I have to confess, I never really understood how it is possible that a dog doesn’t like to play with toys, especially with balls. I was convinced that all dogs love some sort of ball games. Well, I was hugely mistaken. Twenty something years ago, when I first threw a ball towards my Fred, the French Mastiff puppy, he gave me a bewildered look and walked off.
Fred, the French Mastiff puppy
I thought to myself: “Well, there is a challenge for you!”. I desperately searched for books elaborating deeper on the role of pet toys than what I had already known. There were many aspects to consider: timing of reinforcement, type of reinforcement, surprise effect, conditioned reinforcer, the role of the event marker. How we should avoid bribery (trying to reinforce behaviour that had not happened yet) and so on. I felt overwhelmed with information and got very confused, so I thought to myself: first thing first.
Karen Pryor specialized in behaviour psychology and marine mammal biology, who sadly passed away early this year, advised us that if we want to maintain an already-learned behaviour with some degree of reliability, it is not necessary to reinforce it every time. A lot more efficient and vital if we do not reinforce the behaviour on a regular basis but instead we switch to using reinforcement only occasionally, and on a random or unpredictable basis.
There it was. Playing with toys is definitely a behaviour as we all know, and I needed to teach my Fred how to play with toys. That is a sentence, I never thought, I would write.
Additionally, I had to do it in a way that the surprise effect could be incorporated. So, those who has got some level of experience with dogs, know that they are brilliant in reading us and anticipating things. That was the exact case with Fred, too. I only had to walk into the shed and get the ball maybe three times before he could anticipate that my approaching the shed meant that it was time to practice ball games, so before I reached the shed door he was off.
Back then, I could have just accepted the fact that Fred didn’t like ball games which I eventually did, but I felt that I needed to get to the bottom of it. What if Fred simply didn’t know how much fun it was to play fetch the ball. Maybe, if he got to know how much fun a ball game could be he would get enthusiastic about it. To cut the long story short, I learned that Fred wasn’t a ball enthusiast. But, and that is a gigantic BUT, I also learned that the old proverb is quite right: there is more than one way to skin a cat. However horrible that proverb is, it is very true that we need to approach every kind of activity with our pets with flexibility.
By the way, it is useful to know the origin of that awful proverb. In the 19th Century cats were used for women’s furn. These was a debate if the horrible act of skinning the cats were carried out after they killed the cats or they were skinned alive. If interested, you will find more details in “The Leisure Hour” which was a British periodical of the Victorian era. Fortunately, the gruesome act was stopped, but the proverb spread. Mark Twain used a version of it indicating that there is more than one way for us to get what we want.
Back to my story with Fred, I started to use different toys to teach him how to play with toys. Also, I regularly changed the environment. We went for a walk; I took a toy with me. It turned out that having a toy with me during dog walkies was not an easy task. Simply, Simply, it was awkward to carry the toy. I didn’t really want to have a rucksack with me just because I wanted to incorporate playtime into a pleasant activity such as a walk with my dog. Eventually, Fred learned that pet toys can be fun, and I learned that Fred was not a “fetch the ball” type of guy. I also learned that dogs, cats, pets in general, can learn to play with toys. We only have to teach them how to have fun, how to rewind. But, we also have to learn what types of toys get them going.
My recent challenge is Jazzy Molly, the kindest Beagle girl. She is adorable with exceptional food drive which should not be a surprise to anyone who was or is lucky enough to live with a wonderful Beagle companion.
Jazzy Molly learning to be patient
Jazzy Molly loves to play from the very beginning, but the moment she could smell food, her eagerness to play tugs diminished. She turned her head, and she was off to find the food source. Sounds familiar? There it was the challenge, again.
To up the ante. My other dog, Vincent the Wizard, alias Vinnie was just the opposite end of the spectrum. He was mad for balls and tugs, as a matter of fact, for any kinds of toys. But I lost his attention the minute I put the toy away. So, I had to teach Jazzy Molly to stay focused on the toy in the presence of food and I had to teach Vinnie to stay focused without toys. I am happy to report that Jazzy Molly’s focus became so much better, and Vinnie can ignore the toy and stay focused if need be.
Jazzy Molly and Vinnie waiting for instruction
But how did I do it? With the right training method and the right toys. There are many different pet toys available in the market, but I knew I needed the “big guns” to get results with my two doggies, even if it means that I had to make the “big guns” myself. Most of us know that our pets like to play with the “forbidden” staff: the odd socks left on the floor, the floofy end of the blanket, the corner of the pillow etc. So, first, I used old socks, towels to create toys for them. Then, I looked into what materials I could use that is both pet friendly and make these toys eyecandies, too. Eventually, I worked out how to combine different types of braiding methods with sawing, and how to make the toys durable.
So, I made some prototypes and let my doggies try them at home and during walks out in the fields.
Jazzy Molly enjoying some tug game with no specific obligation, just for the fun of it
Jazzy Molly chewing on a fluffy pillow I made for her
The two Musketeers enjoying the sun and some tug games with me during our daily walk
In the process of developing toys I learned that it is very important and it can be rather useful to teach the dog how to play with different kinds of toys, because each type of toy can be the right choice for a certain activity. Selecting the toy based on what I want to achieve with my dog guarantees that we can do it in a playful manner, also, it can increase the effectiveness of that certain activity and training. Most importantly it can work magic on the relationship by increasing attentiveness, and the bond between the owner and the pet.
Naturally, there are many other aspects to consider before buying a toy for the beloved pet. Do we use toys with squeaker or shall we stick with toys without them? How big the toy should be? How many toys should our pets have at a time? Is it a good thing to shower our pets with toys or is it better to let them have one toy at a time? Do we select a toy for a specific activity such as dog sports?
Vinnie at his first ever unofficial dog agility competition going ballistic for a squeaky toy.
Do we want to use the toy to teach some puppy basics? And the ever repeated question: How on earth will I be able to take the toy with me for the doggie walk? And, of course, there are aspects only applicable in certain cases, and other issues such as providing the right toys for people with disabilities who love to work with dogs. These and other aspects will be discussed in detail in another blogpost.
For further information, please visit our Pet Toy Gallery and our PinkPups Program .
