Toy names, taught one toy and one choice at a time

How to teach a dog names of toys starts with one toy and one name. Say the name each time your dog touches or mouths that toy, and pay. Then set a second toy on the floor, farther away and dull, and pay only when your dog goes to the named one.

Which toy should get the first name?

Start with a toy your dog already picks up without being asked. Choose one that looks and feels unlike the others in the basket: a rope beside a plush, say, or a ball beside a tire. Two toys that resemble each other make the later choice harder than it needs to be.

Give it a short name that sounds unlike the other words in your house. A name that rhymes with your dog's own name or with a common cue will blur. Keep the word the same each time, and let everyone in the house use it.

This is a game of choosing rather than a body trick, so it sits a little apart from the usual tricks to teach your dog. Your dog moves very little; the work is in telling two objects apart.

Keep the other toys out of sight for the first sessions. One toy on the floor is the whole setup at the start.

How do you attach a name to one toy?

Do it in play. Wave the toy, let your dog nose or mouth it, and say the name at the moment of contact. Then pay with a small piece of cheese, or keep playing. The word goes in as the nose or mouth meets the toy, not before and not after.

If your dog grabs the toy, that counts as contact too. Holding on is a separate skill with its own page, the take it guide, and nothing here depends on a firm grip.

Say the name once per contact. A pile of repeated words turns into noise. Play for a few contacts, then end the round while there is still interest.

After several short sessions, try the name before the toy is in play. Hold the toy out of reach, say the name, and pay if your dog looks at it or steps toward it.

How do you add a second toy without guessing?

The goal is to make the right answer the easy one. Set up the second toy so it is a poor choice, and let your dog win by picking the named one.

1. Put the named toy on the floor near you, and the second toy far off, behind or to one side, where it is easy to ignore.
2. Say the name of the first toy and wait, with no pointing and no staring at it.
3. Pay the moment your dog goes to the named toy with a nose or mouth.
4. Move the second toy a little closer over the next rounds, one bit at a time.
5. Swap the sides now and then, so your dog is following the word and not the location.

Stay at each setup until it is easy. If your dog picks the right toy on most rounds, nudge the second toy closer. If the picks slip, move it back out.

What happens when your dog picks the other toy?

Nothing happens. Do not mark it or pay it, and keep your voice level. Let the round pass, take both toys up, and set them out again with the second toy a little farther off.

A wrong pick is information about the setup. If it happens often, the second toy is too close or too interesting, and the fix is distance and dullness. Make the right choice easy again before you try a harder one.

When the first toy's name is steady, teach the second toy its name the same way, alone first. Give it a different word, one that sounds unlike the first. Only then put both on the floor and ask for one by name.

Each new toy follows the same pattern. One name, one toy, then a choice. Go at the pace your dog sets.

Each right pick earns a crumb from a bag of freeze dried cheddar bites. They are a treat for the game, not a complete diet.