Name that toy?

[Amy & Bernie]

Hi all, I recently moved this from a training group because it's more of a trick really, not a behavior issue.

Have any of you trained your Doodles to recognize their toys by name? Back before we had Bernie (otherwise I would have paid better attention!) I was listening to a segment on NPR where they were discussing how many unique words can potentially make up a dog's vocabulary, and for 'brighter' breeds it was pretty impressive if I remember correctly. And of course I put Doodles in the 'brighter' category!

Anyhow, we'd like to teach Bernie the names of his toys and I was curious if any of you have succeeded at this, and if you have any tips for us newbies?

[Ron Carnes]

Zack knows to gert his ball and bone. Those are his only toys......everything else seems to have been demolished. His knowledge of words is quite extensive.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'll repost from the other discussion:
All of my dogs knew their possessions by name, and the way they learned it was easy...by calling it by name yourself constantly, just repetition. Bring the squirrel here (not bring it here), get your squirrel, do you have a squirrel, where's your squirrel, etc. Just lots of repetition. After you think he's "got" it, ask him for a specific item, and make a big fuss when he brings the right one. If he brings the wrong one, don't say "no, get the squirrel", just thank him, set the object aside, and ask again "Bring me the squirrel" until he gets the right toy, and then have a party.

[Amy & Bernie]

Thanks for reposting Karen!

[Camilla and Darwin]

Darwin has only one toy that is a constant part of his stash, he destroys everything else pretty quick. So he does know the word "Kong" means his Kong, but everything else is just referred to as "toy"

[Linda and Murphy]

As far as toys, Murphy knows ball, duck, frisbee, monkey, and tiger. I taught him the same way Karen talks about.

[Bronwen Watts]

Tyson knows all of his toys by name, including most of his different balls. The different toy balls were initially the hardest for us, but we just kept at it, and he now knows the difference between his treat ball, blue ball, food ball, and squishy ball. The hardest part for us was coming up with names for all those balls that were different enough not to confuse him!! Now we're working on soccer ball. Like Karen said, it is all about repetition and consistency. The only difference for us is when Tyson was learning to bring specific toys if we asked him to bring his bear and he brought us his squirrel, we did correct him with "No, get your bear". Then when he brought the right one, we made a big deal about it and rewarded him. It worked really well for us, and Tyson enjoyed it too. He would get really excited about it, like it was a game for him.

[Kyoko]

I never taught Charlie the name of the toys / stuff, but she knows all of my kids' name. If I tell her to go find / see so-and-so, she would either to go their room, or look up at one's room from the bottom of the steps... ( There's a gate there.)

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Spud knows the names of his toys. I don't think we taught him, but do call the toys by names ourselves. If he is asked to go find a particular toy and 10 were in front of him he will get the correct toy. Amazing!

[Kyoko]

I should try teaching her the name of her toys....I wonder how much she can learn.... Thye are pretty amazing, arn't they?

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Daisy knows the names of the toys "she likes" all the other forgotten toys go unnoticed and unnamed....Lamby, green ball, chuck it ball, Mr. Squeaky, retriever, Frisbee,and Hedgehog she would get if we asked her to. Lamby and Hedgehog have met untimely deaths due to the fact they were tiny and had those annoying noises they no longer had a purpose in Daisy's eyes....she is now strictly a run and fetch dog and only keeps company with 2 snuggle puppies in her bed. Snuggle puppies, keep her warm on cool nights - they take a ride in the microwave before retiring.

[Kyoko]

Today, just for the heck of it, I asked Charlie to go get a ball. And she did it!! I had no idea that she knew the word "Ball" So I got curious and asked her to go get a ball and give it to Boo Boo ( One of my daughter) and she did!!! How cool is that?!

[Linda, Webber and Seda]

Webber knows his duck, ball, bone and the generic "toy" is used for other toys on the floor. I am trying to teach him to pick them up and put them away! He will bring them upstairs from down, but the just drops them anywhere. Seda just grabs any old toy and stands there with it in her mouth. She doesn't get it yet!