Obedience Training to Clean Up Dog Toys

Getting Started: Dog Training Corpus Christi

A majority of dogs tend to appreciate any chance to have a task to accomplish or to play with you, and a fun one is teaching them how to clean up and put away their own toys on cue! In addition to being a cute trick, if your dog is toy-oriented and loves them all so much that they can't choose- getting a new one out every few minutes resulting in 5 or 6 lying around regularly- it can eliminate a lot of stress for you.

To begin you'll need toys, treats for rewards, and a designated container that you want them to keep their toys in. Starting with a lidless one will be easiest at the beginning of training, but as they advance and master the skill you can switch to one with a lid that they'll have to open and close.

Ensure that your dog is comfortable retrieving toys on cue. You can even teach them to retrieve toys by name as another fun trick; however, it's only necessary that they know how to fetch to begin teaching this one. A lot of dogs are naturally inclined to retrieve and fetch, but if yours is not you can teach them through training. Once they've mastered that, you can begin teaching this one.

Speak With A Dog

Training Expert

Speak With A Dog Training Expert

Getting Started: Dog Training Corpus Christi

Ensure that your dog is comfortable retrieving toys on cue. You can even teach them to retrieve toys by name as another fun trick; however, it's

Speak With A Dog

Training Expert

Speak With A Dog Training Expert

only necessary that they know how to fetch to begin teaching this one. A lot of dogs are naturally inclined to retrieve and fetch, but if yours is not you can teach them through training. Once they've mastered that, you can begin teaching this one.

Corpus Christi Dog Training Your Cleaning Buddy

Position the toy box directly in front of your dog so that its face is over it. If they're familiar with the cue "drop it", hand them a toy and give that command. If they obey and the toy lands in the box, reward them with a treat and praise. If they don't know that command yet, hold a treat right in front of them while they have the toy over the box. When they drop the toy to get the treat, give them praise.

After you practice this for a bit, you can begin to introduce the phrase "drop it" and slowly stop putting the treat in front of their nose, giving it to them only after they've dropped the toy. When they are consistently dropping the toys into the box, you can begin using a phrase specific to this trick such as "toy box" or "put away". After a few training sessions, when they master this you can start moving away from the box.

Hand your dog a toy near the box but not over it and give the "toy box" cue. If they successfully drop the toy in the box give them a lot of treats and praise. If they miss, revert to the previous step so they begin to recognize how important it is that the toys make it specifically into the box.

When they achieve doing this consistently, you can ask them to get toys from further away. You can even combine this with their ability to identify toys by name and ask them to put specific toys into the bin with that command. Eventually, you'll be able to ask them to put multiple toys away before rewarding them. Now you have a cleaning buddy!