Most dogs enjoy playing, it's their choice of play and games which owners often fail to recognise. Many owners, if buying a new toy for their dog, will buy something they like the look of, perhaps a brightly coloured squeaky toy. Whereas, if we had asked the dog what he/she would have chosen, they may well point to a tug type toy, as tugging is their favourite game. They have been trying to tell the owner this for months, by stealing things they shouldn't have and trying to get the owner to confront them, so that a tug game commences.

So, we firstly have to take a long look at the dog, he/she will be advertising the games they like to play, it maybe chase - how do we know? The dog is chasing rabbits, cats, squirrels, cars and anything else that moves! The dog may have a preference for soft toys or hard rubber toys, but what ever they are telling you, its up to you to listen and find out.

Games and playing with toys starts in puppy hood. It is up to us to teach our puppy how to play with toys, for it is not something that comes totally naturally to them.
Many owners do not recognise this fact, but buy many different kinds of toys and leave them all over the floor for the puppy to play with by himself. When he experiments with his mouth, just as human baby's do, we ignore him for chewing and experimenting with his toy, but give him a lot of attention if he picks up something we would rather he did not have. So the puppy never learns how to play with toys, he just learns how to get the owners attention by chewing or stealing inappropriate items.

For people taking on a rescue dog, it's often the case that the previous owner has never taught the dog how to play with toys, which is a great shame. A dog that loves his/her toy/s can be so much easier to control in a rewarding way and is fosters a greater relationship between the human/canine. You only have to look round your local park to see this happening, one owner letting their dog off leash who doesn't enjoy toys and runs straight off to play with other dogs, compared to the an owner that lets their dog off leash, produces its favourite toy, that it gets at no other time. This dog can't wait to have a good game with the owner.

How to get your dog to play and enjoy toys with you.
The first thing you need, especially if you have an older rescue dog, is patience.
It is going to take time, patience and consistency to teach the dog what great fun toys can be. But the efforts are worth it, for once taught it is never forgotten and your dog will do anything for a game with the toy, which makes training easy!

* Firstly look at what games the dog likes to play and mimic with a suitable toy.

* If its tug games, make sure he does not get those games with anything other than the tug toy. If it's playing with other dogs, limit the access to these games, make yourself exciting to be with. If its chase, make sure you have a toy that can be thrown which your dog shows preference for, like a soft toy, or hard rubber toy, now don't give him the opportunity to chase anything else!

* Make a list of all the things that make your dog naturally excited in the course of a day. A list may look something like this:
(a) When you come home, having been out without your dog and he greets you.
(b) When you are making up his meal in order to feed him.
(c) When you come downstairs in the morning and greet your dog
(d) When you get the leash out, prior to a walk

* If sure you can think of other things that make your dog naturally excited and you should list all of them.

* Now you need to link these things with the chosen toy. So, for example, if you have just come home, having been out without your dog, do not greet him at the front door, but instead walk straight past him, not looking, touching or speaking to. Go and get the toy immediately and have an exciting game with the dog, putting the toy away again, before the dog's excitement ceases and he ends the game himself. Use everything on your list in order to teach your dog to play. If he becomes over excited and starts jumping up, don't worry, this can be easily managed once he is hooked on playing with his favourite toy. If he gets very over excited and starts nipping, then stop the game for a moment, ask him to "sit" or some other control exercise, before resuming the game again.

* Make sure all the "special" toys belong to you, keep them in a place that your dog does not have free access to. It is your responsibility to get them out and play games every day. I suggest very short play sessions 20-30 times a day to begin with 

Points To Remember
1. It is pointless to chastise a dog for inappropriate play, such as chasing cars. He may well stop chasing cars, and instead chase joggers or bikes. In order to stop an unwanted behaviour, we must teach the dog an alternative behaviour and reward him for using it.

2. Keep all the toys you use for playing out of your dogs reach, these are your toys and you must play with the dog as many times as you can, ending the games before the dog gets bored and ends them himself, then put the toy away again.

3. If you like to leave the dog with a toy/s when you go out, to alleviate boredom, just leave a chew type toy or good marrowbone stuffed Kong etc. Dogs seldom play with toys in isolation unless it is a game of destruction. When you return, pick it up and put it away.

4. Once your dog really enjoys playing with his/her favourite toy, in your home and garden with you. Its now time to take this toy on a walk, go to an area which is relatively free from distractions and have a really good game with your dog, then build these games up with distractions, like other people/dogs etc. This special toy is now used on walks only and because it is so special your dog will want to please you in order to get a game with it, so training and control in a rewarding way is a pleasure, for both owner and dog.