The Recall Activity Guide: Toys

Toys often set the stage for fast, enthusiastic behaviors, which is what we want in recall. If you're interested in using toys in your training, this section is for you!

Welcome back to our Recall Guide series.

In the previous section, we talked about using food as a controlled distraction and reinforcer. The world is full of things our dogs want to move towards. Using food, we can teach dogs that it’s actually in their interest to come to us when there is stuff out there that they want to move towards.

In this section, we are diving into the fun world of toys! They can be incredibly helping in your recall journey.

Toys

Toys often set the stage for fast, enthusiastic behaviors, which is what we want in recall. This can make them great to train with since those behaviors can transfer to your recall cue. Also, some dogs just like toys better than food. So if you’re interested in using toys in your training, this section is for you! It can be used in conjunction with the other activities, or if food isn’t your dog’s thing, you can focus more on toys.

Before you start, practice your reinforcement systems with toys. For example, if you plan to toss a toy for them to catch, make sure your dog knows how to catch (or try to catch) a tossed toy. If you plan to offer a tug, teach your dog how to access an offered tug. It’s also generally helpful if they will bring toys back to you :). In the future, I’d love to add a companion guide on building toy skills.

Here are some foundation recall games you can play using toys as reinforcers (and sometimes as distractions):