How to Teach a Dog to Bring a Toy Back

Most dogs quickly learn to retrieve a toy.

All dogs love companionship and need to play, so if you have a dog, you might want to teach it tricks and games, which will give the dog a chance to play with you while you are also reinforcing obedience training. Most dogs learn to play the game of fetch quickly. Assuming your dog is in good health, already leashed trained and can follow basic commands, it's probably ready to learn to retrieve a toy.

Things You'll Need

• Leash
• Dog toy

Instructions

1. Put your dog on a long leash. Praise it for cooperating to set the tone for the training session.

2. Command the dog to "sit," then "stay." Toss the toy a few feet away.

3. Tell the dog to "fetch" the toy, using a friendly, but commanding tone. Your dog will probably run after the toy. If not, take your dog to the toy and try again and again until it gets the idea. Praise it each time it goes after the toy and picks it up.

4. Command the dog to "come," once it has picked up the toy. You can use the leash to gently pull it toward you if it does not respond. Praise the dog when it arrives at your feet.

5. Command the dog to "release," "drop," or "give" you the toy. Choose a one-word command and use it consistently. It may help if you command the dog to sit first, if it doesn't drop the toy immediately. Praise your dog as soon as it obeys your command to give up the toy.

6. Repeat steps two through five multiple times. It usually doesn't take long for a dog to learn to bring a toy back to you as long as you remain, calm, keep the mood fun and reinforce its obedience with praise.

Tips & Warnings

• If you're indoors or in a fenced yard, you can try training the dog without a leash.

• In addition to using praise, you can use a small treat to reward the dog. Whatever reward you have conditioned your dog to respond to in the past will probably work again.

• Don't allow the dog to engage in a game of tug of war with you. Tug-of-war games can turn into unhealthy power struggles when you are trying to teach a dog to cooperate with you.

References

• Petplace.com: Teaching Your Dog to Fetch