# toy training



## ShamaMama (Jul 27, 2015)

Shama has always been very treat driven. It's been hard to get her excited about toys as a training strategy. Now that she has been diagnosed with kidney disease, however, I'm going to have to be more careful about what treats I give her. I've decided to work harder at getting her interested in her toys.

Yesterday, I played a game with her called the Two Toy Game that I learned about in my Fenzi online course called Loose Leash Walkers Anonymous. (The idea is to play with your dog before going on a walk so that she will have less energy for pulling on her leash and not walking with you.) Normally, you toss a toy, then the dog brings it back to you, then you reward the retrieve by tossing a second toy which is identical to the first, and so on. With Shama, however, I tossed one of her squirrels from her three squirrels in a log toy, and she didn't even look at it. I had to click/treat first for her looking at it, then for her nosing it, then eventually for her tossing it in the air. Eventually, I'll try to click/treat for her actually bringing it to me, but we're not there yet.

I asked DH to film us so that I'd be able to show a dog trainer friend the progress we'd made in a pretty short time, and, of course, Shama wouldn't do what she'd been doing once he prepared to record. Here is a link to what she did do, however, which was go berserk playing with the toy! At the end, she comes over to me to sit as if to say, "Now what should we do, Mom?"

Also, on the left-hand side, you can see her Valentine's Day dress hanging. I suppose I should put that away, but it's so cute ... (Hey! Why not use this opportunity to repost her Valentine's Day 2020 photos?)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1UTR8i1jZIsSaS7cn4MAObyvcKUw5cShM

Please advise as to whether or not the link to the video works. Thanks!


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## Dexter and Reia’s mom (Feb 20, 2020)

I don’t have any words of wisdom but I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed the video and the pictures! She’s so cute!


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## EvaE1izabeth (Nov 14, 2017)

I love it! That was fun to watch.


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