Crafts Toys

How do I teach my dog the difference between dog toys and baby toys?

I never realized until I was pregnant how similar they are! One of my three dogs is a toy monger. The best toy is a toy another dog is playing with. The other two could care less (probably because they never get a chance to play with them). Since we have a baby on the way, how do I teach the dog which toys are not his?

Public Comments

1. Good luck with that!
2. That would be by keeping the baby toys off the floor when the dog has access to that floor. Baby not on floor baby toys not on floor Baby on floor either no toys with baby - or dog locked in another room. this is not ta training issue this is a management issue.
3. Personally, I don't think you can teach your dogs the difference between baby and dog toys because to him, toys are toys and they look the same. I would just keep the baby toys in one area and the dog toys in another. It may settle a little confusion. Sooner or later the dog will catch on: "my toys are over here and the baby is over there playing with hers". Any time you see him trying to play with the baby's toys, correct him. Hope i helped atleast a little. Also, you may want to let the dog/baby play at the same time but in different areas. This way the dog won't take the baby's toys and vise versa.
4. Put a scent on the ones he can play with...such as vanilla on a Qtip then rub on its toys, he will eventually know the difference, but you must say no to the kiddy toys. And keep the dogs toys on its bedding so he knows its his.
5. Smack him on the nose when he plays with something you dont want him too. Pet him when he plays with something that he is supposed to. It's called "classical conditioning". Look it up on google if you want more info.
6. Not likely to happen. Keep the toys for the baby out of the area that the dog is in.
7. Please don't start the "dog vs. baby war" already. You are talking about a DOG - he has no way of knowing that toys he can get at are not for him - why would he? You need to keep your baby's toys where your dogs can't get to them, not start a problem of dog vs. baby (one of the biggest reasons dogs get dumped when the new baby arrives). Not the dog's responsibility, it's yours. Please think this through and don't make an issue where there is none - just keep the baby toys out of reach, you should be monitoring the dogs with the baby at all times anyway and it's not exactly sanitary to have the baby and his toys where the dogs can lick either.
8. I like the idea of giving a scent to each category. I think that after a while your dog will recognize the scent of the baby and make a difference anyway. Tell it 'no' everytime it plays with the wrong toy, and when smacking on the nose don't forget not to do it with your hands ;)
9. My dog has "HIS" toybox My Baby has "HER" toybox Toys are kept separate. Baby is only allowed to play with her toys.. if she has a dog toy, I remove it from her and give her one of HER toys Dog is only allowed to play with his toys.. if he has a baby toy, I remove it and give him one of HIS toys. Eventually the toys will have their individual scent and your dog should be able to recognize which are his and which belong to the baby. Baby toys are also put away when she's done playing.. they are not left laying anywhere. Most of her toys are kept in the living room, which is baby gated off- the dog has limited access to that room. The best solution is to just supervise, and make sure that baby toys are put away when the baby is not playing with them. Your child can learn at a young age to keep her toys picked up, or they may become chewed up.