Mollie doesn't like toys :(

MolliesMom

My new pup Mollie is 2 years old and I got her through a woman up north who sort of rescued her from a family who was going to give her to anyone and was advertising her to use for breeding. From the sounds of things it wasn't the best home there and when I mentioned to the woman that Mollie didn't like toys she said that she didn't have toys at her first home, so probably didn't know what to do with them. I was just wondering if anyone had advice on how to teach Mollie to play, etc. Thanks!!!

Laurelin

Summer and Trey both won't play with toys, but Summer will with other dogs sometimes. What we've done with them is just try to do other fun things instead. They don't have any interest in tug or fetch, but both love exercise. We've done agility with both and both love to go for walks.

Kathyy

Don't worry about her not playing. Just spending time with her, walking, grooming, cuddling is fine.

If you want to teach her to play try doing things like you would do with a cat. A jerky wiggly tug going away from the dog. Crumpling up paper and tearing it. Running away from the dog wiggling a long tug toy. Chasing a [lightly stuffed!!] kong. You playing happily with a silly toy might get her interested. I retaught Sassy to play tug with me using a clicker. She will play foot tag with me. I tag her paw and she tags my hand, very silly.

A retrieve can be taught.

A dry milk jug or water bottle with some kibble inside is fun for my two. They work until the last kibble is out. Maxwell bats it around and Sassy throws it and chews on the top.

You might look into clicker training to teach her stuff. Sassy isn't much of a player at times but she is always up for the first thing she learned with the clicker, touching [shoving!] her nose into my hand.

Maxwell plays with toys but he is very annoying about it. He brings it to me, I toss it or we play tug and he just takes it off and chews on it. I get all interested in playing and he just wanted a toy warmup!

JustTess

Our two adoptees won't play with toys very much either. My sons have been able to start playing a little game of tug of war.... though they loose interest in it quickly.

The terrier did take my stuffed webkin pig and tip toed out of the room recently. That is the first time I saw her interested in toys. She kinda chewed on the pig's foot until she noticed I was watching her... then she kinda had a guilty look on her face.

Have you tried hiding little treats under a paper cup? That might just get your new pup started in playing with you.

Kathilis

Maybe you should try a toy that you can hide treats in. There are balls that will hold food and treats, if you can get her to play with that you might be able to get her to play fetch. Maybe just try something simple, she may have a preference you don't know about. Like, some dogs go nuts over plastic bottles, and some don't care. Try cheap stuff like water bottles and sticks before you buy her tons of toys just to find out she'll never use any of them. Maybe give her an old stuffed animal to chew on? My friend's dog doesn't like to play fetch for very long, and he's not very good with tug of war, but he does like stuffed animal toys. Our dog sometimes doesn't like a toy if he's never seen it before. I got him a bunch of toys when we got him, he didn't like some of them at first, but if I play with them anyway he learns to love them. He didn't like his Kong at first, I'd give it to him and he'd just look at me like "what's that? that's not a ball!" and if I threw it he'd just go get another toy to play with. Now he loves playing with it If she won't play then maybe she just doesn't like playing, some dogs just don't, but they're still fun Good luck getting her to play!

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