[gizzysmom]

I rescued a 2 year old male pom. How can I get him to play with toys?
I bought him some toys, and he will take them in his mouth if i throw them, then he carries them to the living room rug and just leaves it there.
He won't play with them at all - just carries them to the carpet and leaves them there, even when I try playing with them with him.

 

[Dogstar]

Some dogs don't know - especially if they never have toys. Try throwing a toy, and if he chases it while it's moving, praise like mad. If he doesn't chase it, YOU chase it, and make a squeaky noise when you grab it off the ground (You will feel like an idiot.) Do this 5-6 times a day, every day. It will generally take less than 4 days for a dog to figure out that if YOU are excited about some moving object, there's probably something fun about it.

 

[gizzysmom]

Thanks! I'll try it!

 

[x3ro]

Another thing to keep in mind, that dogs are like children. They like certain toys.

We bought a whole bunch of toys before we brought our pup home, but he only likes certain ones.

Now we take him to the pet store, and let him "pick" out his own toys. It's pretty easy to figure out. If he bites the toy, he likes it and will play with it. If he just sniffs it and looks away, he doesn't like it, and won't play with it. So that's how we pick toys. LOL.

It's definitely worth a shot rather than spending a bunch of money on toys your dog may never play with.

 

[k_estes8]

Kongs with peanut butter in them! Hopefully he will associate toys with food and be intrigued.

 

[RubyLove]

They may just not smell right. Mine wouldn't touch 3 of hers for about a week, because they had a plasticy rubbery scent. They were left in the room and either she got used to it or they lost it a bit, because suddenly she was playing with all of them.