I love this thread! It's so funny because we name all of Isabel's toys and we sit in amazement at her when we call the toy by name and she will go through the house searching and always bring the one we asked her for. We just thought it was some quirky talent she had. But Isabel has a little innate obsession with her toys and esp. chasing balls. So we spend ALOT of time with her doing playing this game she loves the most! [BTW: If anyone ever wants to discuss their dogs love of toys-and by that I mean "obsessive" love of toys...for example at Xmas, she has no problem sniffing out the toys meant for her stocking!]
But I digress. Here's what works for us when introducing a new toy... when we first get her a new toy we name it for whatever it looks like....this is part of the fun for my husband and I...I know, we must have no life..haha. So we give her the toy...and say the name of the toy as she is grabbing for it. (and believe me, she gets soo excited when she gets a new toy) We use repetition and never change the name of the toy. For some reason, the names have always stayed in her little brain.
Just for fun, here are some of the names of her toys...
1. Multi-ball (this is her absolute favorite-it's a sort of multi-colored rubber "puzzle" ball) When we say, "go get the "multi"...I swear she will search the house until she finds it.
2. Cotton candy ball (this is just a soft-rubber squeaky ball that has blended pastel colors and looks like a handful of cotton candy!)
3. Jessepe (this is a rubber squeaky Italian man in a striped outfit complete with little flat hat)
4. Chicken leg-the classic rubber chicken leg toy
5. Moon ball - a yellow nubby ball--she seems to enjoy the toys with texture the most
6. Chewy - this is just a little raw hide bone that will every once in a while give as a short treat--this may bring up a whole other issue, but we have found that for Isabel a little chewy helps with her obsession with the ball--we use it as a diversion sometimes.
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Marcy (a.k.a. Isabelsmom) |