By Michele L. Meyer

Is your dog bored with his toys? You can’t have too many toys for your dog but you should leave only a few down at a time. Rotating your dog’s toys helps keep the novelty. Your dog will be less likely to practice undesirable behaviors if he is more engaged with his toys.

Toy rotation also creates great training opportunities. Tell your dog to perform a dog training cue such as sit, down, or stay before giving him a toy. This is a great way reinforce your leadership since your dog will see that you are the provider of the toys and he has to earn the rewards.

Be careful when choosing toys for your dog. For example, if your dog has rope toys he will most likely confuse the tassels on your rugs or curtains as his toys. For this reason, do not give your dog old socks, shoes, etc. to play with because he will not understand why he can’t play with your new ones!