# 'Tidy up your toys'



## wenryder (Oct 21, 2010)

One of the things I want to teach Obie is to tidy up his toys. It's my goal, however optimistic it may be. :crossfing

I thought I'd post and see if anyone has worked this command before. If so, if you could share some insight on how you taught it? 

We've been working through different steps. I'm starting with understanding _take it_ and _drop it_ on command, in addition to hand signals. He's got these down pretty good, but we're still working on it for the next few sessions for now. From there, I was thinking of introducing a _hold_ command, and get him to perform simple tasks while holding an item, such as sit, laydown, or circle. The next part would be getting him to associate a word with the basket for his toys. He knows _bed _and how to _go to your bed_, so I thought I could use _basket _and _put it in the basket_.


Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions on this process?


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## FinnTastic (Apr 20, 2009)

bumping up


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

What is the difference between "basket" and "put it in the basket"? If it's two different actions, you'll want two completely different words.

For this trick, we've had best luck if the owner has a large bucket/basket, dog brings an item over, and when his head is over the box/bucket/etc, the "Drop It" is cued. Mark the drop and reinforce. Repeat quite a bit. And then either start to lower the basket to the floor (a few inches each rep) OR bring it out to the side (an inch or two each rep).

My dog does this and it's very cute!


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## Chelseanr (Oct 3, 2010)

Funny enough Rowan has done this ever since he was a puppy, never trained him at all lol. He just seems to like to have all his toys in one spot so that's what he does. 

I did watch a video of my vet trying to train her cocker spanial to put his ball in a basket with clicker training : 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsgBHgFXVIE


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## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

I'm sorry I don't have any ideas for you but I just wanted to say you have a fun idea.

I just go around picking up after mine several times a day.


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## wenryder (Oct 21, 2010)

The only difference between "basket" and "put it in the basket" is that _basket_ would be the object I'm refering to, and _put it in the basket_ would be the command. 

We associate the word _bed_ the same way and _go to your bed_

Thanks for the tips, folks! The video is great, I like how she tosses the treats into the basket. I don't use a clicker, but he does know the term Yes! for a good job. We've been weaning him off treat rewards since January (other than learning NEW tricks) and by using verbal reward/gentle touch reward.


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## wenryder (Oct 21, 2010)

Here is a 3 min video of our progress over the last few days... Sorry it is so dark in the video... I'll have to reshoot in daylight or with more lights on!

And try to ignore the Oscars in the background...


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## Summer's Mom (Oct 20, 2010)

Wow!! He learns real quick... His drop is so cute! =)


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## wenryder (Oct 21, 2010)

He does this look, "Here? Right here mom?.... Here?" before he drops it. As you see, he's looking for some sort of cue that it's right, so we're still working on that. But it's super cute!


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

Awesome, Obie's a great boy.


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## tanianault (Dec 11, 2010)

Oh, Obie is so cute! I love how when you whispered "Drop it" he only partially opened his mouth and didn't drop the toy all the way at first (at about 1:08 on the video). 

- Tania


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## Waggily Tail (Jan 11, 2009)

Love the way he stops and looks at you! Obie was definitely more interesting to watch than the Oscars this year.


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## jimla (Oct 9, 2008)

Good job Obie! I want to train our guys to pick up their toys.


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## Summer's Mom (Oct 20, 2010)

We're working this with Summer now, but using crushed paper balls first - she does better when she associates a new action with a novel object. I use clicker training so she brings the object and places it in the basket to get a click (no in between cues). Once the behaviour is solid then we add the cue.. Its working great! 

To add to the "tidying up" idea, i let her start by picking the balls off the floor and putting them in the basket, rather than seeing them tossed, since eventually you want him to get the toys himself!

We're almost there and she can do 3 paper balls in a row by herself now.. When we are better at it I shall share a video =)

How's Obie's progress?


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## wenryder (Oct 21, 2010)

Obie is making progress. This was our re-shoot this week in daylight.






Eventually I will get him to pickup toys by word association, as opposed to tossing them for him. he's got the basket part down pretty good, though.


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## Chelseanr (Oct 3, 2010)

Very cute! I see he's doing pretty good :]


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## Summer's Mom (Oct 20, 2010)

ooooohhh he's such a pretty boy!!! I love his long gangly legs! =)

Hes doing well! Can't wait for the finished product..


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## FinnTastic (Apr 20, 2009)

I totally love that he is sitting there while you are explaining to us what he is about to do. It is so cute!!


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## FinnTastic (Apr 20, 2009)

Ooppps, my first response was in regards to the first video. He is super cute and I LOVE this trick. I tried to teach Finn this when he was about Obie's age, but I just couldn't figure it out. I'm sure he would of got it if I just new how to teach him correctly. Obie seems to be enjoying it as well.


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## whrbie2001 (May 7, 2010)

We use "put __ away" as our command for cleaning up a toy. We also have named each toy so Jackson can learn to differentiate between his toys. 

It took awhile for him to figure things out so keep working with him and stay consistent with what you want him to do. I started by first walking away from the box with a toy in hand until he became interested. I would make him sit, then give him the toy. Then I would walk back to the toy box and call him over. If he dropped the toy en route, I would do nothing. If he came with the toy, I would then pull out the treat bag and say "AWAY!" anticipating that he'd drop the toy in exchange for the treat (he usually drops everything for a treat). Then I'd start standing further away from the toy box and only reward if he put his toy in the box before coming to me for a treat. Now we have it broken into two parts where we ask him to "find" a certain toy (he knows maybe 2-3 by name) and then asking him to "put __ away." He's pretty reliable although sometimes he still gets a little confused.

Good luck!


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