How do you teach a dog to play with toys?

My friend just adopted a three year old poodle that was rescued from a puppy mill. The dog has no idea how to play with toys (fetch, etc.) How does she go about teaching the dog to play?

if the dog refuses to play, hit it, eventually if you hit it enough it will be really happy and playful.

maybe the toys are boring get a green misule toy that you can put peanut butter in the dog wil try to get the peanut butter out to eat or try playing with the dog with the toy tug of war or fetch with a ball

It's hard for dogs who never learned how to play as puppies. Your friend can try going out in the yard and throwing or rolling a ball. It doesn't matter if the poodle doesn't bring it back, just get the dog to chase the ball. Take the dog shopping! Go to a store with the dog and see if there's anything there that gets her attention - a stuffed toy with some kind of squeaker may get her interested.Also, if your friend hasn't had this dog for long, the dog is still recovering from culture shock - he's just been rescued, is in an entirely new situation for him - so you need to show this dog lots of patience and love and when he feels more at ease, more trusting, he'll likely start to come around and play.

Well don't hit it!Tell your friend this: You can't make/teach a dog to play with toys. Sure you can teach it tricks but not to play with toys. Some dogs aren't into to that kind of stuff. They would rather be calm. that is good sometimes. I have a dog who always wants to play non-stop!but any way, you never know, its just a puppy its probably tired and maybe it will grow into playing with toys. and if you just want him/her to have something to do, buy dog bones. It keeps dogs busy. Hope this helps!

Introduce the dog to different types of toys. Squeaky, ropes, tasty, etc. Try rough housing with it, but not too rough there's no telling what the poor things been through. If it's a hyper dog then try putting your hand under a blanket and move it round. Hyper dogs like to chase stuff. If it's a quiet natured then try getting some toy bones or something. They'll normally lay around and chew on it. They have fun doing it and it cleans their teeth. I have a quiet dog and a hyper dog so if this doesn't work the first time, it may just take a while before it finds something it likes. If she has any small boxes or something, my dog likes to just rip stuff up. If the poodle enjoys that, then she'll have to work with it to get it to understand what it can and can't rip up. There's also a possibility that the dog might like to work. Believe it or not but they will have fun working, especially if you praise them for it. That's all I can think of right now. It just all depends on the personality of the dog.

Definitely you have to give it some time to adjust to the new surroundings. The best advice is to bring it to dog school and get it socializing with other dogs so it can see what a normal dog is suppose to do. Also get a bunch of different toys and leave them on the floor and play with them yourself in front of the dog and it will figure out that toys are to play with. It will take more time to teach the dog than a puppy but any dog can learn new things with time and lots and lots and lots of patients.Hope this helps! P.S. don't forget dog school

Some dogs are just not into toys.I have a Dacshund who is 12 years old now, had him since he was a puppy. He just doesn't prefer toys. He rather run outside or play with me directly (he is a kisser, so hiding my face is how we play)He is beside me as we speak, and there is a 2 year old Doxie destroying a new toy we got him yesterday.Just some dogs aren't into it.

you cant teach a dog to play with toys there are certain toys for certain dog maybe u have the wrong toys

Get it a cat to play with