Game #15 · Brain & Foraging
Toy Sorting
Advanced vocabulary training and cognitive discrimination.
- What you need:
- Two distinctly different toys (e.g., "Ball" and "Bear").
How to play
- Hold "Ball," say its name clearly, throw it, and reward them for fetching it.
- Repeat this over a few days until they know the name perfectly.
- Place both toys on the ground side by side.
- Ask specifically for "Ball" and reward heavily only if they choose the correct one.
Coach's notes
- Only train one new word at a time — the second word learns itself by contrast.
- Test with the toys in a novel room to confirm real learning.
- Chaser the Border Collie learned 1,000+ nouns this way — most dogs plateau at 20–40.
- Two 5-minute sessions per day beats one long drill.
If your dog loses interest
Quick fixes when engagement drops mid-session.
- Not touching toys? Start with just one toy and reward every touch before you introduce a second.
- Confusion after 3 sessions = your cue words sound too similar. Pick names with distinct vowels ('ball' vs 'rope').
- End every session with a correct pick — never quit on a wrong answer or the mistake sticks.
Why it works
Pilley & Reid's Chaser studies, and Kaminski's earlier work with Rico, showed dogs can learn labels via fast-mapping — the same inference kids use.
References
- [9] Kaminski, J., Call, J., & Fischer, J. (2004). Word learning in a domestic dog: Evidence for 'fast mapping'. Science 304, 1682–1683.
- [11] Pilley, J. W., & Reid, A. K. (2011). Border collie comprehends object names as verbal referents. Behavioural Processes 86, 184–195.
Which cognitive muscle is your dog's strongest?
Run the same science-based tasks from Duke in your living room and get your dog's full cognitive profile.