Using a scent to mark baby toys?

I've previously heard about people who used this technique to get a dog to recognize which toys were the baby's and which were the dog's, where people put a dab of a fragrance or essential oil (almond oil usually) on the baby's toys, and teach the dogs to ignore them. I'm pretty sure Milo would pick up on this in about two seconds, but Benji (who is SEVEN and suddenly started stealing random objects to chew on) is another story.

My plan was to dab almond oil (or whatever) on a couple of "tempting" items, toss them on the ground, and interrupt/redirect the dogs when they try to grab them, then reward for picking up something appropriate or leaving it alone.

Any other tips or techniques for using this method?

Well when Kim was a destructo-puppy we ended up putting all her approved toys in with some of her kibble for a few days so they had a sort of kibble smell, then rewarded her for using those toys and interupted when she had anything else and replaced it with an approved toy. She got the picture quickly.

Seems to be it's more effective to identify what the dog IS allowed to have vs. all the things they are NOT allowed to have.

I have clients scent the *dog's* toys instead of the child's and so far it's worked pretty well.

Yep, I'd definitely scent the dog toys, not the baby things.

I DO THIS WITH MERLIN'S TOYS

With his stuff and my stuff all over the floor I started spritzing his toys with the same stuff he and his bed are spritzed with lol (one part water, some lavender essential oil, one part apple cider vinegar)

No worries the vinegar smell goes away once it dries.. it is just to kill germs and such (and is totally harmless if ingested, he gets it in his water too)

and now he knows what all his toys smell like!! I didn't really have to "teach him" but he got a "EH!" anytime he picked up something that was mine and redirected to one of his toys.

I tested it out by buying some NEW toys, spritzing one of them, and dropping them on the floor and he automatically went for the one that smelled like his stuff! Now I play games like this with him (find your toy, which one is yours etc..)

It works really well, especially because I have a bunch of stuffed animals that are mine around and he doesn't touch them even though he WRECKS his.

Plus side both my dog and his stuff always smell good.
Downside is I can't use lavender essential oil on me or my laundry because he then gets all over my stuff!! :rofl1: so it is now "his smell"