Training with toys is fun!
Training your dog with toys is more exciting to the dog than food reward. I do use treats too, but it depends on what I’m training. I consider food reward as a way to focus the dog and toys as a way to create drive. Toys can bring out arousal and frustration, which sometimes causes a dog to lose focus. You need a good balance of toys and food when training a dog.

With low-drive dogs it’s possible to do more repetitions with food than with a toy. And high-drive dogs will work for a toy all day long. These dogs respond very well to toys. High arousal dogs are easily stimulated dogs who are willing to work and have the motivation and desire to work. So basically most working dogs are easily trainable with toys. If I need my border collie to be calm and use her brain to figure out what I want her to do I use treats.

The first step of teaching your dog a toy reward is finding a toy the dog likes. Then, you need to teach a good foundation including a solid “drop” command so there’s no conflict over the toy. Playtime is never a game of who’s the boss of the toy. You are always the boss. The dog can drop the toy on the floor or trade it for a treat. If you are having trouble with this, use another toy that the dog doesn’t want as much first. Then you can gradually move on to using higher value toys.