gets a toy before coming

can't answer for you - but my dog will bring you a 'pressie' all the time.  We leave a nylabone galileo in his crate and when you open up in the morning or when he's been crated otherwise he grabs it and brings it to you.
If he is uncrated and someone comes home or visits he will find something to bring to the arrival.  He has actually went to greet realizaed he didn't have anything turned around to get a chew or toy and then gone back to greet.
If we are outside playing he will often get both the original fetch object and pick up another too if he passes it.

It seems related to another habit he has which is if you put a stuffed kong in his crate and put him in with it he will not eat it until you let him out.  We went out on Monday and were gone about 6 hrs (can't remember the last time he was crated that long) and he sat there with his kong full of his favorite stuff.  When we returned he brought it to us and then once he settled he ate it up.
Its one of those doggie mysteries to me.
BTW he's about a year old and a great dane/lab mix (probably hound too)

that's cute.
Why do you have toys lying around? generally you should control the toys by keeping them put away until you want to initiate a game.

ORIGINAL: mudpuppy

that's cute.
Why do you have toys lying around? generally you should control the toys by keeping them put away until you want to initiate a game.

I guess because he's a puppy and he is still learning to play by himself.  Before he could only play with his toys with us and whined if he couldn't.  Nowadays he plays by himself more and more, but when playing with us he usually insists on having a toy. 

I do take toys away and don't leave all of them out at once.  If he's eating, I take them away.  If he's playing rough with us, I take it away, etc.  But I think he should have toys around in general to keep himself busy.

I don't want to remove all toys before petting him and playing with him (which is very often!) and when there are no toys around, he usually wanders around looking for one and doesn't seem to be as happy coming to me without one at times. 

It is seriously cute, try to imagine his ears back and his entire 95+ lbs wagging, great dane tail whizzing around with his bone carried in his mouth.

 We have a drawer under (part of) his feeding station and that's where they are kept inside and outside they are all in a particular area under a tree, near his kiddie pool.
The only 'toy' that might be left around inside is an empty kong or a pressed rawhide bone.  So that is what he will grab.  I leave the empty kong around because he is a chewer and its something he is allowed to have and I can hear him chewing it so I can keep an eye on him.
When he's outside he won't play with his toys (tennis ball, basketball, football, or kong ring (tennis ball stuff) unless someone is there to play with him.   He did try and eat a firehose retriever toy so that is put away until we play with it together.
 When he is out alone he hunts & explores, if you are out with him he might just sit in the grass for a bit but unlikely.  he's usually on the move.
Inside his toys are very limited due to him being a toy destroyer, he's actually chewed an ultra black kong in half.  He destroys rope toys so they are monitored closely and stuffed toys are gone in seconds so he has a range of kongs, the galileo, I give him large plastic bottles to chase and chew (strictly supervised) and that's about it.
I wish I could find something for him that was true 'toy' but since we got him at about 3.5-4 months he has just destroyed all toys.  Amazingly he hasn't destroyed anything in the house other than some vanilla potpourri, pine cones from a display, some magazines and a couple of kitchen towels.  All of those were attempts at attention seeking though not strictly chewing []

Lastly he can't even be trusted with natural bones because he crushes them and cracks them to bits so if you have any ideas I am certainly open to suggestion

My Aussie ALWAYS grabs a stuffy (or shoe) when he is called to come. He could be 2 feet away watching me put on my shoes to go out - I call him - he runs around the house like an idiot until he finds something to pick up and then comes racing back to go out! The same thing happens when there is a knock at the door. He jumps up, grabs something in his mouth and races to be first in line to greet the guest.
I'm not sure what this represents as far as possible dominance? When he was a puppy, we had a problem with him nipping at our heels, especially when we (or others) would come into the house. We started giving him a toy to hold so he wouldn't nip in his excitement. I suspect that is where it comes from.

Mudpuppy, that is an interesting comment about the toys. Are you saying that dogs should only play with their toys if you playing with them?

I don't know the reason for this behavior but I don't think it's dominance related. We always have a ball (or two or three) lying around the house somewhere, and when I or my boyfriend come home from work Russell will often grab a ball to greet us at the door. But not only is he quite submissive in general, he also does not initiate games with us... I don't think he's initiating a game when he does this - he'll also grab a bully stick if that's what's handy. To me it seems kind of like a "gathering up all the things I love" gesture but that's just a guess. []

Our Akita, Meeko (RIP), used to bring us whatever was handy as a "coming home" present... sometimes it was a tissue or a used sock... whatever it was, it was for us. She would drop it in our hands, greet us, then go lay down. I really miss that some days []

Thanks for the replies guys.

When he brings a toy, he always wants to fight over it.  Like tug of war.  He'll only give it to us or drop it if we command him to.  I don't know if that means anything or not.  He loves tug of war, and he always loses. []

Although you were likely unaware of it, this behavior was trained by you.  When he came to you with a toy, his needs got met, he got attention or a tug game etc.  So he naturally assumes, call me in a non training situation, bring a toy, you are likely to get a tug if not more.  Plenty of positive reinforcement going on in this guy's mind.  If you dont mind, leave it alone.  If you do mind, shape it into what is more desired by changing your behavior response to him.

I agree with mrv.  It's really up to you whether you want to encourage it - and while your dog sounds "manipulative" (I mean that in a benign way LOL), he certainly doesn't sound like he is the chairman of the board in a threatening way.