I need help motivating my dog!

[Naterlies]

I have an 8-year old Retriever/Shepherd mix (we think) who is incredibly hard to motivate. We've had her in our house for two years after taking her from my grandmother. Our dog Dulce was born on a fishing camp in Mexico and was taken by my grandmother who lives in Baja and used to be something of an animal collector. When Dulce moved in she never really fit in with the other dogs and chose to spend most of her time in the garage. My family was able to convince my grandmother to let us have her because we were looking for a pet and Dulce didn't seem especially happy there anyway. Dulce has adjusted well to our home and is for the most part a very nice and sweet dog. She loves people and always wants attention. We have been able to train her to sit, wait, stop jumping on guests, and she has recently started to make friends with other dogs instead of snarl at them. However, we can't really train her to do anything else because she simply isn't motivated by food or play. She's always been a picky eater, which I think is because my grandmother often fed her human food. She's also very timid about food - the other dogs at my grandmother's house were much rowdier than her and probably ate her meals on more than one occasion, and sometimes we can't even look at her while she eats or else she'll stop and sit down on her bed. It's not like she isn't hungry - she gets fed once a day with only a few treats in between. Dog treats are of minimal interest - if she is sitting on her bed she will not get up for a treat or anyone calling her unless it's to go for a walk. She also cannot be motivated with toys because she simply doesn't know what to do with them. We've tried the Kong toys with peanut butter inside, tug-of-rope toys, and tennis balls. She'll play with other dogs but not toys or people. It's just very hard to get her excited unless there are people coming and going. Usually if she gets excited for one reason or another, she cuts herself off after a few seconds of jumping around and runs into the kitchen and sits on her bed. She spends most of her day lying in her bed, and she's probably pretty bored, but I can't figure out how to motivate her to do anything aside from go for a walk! She gets three walks a day and is in good health, but I'm sure she'd be happier with a little more to do in her life! Any suggestions? Help!

[Nettle]

What is it you want her to do? At 8 she is middle-aged and not going to want to charge about.

She seems to have a good life already, and to have figured out what suits her. Just enjoy her for the dog she is.

[jilldiane]

I would totally echo what Nettle has said. I understand exactly where you are coming from, I too have a a dog that is completely uninterested in toys, kongs ripping or shredding paper, finding food hidden in various objects, you name it I`ve tried it! As for training I just about got sit, and she understands wait before getting out of car, but she is so nervous anything else just makes her worried. Apart from when she is out or eating she spends her time asleep on my bed. I like you felt I should be doing more for her and felt quilty, but couldn`t see what I could do. So I rent her a rough wild field in the middle of a wood, fully enclosed because it used to have horses in it. I sit there with a book and a flask and Flecha hunts and hunts for little furry rodents.

Ideally I would love to teach all sort of things and have her playing and interacting with me, but its just not going to happen. I think sometimes we just have to accept that we have dogs the way they are, and not feel quilty that we are letting them down. You say she seemed unhappy at your grandmothers but you don`t mention you think she is unhappy at yours just probably a bit bored, Dulce is probably very happy with her lot in life and content to snooze her hours away.