Chase's Motivation

How do you train a dog that you can't motivate? Chase is a wonderful dog - sweet, hilarious to watch, incredibly clumsy, always puts up a fuss if kenneled for what he deems to be too long away from the action. He's a great dog, and I don't think I ever regretted taking him in almost a year ago. While I don't think we'll ever show him in AKC because he has hip dysplasia (limping isn't allowed in any performance ring), we've been taking him to training classes to give him some better manners. I've always found that I'm more willing to practice with my dogs when I have something to work towards, and training classes help that a lot.

The only problem with Chase is motivating him. He came from a life where he lived in a 4x12 run outside, and rarely got any attention besides when he got his food twice a day. Because he had hip dysplasia, he wasn't really worked with as much as the show prospects were. The first time I saw him, though, he heeled perfectly with me without a leash. You'd call his name and he'd come bounding toward you. This dog absolutely lived for human contact. When we took him home at 2 years of age, he didn't know what a treat was, or what to do with a toy. Any training except housebreaking (which that smart boy learned within only a week) was put on hold until he got used to being inside, playing with other dogs, and learning the joys of treats and toys.

Now that we're working more with him outside the home, though, you can really tell that he doesn't have as much of a food or toy "drive" as most dogs do. How do you reward a dog that is indifferent to conventional dog training rewards? He'll do what you want him to in training, is actually one of the better dogs in class, but he doesn't have that drive to really watch his handler, that joy that comes with the strong connection between dog and handler. I always used to think that it just takes finding that one special thing that your dog will do just about anything for, be it hot dogs or a tug toy, or whatever. Lately, though, I'm not sure that that's quite it. I think a lot of that motivation for a toy or a piece of chicken can be built to some extent, by using methods trainers like Susan Garrett preach. But then again, maybe there is another way out there yet to training that we still haven't discovered.