Working with a dog who is not motivated by anything and very complex

(03-09-2013, 02:32 PM)trishgl Wrote: What would you want him motivated for? My chow can't be bribed with treats or toys and I don't think there is anything wrong with her. She will move for a piece of chicken though. Just because the dog isn't playful does not mean she's not happy. Why don't you walk him in the morning or afternoon so he gets the exercise he needs and you can get him to socialize a bit. I always think if I was stuck at home all day with no one I can communicate with would I be happy? So I make it a point to walk my dog once even twice a day so she can see and "talk" to other dogs.

This post no longer applies. Gonzo ended up being adopted by an upperclassmen at the vet tech college and now lives on a farm.


If you met this dog you would know something was wrong with him just based on his behavior everything he did was a sign of fear, insecurity, etc... I personally believe he was not a good fit for the college and should have been re homed to a behaviorist instead of having us work with him because of how severe his problems are. My own dog isn't very playful but I don't think theres anything wrong with him either. I never meant that a playful dog wasn't a happy dog but this dog was not even showing his true personality even after being at the college for almost a year. This is a severely damaged dog that was not once happy. You brought him out of his kennel and he wanted to go right back inside. He was terrified of everything. Gonzo did not live with me he was a dog I may have adopted from my vet tech college. I fostered him for 2 weeks over winter break and then took over being his trainer once we got back to campus. I had no control over what happened with him at the college in terms of exercise unless I was with him training him(however during kennels he is taken out by whoever is on duty twice in the morning and by whoever is on duty in the afternoon twice again so taking him out for training was not the only exercise he got). Even then we had restrictions on where we could go and socializing(dogs are not allowed interact together and only other dog trainers can interact with the dogs). This dog is was not your average dog. Even on walks during our training sessions he shut down, he wasn't motivated to learn simple obedience commands, he was a very odd and complex dog that no one had ever seen before. He was tied up in a junkyard and beaten and starved. I was just asking for advice if I did end up taking "my" dog home if anyone had ever worked with a dog like him before. My own dog at home is fear aggressive(this is not due to lack of socialization but due to being attacked multiple times by loose dogs while we are out on our daily walks) yet I've worked with him to the point where hes willing to be around other people and other dogs even without being scared and wanting to bite them. However I've never met or worked with a dog like Gonzo before(I've worked with aggressive dogs, under socialized dogs, fearful dogs, dogs with behavior problems, etc...) and neither did anyone at the college(all instructors are certified vets and vet techs) so was just looking for advice but like I said he went to a farm with an upperclassmen.