Rescue dog not motivated by anything

[Grasshopper75]

Our lovely little rescue is a sweet, gorgeous dog but she isn't reliably motivated by anything. She has 0 interest in any toys, we've tried every type going. She also isn't bothered by food. She will eventually eat her breakfast, but sometimes leaves it til gone 3pm. No health issues, recent check up with the vet and she was fine and hasn't lost weight.

We upped the value of her treats for recall to off cuts of sodding STEAK and she still only comes back when she feels like it. All she wants to do is sniff and pee on everything when we're on a walk. We've got a long line as she won't reliably come back when we call her, and we don't want a situation where someone is telling us to get her away from their dog and she doesn't listen. She also gets horrifically travel sick so driving her to a secure dog field (only ones near us are driving distance) to do any practice is also out of the question as she vomits after a few minutes in the car.

Does anyone have any advice? We had a beautiful dog who died very suddenly and traumatically last year at the age of 2 who we had from a puppy. He was obsessed with food and toys, and walking him was so much fun. I try my level best not to compare them as they're completely different dogs and she had an awful start in life, but the difficulties with walking her make me feel so sad and miss my old dog, and then I feel so guilty.

What breed is she OP? There will be SOMETHING - you just haven't found it yet!

She's a Romanian rescue so she's a mix of lots! She does get motivated for a bit, we thought we'd cracked it with super stinky hotdogs as she was obsessed with them for a few days but then she reverted back!

My rescue will never be off lead but loves what's called a "sniffy walk", sounds like that's what your enjoys too. It's great to be able to let dogs run off lead but it's just not always possible.
Have you had her long? Might change, my lovely DDog didn't play with toys at first but now does.

How long have you had her? It can take a long time to build a bond with a dog, and get them to play not so much with the toy as with you. Once they want to please you, you can build more value in the treats and the toys.

One of mine (and I've had her from a puppy) didn't give a shit about anything except scent and prey. It took me two years to develop her interest in play (outside the house) and even long to build interest and value in treats. Now I can take her into exciting environments and get her to play with me. Because she will now happily work for a treat, she's now learning new stuff all the time, and has realised that she likes to learn, which builds her motivation further.

I'd start with play as engagement indoors and gradually begin playing with her in increasingly enticing environments (house=>garden=>park=>playing fields when quiet=> playing fields when football match in progress=>fields and woods), with whatever she goes for - tug toys, ball, something she can chase. It's a long slow slog (or it was for me - knowing what I know now I could probably have sped the process up quite a bit) but totally worth it.

If she isn't food or toy orientated she may be people orientated. I'd do lots of work on your bond together. Lots of short sharp and interesting training with huge amounts of praise from you - make that the motivating factor. If she likes scent then maybe do some scent training or take her to gundog training could start getting her interested. Even a quick sit or stay occasionally. How old is she? If she's been a Romanian street dog she will be well used to relying solely on herself with no need for any sort of partnership, you need to slowly change her mind that it is something of real value. Until recall is reliable obviously on the lead.
Sounds stupid but really enthusiastic calling for recall coupled with lying down can work - they get curious!

Right now I'd give her time. She'll be terrified. She has been taken away from everything she has ever known and is having to adapt to a totally new life.

She's likely spent her life trying not to be noticed by people and showing interest would get her noticed and she doesn't want that. The lack of interest in food is a bit of a mystery. Does she feel safe when she eats? I used to put my Rommie's bowl in the middle of the room and then leave the room leaving the internal doors open so she could 'escape'. She'd wolf it down though!
Having said that about not being noticed, mine actually wanted to be noticed and used to show people just how lovely she is in the hope of getting a bit of food. They do what they have to do to survive.

Are you doing the same walks everyday? You should. Keep her world really small so she gets to smell the same smells everyday. New smells = uncertainty = fear. She's peeing so as to communicate with her 'new pack'.

Re going in the car - mine accepts short journeys but she never be a good traveller. And she rarely goes off-lead.

It's a huge thing adopting a Rommie. It can be extremely rewarding but it can also be hard. I understand more about her everyday but I realise how underprepared I was. Good luck.

Thanks all, I think you're right and I'm probably just expecting too much from her. We got her in October last year so she's not actually been with us that long. She's around 3 years old, incredibly soft natured, never nips or bites, doesn't chew anything up or have any undesirable behaviours at all in the house. She is even much better with pulling on her short lead than she was when we got her. It's just the recall that's the issue, but I need to accept it'll either take a lot longer to train or she might not get there. I'm unfairly comparing her to my previous dog who was mad as a box of frogs but absolutely adored learning and was incredibly trainable, and I just want to be able to take her to new and exciting places and let her run around more.

She sounds overwhelmed rather than unmotivated. Often imported rescues need months and years to even begin to settle in and sometimes never do fully enough to train them. I have met many who live good lives but on their terms.

I'd reign it way back. Does she like a moving treat? So throw something for her to find? Often that will tap into natural drive and get them going and it's less threatening than coming towards you. You'd need to start in a low stress environment like her safe space and work up very slowly.

Was also going to suggest changing the way the food reward is delivered.
You should get her excited about this at home first, in a place with no distractions.
Online training resource ' Sexier than a squirrel' will be really helpful for you.
Also I would leave food down for a maximum of 20 minutes before taking it away until the next meal time.
You are devaluing it by leaving it down for hours.

Online training resource ' Sexier than a squirrel'
Honestly, I wouldn't touch them (Absolute Dogs) with a bargepole. The woman behind it was caught out last year basically puppy farming.
See here:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/the_doghouse/4865816-absolute-dogs?page=1
It was also over FB at the time too.

We had 3 rescues from the Balkans. NONE of them were motivated by toys or food and none of them were ever interested in chasing a ball. They were also basically untrainable despite many many dog training lessons. No recall whatsoever.

We had them for 14 years; 16 years and 18 years respectively. They were street dogs and very traumatised. In the end they became loyal gentle, loving little dogs and we basically just love-bombed them. Unlimited cuddles and snuggles. They were also brilliant with our rescue cats. And gave us much love.

We think it is because they never had any sort of typical doggy type drives bred into them, because their background was feral for however many generations. W just had to take them as they were.

A lot of Romanian rescues never go off lead because their background can just make it totally unreliable forever. BUT! Sniffy walks can be amazing. I know the wish to have them off lead and running free but really some dogs are just as happy on the lead, allowed to sniff everything and mooch around on their walk. Mine are rescues too and neither have ever learnt to play with toys. But they do love a quick race run against me and will playing in other forms.

Dogs need to learn how to learn! It isn't something that comes naturally to some breeds and it's why game and choice based training is so powerful. This is hard in a dog that has suffered trauma but even more so when you have no idea of the breed therefore what may motivate them.

This is one of the limitations of imported dogs. I am not criticising just making people aware.

My Rommie rescue is the same - sniffing & peeing is his favourite hobby and he's not remotely bothered by balls, toys or treats. This made training tricky but we persevered & now he's a much easier dog and more fun to be around. The biggest factor is time - rescues need a lot more time to relax, trust and learn - and bonding. He is very bonded to me now and loves positive attention & praise. He adores cuddles and being spoken to softly. I think you need to trust the journey you are on, accept you are still grieving your old dog & try really hard not to compare. Accept the rescue dog on her terms & with her foibles & love and fun will grow. Good luck!

I have a Romanian Rescue dog aged about 5. She too has no interest in toys, playing, going in water etc. We socialise her a lot with other dogs who like to play with balls and sticks, but she'd rather sit down with the humans! I worry about her sometimes as she seems to lack motivation and I don't know what to do to make her happy. She used to have terrible car sickness although it has improved over time. She seems to love new adventures/walks so I think she just gets bored if we do the same walks a few times a week (which we have to do sometimes when working etc but we often take her camping or on long walks in different places). So no advice really OP but can relate to what you're saying! They are a mystery but we love 'em.

Thanks everyone, some really good advice here and I'll definitely try some new strategies. She's such a sweet girl, we've been incredibly lucky with how gentle she is and I'm just expecting too much from her. It's coming up to a year since we lost our other dog and it was incredibly traumatic so I think that's making me a bit unreasonable in my expectations of her as I keep thinking about him.

I agree about Lauren's puppy farming and do not approve of this in any way.
However a lot of the problems op is having are covered in the course I mentioned and I think she would benefit.

It's still very early days. Personally, I would completely forget about teaching a recall out of the house and just focus on doing it indoors for now. Every single time you call her name, give her a treat. Every time. Then call her from across the room - treat.

Once she comes to you reliably, up the ante. Go to another room. Go upstairs. Go into the garden. But only move on to the next stage once she's reliably mastered the one before.

And remember that there are lots of dogs out there who never master recall and lead (ha) perfectly happy lives on long lines or the (much hated) flexi leads. It's really not the end of the world if she can only go off lead in a secure area.