# Next to no interest in toys?



## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

Anyone else have a shepherd who has next to no interest in toys of ANY kind? I swear Shasta is not a toy hound. Give her a bone or a kong stuffed with peanut butter and treats and she's good to go. I imagine once we're back in our own house that I can likely give her free roam with no problems with as mellow as she is. 

Even when she was a puppy she was never really interested in toys. She's more interested in playing with other dogs if she's going to play but she's generally pretty self entertaining. She also has ZERO clue how to play with stuffed toys. lol. I have a flirt pole that came with a squeaky fox thing and Zena, the old pain in the butt knows exactly how to play with it but Shasta is like 'eh whatever!' I know I didn't allow stuffed dog toys in the house because I have younger kids who have stuffed animals and I didn't want to make it harder for Shasta by having her try to learn the difference between her toys and the kids toys but really, I don't think she really cared now that I look back on everything. 

Anyone else have a dog with no interest in toys?


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## volcano (Jan 14, 2013)

Does she have food drive? Look into the Michael Ellis youtube vids, you can build a dogs drive via food.


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

volcano said:


> Does she have food drive? Look into the Michael Ellis youtube vids, you can build a dogs drive via food.


 
She is treat motivated but I've tried so many things to get her interested in toys and she's just not. It's fine. I was really just wondering if I have the only weirdo who doesnt care for toys at all. She's pretty lazy when it comes to shepherds but with Riley not around anymore, she's a little crazier than normal. But the weather has also been nicer so hikes are becoming easier to do again.


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## volcano (Jan 14, 2013)

look at the vids, if you treat the right way at the right time you can build interes in anything, including toys. My first week with my girl I did alot of bite inhibition and she didnt have much interest in toys. Then I got her tugging and now its a little challenge with her hitting me by mistake. I even bought some rabbit and buffalo fur toys to induce her/high reward toys. I think if you have your dog driving for treats you have something to work with as far as training. I can understand your frustration though- you want to play with your dog!!!


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## elisabeth_00117 (May 17, 2009)

Yes, I have one... lol.

Stark has NO interests in toys OR food. 

VERY hard to motivate for training. What I found worked with him was rough housing with me.

Before I start any sort of training with him, I will run around, push him around, have him chase me, let him jump on me, kinda rough him up a bit. This excites him and he gets totally focused on me. Usually trying to jump around me play bouncing and trying to get me to chase him.

Then I will ask for a sit or down or heel or whatever it is we are working on. When he performs (usually for him in small increments) then I reward again with getting him to jump on me, I push him back, chase him a bit. 

It is EXHAUSTING for me, but he does enjoy it.

The only thing Stark gets excited for is tracking (no food) and herding or biking.


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## volcano (Jan 14, 2013)

give the food rewards when she wins the tug, thatll get her going, use your body and your voice too to build excitement at the game.


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## Konotashi (Jan 11, 2010)

Ozzy's kind of the same way. If it isn't a ball, he'll play with it for _maybe_ ten minutes before he gets bored with it. If I let him have a ball all the time, he'd never be without it, though. But he only gets to play with his tennis balls when we're playing fetch - other than that, he doesn't care much for toys.


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

elisabeth_00117 said:


> Yes, I have one... lol.
> 
> Stark has NO interests in toys OR food.
> 
> ...


 
glad i'm not the only one with a wacky dog! lol. 

I don't even care that she's not interested in toys. Honestly. If thats not her thing, I'm not going to force it on her. She's a good girl, pretty mellow for almost 3 years old and generally quickly learns what I want to teach her. If she's content with a bone to chew on or her kongs, thats fine by me. She stays out of trouble for the most part. Also, if I wanna be sneaky, it saves me money on toys and replacing toys. I just have to buy her bones and other chewable items and she's good. I don't want to build drive in her because that's not her. It never has been. She's not going to be competing for anything or trained in anything. She's got basic obedience and is a good walking partner. She is treat motivated and once she's got something down, treats arent needed anymore. Just being goofy with her works. When I get my WL, then I'll be buying toys and puzzle balls and all kinds of things and have to be a lot more active with him but Shasta is good with her bed, bones and snoring in my face at night lol.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

i'm looking around the room and i can see 6 toys that haven't
moved in days. near his bed in our bedroom there's a few more
toys that haven't moved in days. he plays with his toys but it's 
not ever day. i can rile him up and make him interested in playing
with his toys. he's always willing to play tug.


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## zivagirl (Jan 5, 2013)

Took some time to get Beth to play, too. At 11 months, shed never really been played with. Just minor training, and crating. 

Because she has a strong prey drive (don't they all), throwing a ball was what we tried first. The ball is at the end of a rope....so tug came next. Slowly, in short bursts, we began to tug. It's what worked for us.


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## volcano (Jan 14, 2013)

Makes sense to me if thats your girls personality. My girl is from working dogs, so I have to build her drive toward food or toys, and lots of training. Otherwise she could get all pent up with crazy energy.


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## elisabeth_00117 (May 17, 2009)

Yeah, my female is the total opposite... I can grab a metal spoon and she pops into drive/working mode. She will do anything even if she *thinks* I might have something to play with.


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

elisabeth_00117 said:


> Yeah, my female is the total opposite... I can grab a metal spoon and she pops into drive/working mode. She will do anything even if she *thinks* I might have something to play with.


 
Yeah I think that's really the only thing that worries me about when i get my working line pup is that energy!!!! I did fine with Zena's energy but I can only imagine how she would have been if her hips were better. Managed Riley's energy just fine and he could have powered an entire city some days with how much he would just go. Shasta so far is the laziest.


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## Phantom (May 9, 2013)

elisabeth_00117 said:


> Yes, I have one... lol.
> 
> Stark has NO interests in toys OR food.
> 
> ...


How do you teach a behavior when A puppy isn't food motivated? I can see how you can practice it but how would you teach it?


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Phantom said:


> How do you teach a behavior when A puppy isn't food motivated? I can see how you can practice it but how would you teach it?


What are you using for treats? Higher value treats can help, and training before a meal when she's hungry. You can also use mealtimes as training time, making her work for her food.


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## Phantom (May 9, 2013)

Cassidy's Mom said:


> What are you using for treats? Higher value treats can help, and training before a meal when she's hungry. You can also use mealtimes as training time, making her work for her food.


I use hot dogs or pup-peroni most often, but I also give her apples, blueberries, green beans, hamburger, sausage, chicken, cheese(the leftovers from different things I eat). She likes all of these things but she doesn't seem to want to work for them. It may not be the food though with me, I think I'm training her wrong, she always seems depressed when I do training.

I wasn't actually saying my pup wasn't food motivated I was just asking how it was possible to train a pup that wasn't.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Phantom said:


> I wasn't actually saying my pup wasn't food motivated I was just asking how it was possible to train a pup that wasn't.


Use toys.


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## Baillif (Jun 26, 2013)

You could always take a video and show us how you present the toys. Toy presentation and how you play with the toy can have a huge effect on creation of drive or killing of it. I do know dogs with crap prey drive, but they're usually something like Bassett hounds.


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