# Not food motivated



## solinvictus (Oct 23, 2008)

Hi Michelle. I don't have any real solid advice for you. Maybe you need to start from the beginning again on getting her into the car. Usually if a dog is stressed out they are not motivated. What type of foods have you used? Have you tried using a special toy. On getting her into the car, why not just take her to the car on leash and play by the door for a few days. Then open the door but still just play on the outside of the car. If that seems to be going well after a day or two get her excited playing with the car door open and then throw the toy in and have her get it. Whatever toy you use only using it when doing your special training don't let her play with it at any other time. When you see her getting more comfortable getting into the car eventually take her around the block. After going around the block don't end the game play it a few more times with the in and out of the car. For each thing you want her to do you have to get her out of her stress mode first.
I hope one of the trainers here see your post and give you some more professional advice.


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## GoldenOwner12 (Jun 18, 2008)

My Shelley use to be scared of hoping into the car but now she loves it and gets very excited. What i did is i got in the car and acted like i was having alot of fun and eventually Shelley decided to get into the car to see what she was missing out on. everytime she got in the car i rewarded her with pats and praise. Within a week Shelley was hoping in and out of the car with convidence. Shelley use to pee if we tryed to pick her up and put her in the car out of fright. Shelley use to be timid and scared of alot of things but is hell of alot better now. It will take time and patience but i'm sure you will get there. Like the other poster said make it fun do not only put her in the car to take her to the vet, take her her to fun places eg beach,river,lake or park that way she thinks riding in the car = fun things to do.


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## BeauShel (May 20, 2007)

bumping up


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## Bock (Jun 23, 2008)

My golden was also not food motivated, so I turned to what did motivate him -squeaky stuffies and tennis balls. Instead of giving him a treat, he gets a few seconds with the toy.

The trick is that they can't play with them any time except for when training. It needs to be special.


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

I have a few suggestions for you.

First, I totally agree with Bock - if she can be motivated with toys, find some she really likes and put them aside for those times when you want to motivate her - but, since she is timid you may need to train her to play in areas she is not familiar with. Go to new areas and let her sniff and get acquainted with the area, and then ask her to play. Gradually move to more distracting and/or busy areas.

Second, try upping the treat value. If she won't eat dog treats, try chicken, or liver or I even use liverwurst when I want really high value rewards (for example when training the teeter). 

Third, train her with verbal and physical rewards in a quiet, comfortable environment. This might include Gooooood girl which is followed with something she really enjoys - and this does vary from dog to dog. One of my dogs loves having his ears pulled and massaged while another one hates that but loves to have her head cupped between my hands and being softly stroked in the cheek area with both thumbs. These verbal praise signals can really help her out when she is working through new problems to solve; you can use them to praise but please not to comfort her when she is stressed.

I would also get her out and about to many places to try to work through some of her timidity and even agility and low pressure obedience classes. The more things she can enjoy and begin to ignore her fears in, the more confident she will become. It is hard work though, so practice your patience  and accept all her attempts to please you without comparing her to other dogs that might be in the class.


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