Motivated behavior is characterized by a high degree of vigor, activity persistence, and effort. Nucleus Accumbens (Nacb) dopamine (DA) plays a major role in voluntary locomotion and in the activational component of motivated behaviors, including effort-related decision-making. The transcription factor Pitx3 is critical for the survival of mesolimbic DA neurons. Aphakia mice (Ak) have a mutation in Pitx3, which leads to a reduction in dorsal-striatal dopaminergic innervation and results in parkinsonian-like motor alterations. They also show a reduction in ventral-striatal DA, including Nacb. In these mice, we evaluated spontaneous behavioral activation in a running wheel (RW), and vigor-based choice in a T-maze that contains 3 reinforcers with different activational requirements: a RW, sweet pellets, or a floral odor. WT mice showed higher voluntary locomotion in the RW compared to Ak. Moreover, WT mice spend most of their time running, and although Ak mice also preferred the RW, they spent less time running, but more time eating compared to WT. Ak mice consumed more palatable pellets under different experimental conditions, although they did not differ in chow consumption or sucrose drinking. Interestingly, Ak mice were more active climbing a barrier in the pursuit of palatable pellets. Additionally, repeated administration of L-DOPA (a DA precursor) significantly increased voluntary running in the RW in both strains to the same stent, but neither strain changed relative preferences in the T-maze task. In conclusion, Ak mice are less intrinsically motivated to run, but they increase effort when required to get access to a palatable reinforcer.