Building Treat "drive"?

[eric83]

Having an...odd problem with Piper and looking for advice/opinions on how to go about fixing it. If it is "fixable" anyway.

Piper is about 6.5 months old and she's really well-behaved. She "does" everything that I tell her to so the problem, if you could call it that, that I am having isn't really anything to do with behavior issues. She knows the basics, sit, down, walk on a loose-leash, stay etc. She will do those almost every single time without fail even in really high distraction areas, which I feel is great for a dog who's going through that teenage phase.

We hit training pretty hard from the time she came home up until now, she came home with a little more shyness than I like and she could be snarky with other dogs, but we've worked through those issues. Its been a slow process with ups and downs but we're pretty much out on the other side now. She loves the dog park, enjoys playing with other dogs, she's no longer shy with people etc.

Well...the weird issue I've run into with her is we've kind of hit a wall. She's well-behaved and very mannerly, but training just does not seem "fun" for her. I've tried all sorts of different treats in order to get her interested in learning more, and I've also tried toys thinking perhaps treats are just not her currency, but she's just not that interested. We have always learned new behaviors through the clicker so there's no negativity going into it that would be leaving her with a bad taste.

I suppose she's always been pretty bored with training in general. We've had her through two classes so far, and during puppy kindergarten she would actually fall asleep during the down-stays or moments where we would stop to talk about things.

Am I just expecting too much for a teenager to be interested in training? Or should I be going about training differently in order to get her interested? I guess perhaps I should just be counting my blessings she's not being a hellion

[Cassidy's Mom]

What are YOU like during training sessions? Are you happy, energetic, enthusiastic? Are you having fun? If not, training may not be very fun for her either. I see that you're a guy, and sometimes guys have a harder time using a high pitched voice to praise their dog, or whooping it up and being silly. My husband tends to say everything in the same tone of voice, and when he yells "come" at the dogs like they're in trouble or something I'm always saying "happy voice!" to him, lol!

If training is more about rote drills than getting her engaged with you in a fun way, then that's probably what you should change.

[eric83]

I do have that issue quite a bit. I have a really really boomy low-pitched voice and its not easy for me to pitch it up very much at all. I've tried to compensate for it as much as I can with treats because it only goes so high.

I haven't noticed too much of a change when I use a higher pitch though, I was used to training a really soft dog before her, I had a border collie for years and I had to watch my pitch quite a bit or he would actually shut down.