fair I had a look at the liver cake recipe, I'll have to try it. Thanks for the suggestion, liver might be stinky enough to tempt him.
miss Hotdogs and primula-type cheese aren't really available here, beef is so expensive we don't even eat it ourselves! I'll try liver (we have a dehydrator). I'm not sure about the fish biscuits - he won't take dried fish either, I think he really likes oily stuff. I do try to get him excited for treats, but as soon as we're outside, he's just not that focused on me that he notices. This is obviously something we're working on a lot too - but hard to do when he isn't interested in anything I have to offer him. Breed is unknown, he's a shelter dog, but some kind of Asian mix basically. He basically looks like a very small Old English Sheepdog.
He's also into socks but he's really not motivated by toys. We've tried a lot to get him into them, and he will play inside, but outside it's a different story no matter what we do. Once we're at the park or whatever, he has really good focus, follows us, has great recall, will chase the ball and do nosework and stuff - but when he's distracted (normally by other dogs, by wanting to sniff EVERYTHING and when we're on the way to the park) he has no focus at all and just isn't interested in anything we offer him. He'll do sit and stay when we tell him, but he won't take a treat at all. He won't look at a toy. He won't look at us. I wonder if I could somehow get him interested in toys...there must be a way we haven't tried yet.
name Tried cheese, as in the OP. He'll take it at home (in fact, he loves it) but outside, he's not interested.
four yup, that's why I posted, to try to see what others give their dogs. Trying to find what he values is exactly what I'm trying to do.
ebeneser he's not a snuggly dog at all. He loves to be near us, but not much of a one for fussing. It doesn't bother him, but he doesn't respond much to it either. Like I said, shop-bought treats are a bit hard because of where we live and lack of regulation, and sure, I know not to give him grapes, I've owned dogs my whole life. Just having a bit of an ish food-wise with this one.
tabhula I'd say most dogs I've had favoured either cheese, chicken breast or some other kind of meat so I would count those as high value. No hot dogs or primula type cheeses here unfortunately, but I think I will try liver cake. He loves peanut butter, but only in the house - outside, meh.
Thanks for the ideas all. It's really starting to frustrate me as he has a lot of potential, but it's really hard to reinforce his good behaviour when he won't be rewarded for it.