Need a new motivator!

Now that Gunnar is on a raw diet he is not all that food motivated. I do make him work for his chunk of meat but when I want to do some training I just can't find anything that will really hold his attention. Treats, praise, and play are just not enough to keep this boy interested in training. I have tried a bunch of different treats, some even homemade with raw food. Anyone else out there have any ideas?
Even without motivation he has already learned basic commands. We are currently working on by my side when he comes to me, I use a lure to get him onto my left side sitting. It works about 50% of the time, other than that he is unreliable as to whether or not he will react to the lure or my voice.
Help please!

Make a toy.

Make sure he likes the toy, tease him a little bit with it, but dont give it inside house.

When you go train, each time he does a command give him a toy to chew for a minute, then take away and repeat. Make sure only to give him the toy when training though.

You should really think about clicker training. Maybe teach him to associate the click with reward at meal time until he gets the idea and then only use the click. I think that would work well. I had an excellent clicker site in my favourites.... I'll see if I can find it. ...

Yeah, I agree with orion, though it may not work. Saje's idea would work, but if he's not too food motivated, it may not. I guess that also means a toy might not work, but its work a try, to get/make an irresitable toy that holds a favorite food of his or somthing. Maybe make your own. Say if he likes tennis balls, stuffed animals, and penut butter, somehow combine and stuffed animal, tennis ball, and somthing to hold penut butter. Its rather puzzling though.

He is clicker trained but only reliable sometimes. I will try to find some sort of toy that he LOVES, for the most part he only likes a toy for about five tosses and then that's enough and he's on to the next activity. I could be asking to much from him attention span wise I guess. Maybe that is the problem. Thanks for the input!

Dogs that arn't food motivated arn't usually a problem. Secret is only train them when they are very hungry! So, train before a meal. If Gunnar doesn't take the food, fine. Put it away and try again in half an hour, and so on. Caution though, some trainers take this way too far. I once saw a beagle in puppy class, working like a little angel. It was his first visit and on glancing at him i thought "hmm beagle with nose NOT on floor? what the?" Upon investigation the pup's ribs were showing, he was so underfed that he didn't even notice the other pups.

Bridey, you just took the words out of my mouth as I was readig all the posts. LOL. Get him hungry and train then.

That's horrible about the Beagle!!!

Hey...if the dog still isn't food motivated but loves attention and love, pile that on. It doesn't matter as long as the dog is rewarded. It's just that most dogs love food and it's just a great little present besides the praise.

Don't click without a reward. The clicker is the marker. It will lose meaning if there is no reward to follow. I mean, how turned on could anyone be with just the sound of a click? It's only good because it's assoicated with a treat or other reward.

i found a really good site on keeping your dog motivated just the other day, ill see if i can find it again...

How old is Gunnar now?

German Shepherd males go through a stage - mainly during adolescence - where their brains fall out about half of the time. Honestly, they have the attention span of a gnat with ADD. They will drive you nuts. Just keep working with him and one day you'll notice he's started to snap out of it and is paying attention and doing things you didn't know he'd learned. During the brainless months you've just got to be patient, repeat things and work in short, short sessions. And have faith.

i just found one for buster, it is a cat treat... cant rememebr the name something lovebites
beef flavour, but they work for him..