Thanks for all the replies, this is very interesting!
I guess my concern with food training would be that the dog would be unmotivated to sit once it was weaned off the treat reward for sitting. Is there a way to prevent it? Or is that even an issue? In my cat book, it explains how to teach your cat to come, but says you must ALWAYS give the cat a treat, every time, or it will stop coming--as cats have no natural inclination to obey and are purely in it for the treat. Is this not usually a concern with dogs because they're more of a social animal? Or for some other reason? If it did happen, how would you train the dog out of it? (I know someone with a toy dog who won't obey commands unless a treat is involved.)
Ebony generally wasn't very interested in food. (On the bright side, no food guarding!) She wasn't interested in toys either . . . Well, she enjoyed playing with them, but she wasn't interested enough for them to be a good reward.
She got plenty of praise and attention around the house, but she still was thrilled with praise and a back scritch. I think she just liked pleasing people.
Actually, she had a couple weird behaviors related to food . . .
She wouldn't eat treats if she was on a walk. Instead she'd stare politely into the distance and pretend not to see the treat. If you were really persistant, she'd take the treat from you, mouth it, and drop it. But if you gave her the same treat at home, she'd gobble it up.
Also, she wouldn't eat unless we were eating. She was free-fed, but she only ate after we started eating breakfast or dinner. She would literally hover over her bowl, watching us, waiting for us to take the first bite. (No problems with free-feeding for her, BTW, she was a very slender lab-sized dog who weighed exactly 50 lbs.)
I wonder if anyone has any insights into why she did these things?
Oh wow . . . hitting a dog with a rake, yikes! I wouldn't have gone back either!