I use food for training my 8 month old Plott hound and she does quite well but friends have told me that my dog should work for me without treats. When do I stop rewarding? Also, how do you suggest getting her out of her crate when she's sleeping? Treats don't work for this.

I have a 8 month old Plotthound which is trained quite well for a hound breed I think, meaning she can focus well on me when I demand it. I do however rely heavily on treats during dog training - my dog gets all her meals during training. Some "friends" have told me, my dog should work for me even without treats (to which I usually answer, that they should work for their employer without pay), and while I do sometimes demand small "rows" of commands before giving the reward, I still pretty much reward always at some point. When do I have to stop rewarding? When I decrease my amount of rewarding, the dogs' motivation decreases enormously, and as a hound, her toy motivation is low, despite all my efforts to change that, so that is out of question as a reward too.

As a second side question - I work full time, have to get the dog a long walk before I leave for work. But she never wants to get up. How to wake her up and get her out of her crate? Treats don't work here. Thanks!

Thank you so much for the quick answer. Right now I do a similar approach - just clip the leash to her collar. I was a bit worried because many people recommend not to disturb dogs in their crates, and she is in a crate overnight, but she shows no signs of stress over me "invading her space".

As far as your advice regarding those other people goes - completely true, they have never even owned a dog. I could cite many more stupid ideas they had over me living with them, but that does not concern my questions, and luckily I now live alone with my dog.

Again, thank you very much for providing this help to people. I am from Europe and a big fan of Leerburg.