"How and at what point do others name the command in marker training? This is interesting." (copied from another post.)

Good way to begin my questions!! I've read the article here several times, and watched the basic obedience video on marker training. I've worked at assigning a value to "yes" (though, really, we had always used "yes" as a marker in our previous teachings of commands, such as sit, just haven't been using food as of late.)

So here's my questions:
(The first one is the one above.)
We've been using "yes" as a marker when giving a command such as sit, plotz, roll over, play dead, etc, though, like I said, no longer use food. In starting marker training, I've done the nose-hand touch, I went back and worked on the sit and plotz again, just to reinforce, but quickly gave that up as he very well knows those commands. I want to start training new things with the marker training, but should I not use "yes" as a marker for a command given that he already knows, like sit, if I don't intend to treat? He has learned to look at me expectantly now when I say "yes" for sitting. Does this question make sense or does it seem totally stupid?
What are some things others have taught their dogs using marker training?
I was reminded of something very important watching the b.o. video: to remain upbeat and fun during training, and to never call the dog to you for something non-fun. I've been calling him to me to put on his collar, which he does not care for (handler error, not taking the time to create fun around the collar being put on). This has created a very slow recall, which at one point used to be fast! Back to square one on that one, too!

Stephanie, I think that's a good question and I'll be interested to read what the more experienced trainers have to say.
I do still use the 'yes' marker even on a command that she knows well, and I don't give a food reward every time.

I have paired the food reward with a phrase 'good girl!' , and that's what she gets when there is no food reward used. I read about this in a book called 'Purely Positive Training' by Sheila Booth, and she maintains that by pairing the food reward with a phrase, you can substitute the phrase at times, without the food reward, and the dog still gets the message that he did a good job. Seems to work alright, although my pup definately prefers the food!

On the collar thing, I would start rewarding with very high value treats (steak or what have you) to get him to view the collar in a positive light. When I first started using a prong, my pup was very collar shy, and I got some great advice here about how to get her over it. I ended up making her work for her raw meal in exchange for putting the collar on.