Training for non-motivated dog?

[jesday]

Okay, first for the excuses. We've been extremely busy, short and sweet of it. I admit I have not put in enough training time for either dog - this after countless dollars for puppy classes. Now that I am ready to devote the necessary time, both kids have conveniently forgotten most of our progress. Thank goodness they are Newfys and are pretty mellow to begin with.

Here is the problem, Syrus the male is neither treat nor toy motivated. He does very well in a controlled environment without distractions or sister. But once outside he has better things to do. Treat, nor toy, not sound of clicker gets this boy's attention until after he is done checking out what he wants. I'll give commands in stern voice, happy voice and just plain "you're buggin the h*** out of me boy", voice, to no avail. He is a stubborn guy and I really think he is testing me.

Also with training inside, he does sit, and sit/stay for a short time, but I find I don't do enough with a down/stay because it is so hard for him to keep getting up and down for even a short training period. How important does anyone think this particular command is for a Newf?

I would seriously like to train him as a therapy dog, which I've never done, but need to get these basics down pat.

Any ideas for training the non-motivated dog?

Oh, they are both 10 months old and spayed and nutered.

[People Whisperer]

You CAN make a non-motivated dog very motivated
Just don't feed before the class or all day if needed and he will be looking to treats or even work for kibble. The same with toys...get a little toy that will only be used for training (I used cats little toys from a real rabbit). Get him really interested in it without letting him play with it and then hide it. After you show it to him and hide it for a week or so he will be pretty anxious about it and will work for it.
If you are looking into a therapy work with him than down-says are very important and it is easy to train. He doesn't have to get up and go down all the time. Just practice it ones or twice a day under various circumstances.