Is it fair to withhold cookies from one of the 5 dogs?

My concern is that he's not the type of dog who wants to please you. He's a what's in it for me dog AND he's even finicky about dog cookies (he'll only eat Milk Bones - and I don't feed Milk Bones to my dogs - MIL had to buy him some). He is a cool little dog, but he doesn't care for touching or affection either. He just loves to chase the ball.

 
Re-read your last sentence........  Therein likes a possible solution?  Make the ball his reward.  Find his favouritest one in the world ever and keep it from him unless someone is playing with him with it.  The games should be short and really fun and exciting.  Super charge that ball!  Then, when he goes nuts  for it and will do absolutely anything for it, use it as the reward in place of treats.
 
If you ask 5 dogs to sit for a treat and he doesn't do it I wold offer the treat to the others but not him.  That might sound unfair but I suspect you wont have to do it many times.  He might think he doesnt want that cookie because he only wants milk bones but he might feel a bit differently when he sees the others munching on theirs.  Model-rival training can be an effective tool, I'd say it was worth a try.  Plus, if he hears a cue and doesn't respond and gets a treat, you're training him not to bother doing anything when you give that cue.  Plus although it seems unfair to leave him out, I think its more unfair to have a different set of rules amongst them.... same should apply to all IMO.  There was another thread looking at defining pack order and whether or not to enforce it and I would be concerned that any special favours might be misconstrued by the dogs and the balance disrupted..... but thats just speculation on my part.

if you've worked with him and he knows the behavior, it's unfair to give him a reward for not-complying. If he only knows one or two behaviors, you can ask your group to do a behavior he doesn't know, treat them, and then ask him for one of his known behaviors.
And keep in mind that if he doesn't like what you're offering, it's not a reward to him.

ORIGINAL: Chuffy

Re-read your last sentence........  Therein likes a possible solution?  Make the ball his reward.  Find his favouritest one in the world ever and keep it from him unless someone is playing with him with it.  The games should be short and really fun and exciting.  Super charge that ball!  Then, when he goes nuts  for it and will do absolutely anything for it, use it as the reward in place of treats.

I have never tried to train a dog with play only.  I am envisioning how this is going to go:  Give Cue to all dogs SIT.  Hand out 4 cookies, then whip out a ball, and wing it down the hallway for Farley!  [sm=rotfl.gif]LOL  Talk about Chaos!  All kidding aside: it's probably the best reward for him, but it's going to take me some practice to get the order down with all of them - especially for homecoming greetings!

If you ask 5 dogs to sit for a treat and he doesn't do it I would offer the treat to the others but not him.  That might sound unfair but I suspect you wont have to do it many times.

So, do dogs learn by observation?  I've heard that debated before.  Do you think Farley will learn "put butt on floor = receive cookie (or ball)" from watching the other dogs and being skipped over because when he doesn't comply?

 I think its more unfair to have a different set of rules amongst them.... same should apply to all IMO.  There was another thread looking at defining pack order and whether or not to enforce it and I would be concerned that any special favours might be misconstrued by the dogs and the balance disrupted..... but thats just speculation on my part.

Agreed; and was part of my concern in the other thread.  That along with the fact that I am aware that I favor my "original" dogs.  I try not to express that, but I can't help it.  I'm sure that will fade with time???[8|]

The trick is to find every dog's currency.  Usually it's easy, since most dogs love treats of any kind, but like you've noticed, not ALL dogs love treats of any kind.  But you've found this dog's currency (the ball) so you're good to go. 
I have a sighthound who'd love a play-and-run session with a ball just as much as a cookie any day.  Use what works!
Yes, I think that the new dog watching 4 other dogs sit and get treats would teach him how to sit and get treats.  Dogs know what it means to mimic, I would think.  I taught my dog to speak by saying "Speak!" and then barking at him.  Yes, I looked like an idiot barking at my dog, but sure enough on the second try he barked back and the rest is history.  Now he knows the Speak command and I can keep my dignity.
While dogs are intelligent, sensitive creatures that pick up on some surprising cues, if you don't ACT like you favor your original dogs (aka you don't throw the Tzu in a dungeon while you cuddle the others), then I think you'll be fine.  Feed them the same food at the same time (assuming they're the same age and weight,etc), play with them ALL, give treats to ALL of them, pet ALL of them at any given time.  No matter how sophisticated a dog can be, he is still a dog and I doubt he'll be the wiser.  Then, like you said, your feelings will expand to include this little guy and everything will be all good.  I don't think your Tzu will pick up on the fact that Buddy and Spot got 4 pets on the head and the Tzu only got 3. 

I know of dogs that only work for little pieces of cat grass, or interaction with another dogs. Joy is finicky with her treats, but once you find something she loves she'll do anything.

Also, you don't always don't need to do big group-ish sessions with your dogs. Give each one seperate attention for training. This prevents major chaos.

You said your IL's dog loves to chase the ball. That can be your training 'tool'. It's never too late to teach a dog something and there is no free lunch so if that dog wants anything, make him do something to earn it. Don't give treats freely because that only teaches him that you are a treat machine and all he has to do is stand there, open his mouth and eat it.Remember, wild dogs (wolves, dingos, etc.) all have to work for a meal and just because we choose to have dogs as pets doesn't mean they don't need to work for what they get also.After you teach him to sit, have him sit before you feed him, sit before you pet him, sit at the door before he goes out, etc. 

Thanks so much for all of the advice.  Things are just a whirl wind right now with FIL being so ill; they are considering Hospice in our home for him.  Most of the family thinks that us taking on their 2 dogs is a huge incovenience, when in reality, the dogs are MY outlet!  I have not had time to work with Farley, but am planning to take some one on one time with him this weekend.  Their other dog, the obese black lab, is also well behaved, but she is very pushy and clumsy with my smaller dogs, which they are not used to and have taken to hiding under our furniture when the larger dog gets too excitable.  Should I leave them be or correct her for being too "rammy" in the house?  Is that a demonstration of insecurity in my dogs or just self-preservation for fear of being trampled by her?  Sometimes when I reach to pet or play with one of my little guys, she will push her way in between us and my dog just backs off.  I assume that's because she is alpha, but how do I teach her that I don't like that and it is rude?

I would try to ignore it if you can and focus your attention on the dog who is being polite.  If the lab gets really  pushy, I'd leave the room for a few minutes.  I have done this to teach our youngest that it's rude.  We have a camera set up so we can keep an eye on them when we are out of the room (since the disaster over xmas when they nicked all our nibbles and destroyed the baby clothes!) and I could see the dog who was being petted look exasperated as if to say "Now look what you've done!  Idiot!"  I felt a bit bad that his fuss-time was interrupted that way, but she's quite bright and I've only had to do it a few times. 

I would try to ignore it if you can and focus your attention on the dog who is being polite. If the lab gets really pushy, I'd leave the room for a few minutes. I have done this to teach our youngest that it's rude. We have a camera set up so we can keep an eye on them when we are out of the room (since the disaster over xmas when they nicked all our nibbles and destroyed the baby clothes!) and I could see the dog who was being petted look exasperated as if to say "Now look what you've done! Idiot!" I felt a bit bad that his fuss-time was interrupted that way, but she's quite bright and I've only had to do it a few times.

 
 
A camera to keep an eye on your dogs?
 
What happens when you are busy or sleeping?

No we actually have a camera to keep an eye on the baby when it arrives but we thought we'd set it up early to test it out and use it to keep an eye on them when we are in another part of the house (since leaving the room for five minutes left us with a complete bomb site back in December.)  They are confined when we are asleep.  As yet I have not grown eyeballs in the back of my head so if we're very  preoccupied we take our chances.
 
You might want to note I said "she" that time, I don't know if that's important to you.  I also don't see what this has got to do with the discussion or why you are so interested.  I'm tired of posts like this and it's the last time I'm even bothering to respond.

It was a legit question....[]
 
I don't know why you feel stressed over somebody asking about your dogs...........pics would be nice.....[]