Old Dogs CAN Learn New Tricks

By Michele Blandino

First-time dog owners frequently assume that in order for dog training to be successful, it must be done while their pet is still a puppy. While it's true that younger dogs may respond faster to instruction, older dogs can also benefit from obedience training.

Keys to Successful Training

Regardless of your pet's age, you can be successful in teaching new behaviors - or breaking bad habits - by employing a combination of repetition, motivation and consistency. And, because dogs are easily distracted, it is best to keep the training sessions short, but frequent.

Obedience Training Classes

Many people find pet obedience classes to be helpful in their training efforts. Usually taught by experienced pet professionals, these classes provide owners with an introduction to many basic commands such as "sit" and "stay". And, while obedience classes can be quite valuable, they will only be effective if additional training is done at home. Fortunately, it's not necessary to set aside a special time for reinforcing these lessons at home, in fact, it's better if you try to make the training part of your daily routine. For instance, as you travel from room to room in your home, you can reinforce the "stay" command by commanding your pet to remain in a specific room. Once your dog masters simple commands, it is important to introduce distractions such as another person, or a favorite toy so that your pet learns how to appropriately act in social situations. As new challenges are added, it is important to continue providing rewards for desirable behavior.

House Training Tips

Interestingly, a dog's natural instinct is to keep their living area clean. As a result, if you plan to keep your dog indoors, it is important that you quickly establish the home as their living area and create a separate area - usually outside - for elimination. Many people find that limiting their dog to only one room in the house - for instance the kitchen or family room - makes the housetraining process much easier. Other people prefer to crate train their pets. However, to be successful crate training requires a great deal of consistency. The idea behind crate training is that because the crate serves as the pet's living space, they will wait until they are released from that space - and sent outdoors - before eliminating. Over time, as the pet learns that elimination takes place outdoors, they can spend less time in the crate. Eventually, most pets use the crate only to sleep.

A Final Word

Training a dog can be a difficult and time consuming. That doesn't mean however that is will be impossible. With consistency and an unending supply of dog treats, chances are you will be able to train even the most challenging dog.