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Contrary to the popular saying, it’s never too late to teach an older dog new tricks! Many individuals may think that when they adopt an older dog or raise a dog that develops undesirable habits in adulthood, all hope is lost for correcting bad behavior or training their dog new skills. However, dogs of any age can be trained – you just have to know the right way to go about it.
Our article discusses why dog training is beneficial for pups of all ages, and the differences you may experience when training an older dog as opposed to teaching a puppy. Then, we’ll give you some tips on getting started training your dog, as well as some troubleshooting advice so you can go into your first training sessions with your pup ready to have a good time and learn as much as possible.
Read on to get your older dog’s training started the right way!
Why Is Dog Training Beneficial?
No matter the age of your dog, training can be an incredibly beneficial thing to work into their daily routine. This is because proper training can build your dog’s confidence, provide them with the mental stimulation they need on a day-to-day basis, and develop healthy behavioral and socialization habits. Plus, your bond with your dog will be strengthened, and they will be a much politer pup to take into public or introduce to others.
This isn’t to say that you need to embark on an intensive training regimen with your dog, but rather that consistent training for basic obedience skills and fun tricks can make all the difference in your dog’s happiness and general life enjoyment (in addition to giving you a fun activity to complete with your pup).
Can Older Dogs Be Trained?
Many people today believe that once a dog passes out of puppyhood or reaches a certain adult age that they can no longer be trained properly. And while this may seem like the case, because older dogs can sometimes be more stubborn and resistant to training, the truth is that any age of dog can be trained – it just takes patience and understanding of your dog’s needs to complete.
In fact, some of you may find that your adult dog takes to training better than a puppy does due to their increased focus on you; this depends heavily on your dog and their personality though.
As you get ready to train your older dog, you should take into account things such as their general personality, their willingness to listen to you and complete tasks, their previous training experience, and any behavioral or socialization issues. This will help you be completely informed and get the most out of your training sessions with your dog.
This video can help you understand your dog’s needs and give you a head start on a successful training session with your pet.
Tips for Training Your Older Dog
If you want to have the most productive training sessions possible with your pup, you can take a look at our recommendations for training. With older dogs, it always pays off to move slower and have short training sessions throughout the day; this helps them learn more effectively and can make the experience more enjoyable for you both.
Start With the Basics
Every dog has to start somewhere when it comes to learning obedience and other tricks. It is important to not jump immediately into difficult tasks or training that requires a general knowledge of obedience and entry-level skills.
Start your dog on basic commands such as ‘sit,’ ‘stay,’ and ‘come’ so that they can get used to training and build up foundational skills for learning more advanced techniques. Starting with the basics can also help you get a better sense of where your dog is in terms of their learning speed, previous instruction, and general trainability.
Go Slow and Be Patient
If you’ve ever trained a puppy, you may be surprised by how quickly they pick up certain skills and seem to bounce around, constantly learning. Oftentimes, this is not the case with older dogs who need several repetitions and a lot of patience to help them learn one task.
Of course, your dog’s general learning speed does depend on their personality and overall training intelligence level, but you should always start out slow in order to give your dog the best chance at picking up new skills.
Use High-Value Rewards
Most dogs are usually very food motivated, which can be an incredibly helpful thing to rely on during your training sessions. If you want to motivate your older dog to enjoy training or to listen to you more carefully, you can pick a high-value reward.
A high-value reward will be something that your pup doesn’t get usually, but that they really like. Our recommendations for this include pieces of cooked chicken, ham, or turkey, as these food items agree with most dogs’ stomachs and are extra delicious for them.
Work With Your Dog’s Personality
The reason why some individuals assume older dogs are hard to train is that most older dogs have their own fully developed personalities, habits, and ways of doing things, just like older humans. It can be more difficult to train a dog that is set in its ways, which is why some individuals will give up on retraining or training their older dog for the first time.
However, the solution to this is to take into account your dog’s personality and work with their specific quirks and motivations. This means figuring out what motivates your dog, what time of the day they are most willing to complete training, how long they can train without losing focus, and their specific learning speed.
Taking into account all of these factors will give you and your dog the best chance of having a productive training time.
Stay Consistent
Consistency is key when it comes to training dogs of any age, but especially older pups. You should be demonstrating tasks in exactly the same way to your dog every time you teach them, if you want them to understand the skill and pick it up as quickly as possible.
Consistency in when you train your dog (for example, once a day in the morning for fifteen minutes) is also important to establish a routine; this also helps you dedicate time for teaching your dog.
Troubleshooting Older Dog Training Problems
When it comes to training older dogs, there are some training problems that owners will run into frequently. We list the most common training issues you may encounter below, along with considerations for troubleshooting them, so you and your dog can always stay on track during training sessions.
Behavioral Issues
A lot of the time, older dogs who were never trained as puppies develop bad behavioral habits when they get older. This includes things like chewing on furniture, bad bathroom habits, or stealing food; these habits may seem difficult to control or break, but it is possible with consistent training and repeated practice.
If it seems like your dog doesn’t want to break their habits or you can’t get them under control long enough to begin your training, you may want to consider reaching out to a professional or researching obedience techniques. You could also enroll your dog in a basic obedience class, as these will help you and your dog get familiar with the process of training so you can correct behavioral issues at home.
Socialization Issues
If your dog has not been properly socialized, they may end up being anxious or nervous when presented with unfamiliar surroundings or people. This will often translate into anxiety and fear when your dog is placed into these situations and can result in aggressiveness.
Training your dog may often put your pup into locations or situations they are uncomfortable with, so if you suspect that your dog has socialization issues, you should always start out training in a quiet, low-key location.
Additionally, to help improve your older dog’s socialization problems, you can start by taking them on walks. A muzzle may be a good idea at this point to prevent any unwanted bites.
Work your way up from walks to dog parks to introducing your dog to family, friends, and other dogs. This should be done slowly over time, and you should always watch your dog for their reaction; take a step back and reduce encounters if your dog starts to behave fearfully or aggressively during any point in their training.
For more information on socializing your adult dog, you can check out this article or this video. As soon as your dog seems to be doing better and is comfortable socially, you can start training them with the basics – they are likely to learn better and enjoy the process more at this point.
Training Anxiety
Some dogs tend to be more anxious and fearful than others, especially when it comes to training and learning new things. If you’ve noticed that your pup has a general reluctance when training or is overall anxious when you start trying to teach them, you should double your efforts to go slow and be patient. With dogs like this, you should always start training from the very basics and make sure you are in a quiet location free of distractions.
Consistency and routine are even more important with anxious or fearful dogs as it gives them something to look forward to and reduces their concern for the unknown. You can read more about training a fearful or anxious dog here.
When to Reach Out to a Professional
Sometimes, older dogs will have learned bad habits or be very resistant to regular home training approaches. This can be for a number of reasons and is typically related to the dog’s previous experience with training or with other dogs.
If you notice that your pup is outright refusing to listen to you no matter the treats you have, is aggressive with other dogs to the point of being violent or uncontrollable, or has socialization issues in public, you may need to consult with a professional.
A professional can help diagnose the source of your dog’s trouble and provide you with pointers to create the most effective training regime. Most unwanted and unpleasant behaviors can be trained out of a dog, but it does take time and, more often than not, the assistance of a professional to make this happen.
A Fun Way to Bond With Your Pup
Whether you’ve just adopted an older dog and want to improve the bond between you, or you’ve decided to start teaching a dog you’ve had for a while, training sessions can be a fun way to spend time with your pet.
No matter how old your dog is, they can learn a trick or two, though it is important to keep in mind that older dogs will usually learn slower and may be more resistant to training than a puppy would be. That being said, patience and lots of high value treats and affection will get you far with your dog.
Make sure to always handle training with a positive outlook and a friendly approach to your dog, and you’ll have them happily learning new tricks in no time at all.