Training is Not For New Dogs Only
You can’t give up when training an older dog and you’ll be happy at the end that you didn’t give up on your dog and he’ll be glad as well. You probably know the sentence “Dogs are man’s best friend” and it’s true. So if he doesn’t respond to your call or there’s stress between you and the dog, you won’t be able to enjoy him as you want. Your dog too won’t feel comfortable with you either. We all know it’s a difficult task, but you can’t give up and you’ll realize in the end that it was worth it.
One way to successfully train your dog is to make him think that the command you gave was his idea. For example, if he heels or sits or lies down you can say the command and give him a reward. That way they will think that they started it. If you keep on acting this way for a while, they will get used to the command and act on it. Some dogs respond faster than others. Some dogs may seem like a hopeless case. Re training your dog is a long process and it needs patience and takes time because for them to learn new commands means unlearning other commands to adapt to the new ones.
When you’re training your dog, you have to put in your mind that they are sometimes not able to do what they used to do when they were young. When you make your dog run or jump, you might want to go easy on him and take it step by step because he’s old now and gets tired faster and might even need a break between training. Sometimes you have to make them repeat certain commands or activities several times until they have a good grasp of it.
When you’re training older dogs, you wouldn’t want to reward him with food since it makes them gain weight faster. The best way to reward him is by giving them their favorite toy or a good belly rub. That might be all what they need. A good tip for training your dog and get a faster result is to train them every day at the same time in the same place. This will help your dog’s memory to remember what they are supposed to do.
You might get a little bit stressed and angry while teaching an older dog new techniques and methods of doing stuff but it is not impossible. Having an amazing relationship between you and your dog will help the process of their training and will cover for all the stress you go through. Dog training can be done for any dog, even your old best friend.
Written by Ellen Tayana
