Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks: A Guide for Senior Training

Why Try to Train an Older Dog?

There are many possible reasons for training an older dog: Perhaps you've adopted a senior dog who needs to learn how to fit into your household, or maybe your older dog has had a rough past and needs to be resocialised or desensitised to fear triggers. Here are a few more reasons you may want to train an older dog:

• To house train a former outside dog
• To prepare for a new experience, such as travel
• To introduce new activities to promote exercise and healthy weight
• To provide a refresher course on obedience training
• To help prevent boredom and cognitive decline

Tips for Training a Senior Dog

As dogs age, many develop health conditions that limit their learning ability, including joint pain, vision or hearing loss, and decline in cognitive function, says Rover.This might mean you should avoid trying to teach your senior dog more vigorous games or activities, but the good news is that older dogs can still learn new things. It simply takes more time and patience to train an older dog.

Here are some tips to help make teaching an old dog new tricks a little easier:

• Evaluate your pet: Does your dog have any health issues or cognitive dysfunction that will make it hard to perform the task you want to teach? If your reason for training is to address a behavioural problem, could an underlying health problem be to blame? For example, an older dog who's started soiling the carpet might have bladder problems that need to be treated rather than a refresher in house training. Talk to your veterinarian to make sure your dog is healthy enough for training.

• Exercise first: For dogs who are easily distracted and have a hard time paying attention, a walk or a game of fetch prior to the training session will help them release pent-up energy, so they can relax and be more focused.

• Reward them: Giving your pup their favourite dog treat each time they do what you want will create positive associations between the command and the desired outcome. If your pooch doesn't respond well to treats, or if you're watching their weight, reward them with lots of praise and petting, or give clicker training a try.

• Ignore undesirable behaviour: It may sound counterintuitive, but calling attention to your dog if they get distracted, lie down, wander off or refuse to cooperate will only serve to reinforce that behaviour. The best thing to do is ignore it, reposition your pooch, and try again.

• Take breaks: It's easy to get frustrated when your dog doesn't seem to be catching on, and it's very likely your old pup feels the same way. When this happens, stop the training and try again the next day.

• Be patient: Remember that older dogs need twice as much time and twice as much exposure than younger dogs to learn a new behaviour.

• Practice, practice, practice: Your old dog needs consistent practice to learn a new skill. Skipping a day will only make it harder for your old friend. Keep going for as long as it takes, continuing to reward with treats and praise when your dog gets it right. Unless your dog suffers from dog dementia, which might make learning impossible, there's a good chance they'll pick up the trick eventually. Even after they do, daily practice will help ensure that they retain the new skill.

Despite the old adage, teaching an old dog new tricks is possible. Training an older dog simply takes time and repetition along with a whole lot of patience and love.