It's NEVER too Late to Teach an Old Dog New Tricks!
You can't teach an old dog new tricks? Nonsense. Our new dog is 6 (a best guess) years old. And he's learning fast. He responds very well to his name (Plato). He does well with "come" and he's getting better with "sit". Our neighbor, an adult who is pretty sensible, told my 10 year old daughter that Plato is too old to train. He's wrong and Lucy knows that. She has seen Plato's progress over the 12 days that he's been with us. We've started to trust him off leash in our yard, with supervision. But we still have to be careful for his safety.
This Morning's Scary Incident. Plato Ignored "COME" and Ran Across the Road!
Plato went outside, peed and bolted. He ran up the driveway and didn't stop despite all the whistling and yelling "come" and his name. He continued on to the street which he crossed at a gallop without looking both ways. Our street is busy in the morning, but Plato got lucky and crossed without getting flattened by a car. He sat on the other side of the street and waited for Lucy and I to catch up. We told him "no", got him on his leash and went for a walk. I was really surprised since Plato had proven to be fairly trustworthy in responding to "come" commands. Lucy wasn't so surprised.
When I think back to yesterday, I am not really surprised. Yesterday was a seriously rainy day and Plato didn't want to take a walk. He only went out when he was desperate to pee and only pooped late in the evening. He could not comfortably work for the post office, since he apparently hates walking in the rain. Snow is great, but not rain. I might have been able to force him to walk, but it would have required yanking him the whole way. So, this morning Plato had tons of pent up energy and he was perky on the walk we took after his "escape" across the road. And he wasn't listening well with all that energy.
Training the Adult Shelter Dog Requires Patience and Persistance
I am not a dog training expert but I have worked with a trainer, done a lot of reading on training dogs and have experience. Old dog can learn new tricks. Our dog Bailey learned new commands and hand signals even though he was 10 when he joined our family. Plato is only 6 and he's learning fast. We are consistent in the words and signals that we use to give commands. And we are using hand signs, since Bailey lost his hearing and that often happens to dogs as they age so we'll be ahead of the game if Plato learns signs from the start. We use positive reinforcement to reward Plato. We tell him what a good boy he is and often give him treats for his obedience. Plato isn't that food oriented so the prospect of a treat doesn't seem to motivate him much. When we got Plato, he ignored sit and we had to push firmly on his rear to get him to sit. Now, it only takes a light touch and he's down. Sure, he has a long way to go, but he's learning and settling into our home very well. We'll keep at it and keep you posted.
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