Who hasn’t heard the saying that old dogs cannot be taught new tricks? Well, I do not necessarily agree with this statement 100%.
In terms of difficulty, training older dogs does not differ too much from training puppies. However, when training older dogs you have to be conscious of the fact that you need to handle them differently than you would handle the little ones.
A lot of people would testify that training older dogs is, in fact, easier because of a number of reasons:
Older dogs have learned the meaning of the word “no”; older dogs are less energetic and calmer; and, older dogs understand dominance so he’d be more susceptible to learning through your guidance and leadership.
So when the big day comes, you will bring your old dog home for the first time. Now, you need to toilet train him. He will not know where he is allowed to go to the bathroom, so it is up to you to show him. Also bear in mind that his system might be a little bit upset from traveling, so be ready.
Before bringing your dog into the house, show him his bathroom area. Stay here until he has done his business. Beware: This might take some time. Do not expect him to do it immediately. Just try and stay calm and relaxed and wait. When he does do it, positively reinforce this behavior with a treat. This should motivate him and help him to remember this area faster.
And then in you go: Bring him inside and let him check out the house. And always remember that just because he understands where his toilet is, he might not be able to tell you when he needs to go.
Be sure to look for signs and take him out. Do not forget to praise him. Once his system’s gone back to normal, you may schedule his trips to the bathroom area as you would to a puppy: Once in the morning, every after meals, after playtime, and before bed at night.
Each time you bring him outside and he does his business, praise him. And should accidents ever happen, just clean it up and continue as planned. Do NOT punish him.
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