Can you teach an old dog new tricks?

[Dragnov]

Well being a naive iresponsible teenager when I first got my dogs, I didn't really train em. You know, you tell your parents you will take care of them and train em, but you don't and your dad ends up doing most of the work.

Well I would like to get em a tad bit more trained so that their a bit more manageable for me, as I'm going to take more responsiblity with them now.

I'm not trying to make em do tricks really, but more so just so that I can take em on walks on a normal manner. They're both big dogs and when they pull, man is it hard to hold em back. I'm a wimp I know, but damn its hard to handle two dogs almost ~100 pounds each.

Will they learn to stop pulling eventually once I start taking em on walks on a normal basis? Is it possible to teach em not to piss everywhere and poop on the street still? How about so that they stop trying to run after other animals? As soon as they see another dog they start running toward it with all their strength and ahhh, my arms.

 

[Syringer]

Anything's possible.

 

[datalink7]

It is hard to teach a old dog new tricks. Also it depends on their intelligence. But it can be done. But basically what you have done by not training them to be good on a walk is actually training them to be bad.

One thing you can do is tell your dog to "heel" and yank back on the leash so the dog is next to you. Naturally, they won't understand and start to go forward, Keep doing this. Also, just randomly do a 180 and start heading in a different direction. This way, it yanks them in the opposite direction. Keep doing this. So, like 180, 10 steps, 180, 10 steps, 180, etc. etc.

After about a year or so of this (or at least what seems like a year ) they might start catching on. You might have to do it individually. And also have some treats in your pocket, so when they do good you reward them immediately.

 

[Dragnov]

Originally posted by: datalink7
It is hard to teach a old dog new tricks. Also it depends on their intelligence. But it can be done. But basically what you have done by not training them to be good on a walk is actually training them to be bad.

One thing you can do is tell your dog to "heel" and yank back on the leash so the dog is next to you. Naturally, they won't understand and start to go forward, Keep doing this. Also, just randomly do a 180 and start heading in a different direction. This way, it yanks them in the opposite direction. Keep doing this. So, like 180, 10 steps, 180, 10 steps, 180, etc. etc.

After about a year or so of this (or at least what seems like a year ) they might start catching on. You might have to do it individually. And also have some treats in your pocket, so when they do good you reward them immediately.

Hehe yeah.

Well one of them is partially trained. He knows how to sit and go down. He also has learned not to jump.

The other one is completley untrained. He doesn't know anything. Jumps, licks, runs, etc.

It's impossible for me to have em heel when they are walking unless I feel like killing my arm even more to hold em back as they just speed up again.

I'll try to work with them individually, but the other starts barking and crying LOUD. Just wanted to make sure I'm not wasting my time trying to teach em, if they can't learn it.

 

[Storm]

Haha you might be ripped after trying to train them?

 

[Mallow]

Young or old you can't teach a cat anything ^_^

 

[datalink7]

Originally posted by: Gr1mL0cK

Originally posted by: datalink7
It is hard to teach a old dog new tricks. Also it depends on their intelligence. But it can be done. But basically what you have done by not training them to be good on a walk is actually training them to be bad.

One thing you can do is tell your dog to "heel" and yank back on the leash so the dog is next to you. Naturally, they won't understand and start to go forward, Keep doing this. Also, just randomly do a 180 and start heading in a different direction. This way, it yanks them in the opposite direction. Keep doing this. So, like 180, 10 steps, 180, 10 steps, 180, etc. etc.

After about a year or so of this (or at least what seems like a year ) they might start catching on. You might have to do it individually. And also have some treats in your pocket, so when they do good you reward them immediately.

Hehe yeah.

Well one of them is partially trained. He knows how to sit and go down. He also has learned not to jump.

The other one is completley untrained. He doesn't know anything. Jumps, licks, runs, etc.

It's impossible for me to have em heel when they are walking unless I feel like killing my arm even more to hold em back as they just speed up again.

I'll try to work with them individually, but the other starts barking and crying LOUD. Just wanted to make sure I'm not wasting my time trying to teach em, if they can't learn it.

I guess the question is this... do you want to spend the time? It is going to be an enourmous ammount of time, and you ARE going to have to kill your arm in the process. You have to be consistent as well. You can't do training for a little bit, then let them pull the rest of the walk. You have to force them to heel the ENTIRE walk. Make sure to say "good dog" when they do it.

Also, another good thing, in addition to the 180's, is to stop and make them sit and wait. THen start walking. Then stop and make them sit and wait till you start again. Repeat.

 

[Cycad]

Yes

 

[Alphazero]

Originally posted by: Gr1mL0cK

Originally posted by: datalink7
It is hard to teach a old dog new tricks. Also it depends on their intelligence. But it can be done. But basically what you have done by not training them to be good on a walk is actually training them to be bad.

One thing you can do is tell your dog to "heel" and yank back on the leash so the dog is next to you. Naturally, they won't understand and start to go forward, Keep doing this. Also, just randomly do a 180 and start heading in a different direction. This way, it yanks them in the opposite direction. Keep doing this. So, like 180, 10 steps, 180, 10 steps, 180, etc. etc.

After about a year or so of this (or at least what seems like a year ) they might start catching on. You might have to do it individually. And also have some treats in your pocket, so when they do good you reward them immediately.

Hehe yeah.

Well one of them is partially trained. He knows how to sit and go down. He also has learned not to jump.

The other one is completley untrained. He doesn't know anything. Jumps, licks, runs, etc.

It's impossible for me to have em heel when they are walking unless I feel like killing my arm even more to hold em back as they just speed up again.

I'll try to work with them individually, but the other starts barking and crying LOUD. Just wanted to make sure I'm not wasting my time trying to teach em, if they can't learn it.

If you trained a dog to go down, walking them should be the least of your problems

 

[VBboy]

"You can do anything you set your mind to" George McFly?