You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks
I got my shih tzu, Tashi, as a little puppy and enthusiastically began training him. He very quickly learnt to sit, stay and fetch and was very reactive to my commands. I used treats initially to incentivise his good behaviour and then began to mix in simple praise.
All was going well until, Harvey, my sister’s basset hound arrived! My sister was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and initially was unable to look after him. Harvey was a boisterous, naughty 10 month old puppy himself. Due to the obvious upheaval in my sister’s life he hadn’t had a good grounding in training and proved to be a massive challenge as many of his behaviour patterns were already ingrained. Tashi then started to misbehave and become deaf to my commands. A vet behaviourist explained that I had to imagine what would happen if myself and my sister were suddenly shipped over to France to live with a French family who could not speak our language. If we also could not speak French then the natural response would be to ignore the French people and talk amongst ourselves. This is what happens when you have two dogs that have not been fully trained. They can’t understand what you want so they start to ignore you.
Harvey improved over time but it was never quite the same. However recently my sister has become well enough to take him back and I have started up Tashi’s training programme again. It’s taking time to show him certain behaviour is not acceptable but he’s adapting quickly. I’ve done this by rewarding his good behaviour and restricting or redirecting any bad behaviour. He’s become much more attentive and focussed on commands. So you can teach an old dog new tricks after all!
Things to consider:Phonak Hearing Aids Digital Hearing Care Website
