Can Old Dogs Learn New Tricks?
- Team Build a Bond
- Jul 10
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 11
Before I try to answer this question, let me tell you a little bit about myself and my old dog, Chuck...
My name is Emily, if you have used our services, you may have seen me in Daycare, teaching classes or training in 1-2-1s. Before working at Build-a-Bond, I spent 9 years working in rescue at Dogs Trust, I definitely learnt a LOT in this time. In 2015, I adopted Chuck, an 11 year old Staffie cross. He was the most perfect gentleman that has ever existed ... although I may be slightly biased!
However, apart from 'sit', he didn't really know anything!
We got our money's worth out of the long line, this was both during his first year with us and then later when he lost his hearing at the grand old age of 15. I worked very hard in that first year to improve his recall, it was such a slow process as he just wanted to explore the world. He hadn't had a walk for at least a year before coming back to Dogs Trust, then coming home with me, I really couldn't blame him for being so excited about sniffing all the sniffs.
Our next issue was his sweet tooth. Chuck LOVED cake, chocolate, and basically anything he really shouldn't be eating. This was something we had to manage, as he would only steal food when we weren't home. This was a massive learning curve for me as I'd never lived with a dog that steals food before Chuck came along. There were many times where I messed up, and he got his paws on something he shouldn't. The most memorable being the last few slices of our triple chocolate wedding cake ... Thankfully he spat out the pins that had been holding the sugar flowers to the cake. Again, I couldn't blame him for this, when I adopted Chuck, he was about 8kg lighter than he should have been, he was bound to take what opportunities for food he could.
I've never really felt like I taught Chuck that much, especially compared to some of the amazing dogs I knew in rescue and all the great dogs that I know and work with now. But, what I consider to be my greatest achievement in training Chuck, was teaching Chuck a 'down'. This took me a full YEAR to teach him! The typical method of luring down from a sit was just not working ... he would sit and look at me like I had asked him to say the alphabet.
Then one staff training session at Dogs Trust, we looked at different methods we can use to teach dogs a 'down'. The method that stuck with me being the one most commonly used for dogs like Greyhounds that can struggle to sit, because of how they are built. They are lured under a chair, or something similar, that is low enough that they have to be lying down. So, when I got home from work, I had a go with Chuck. It didn't go to plan. Again, he stared at me like I'd gone insane, 'why on earth has this crazy lady put a chair in front of me and then waved a treat in front of my face?!'. My next thought was that I need to try different treats, he might be more willing to follow the lure if the lure is of higher value, great! So I tried ham, chicken, cheese, peanut butter, as well as the usual branded treats that are normally more than enough to encourage dogs to do something new. Nothing worked!
Until, one day, while I was sat eating a banana with Chuck staring me out, as he did whenever anyone was eating near him, I offered him a piece, and he loved it! Off I went to get the chair, and tried again. It worked! He 'army crawled' under the chair, for a piece of BANANA!! There he is in a 'down', after a year of trying to find a way that works for him, and all he needed was a banana. It didn't take long at all for him to learn the command from here and was a pro at 'down' from then on. Oh how I wish I'd have taken a video of him finally doing a 'down'!
So back to the question above. Yes, in my opinion and from the experiences that I have had, you can 100% teach old dogs new tricks! You might just need a little bit of extra patience, creativity, as well as the perfect treat!
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