Old Dogs Can Learn New Tricks

Many people believe that once a dog learns or does not learn a particular behavior that it cannot be changed.  Old dogs can learn new tricks though. 

If you have a particular behavior that develops in your dog that you do not like, you can change it.  It may take some hard work, patience, and time but it can be done.  Treats are your best friend just like they are when training a puppy.

We have a dog in our family that is about six years old and begs for food.  This is something that he has been doing since he was a puppy.  He barks and begs until he gets exactly what he wants.  This is a behavior that can be changed.  Dogs have the ability to learn at any age.  They are creatures of habit.  Something they do today is something that they want to do tomorrow. 

You want to start re-enforcing the behavior that you want and not rewarding the old habit that you do not want.  It is going to be much harder to change a habit rather than teach a habit. This is the reason why it is important to decide what behaviors you would like your dog to have when they are a puppy and train them early so you don’t have to go back and change a habit later. 

The key with a dog is to reward the positive and ignore the negative!

Fun Fact: “No!”

No is a word that we all tend to say or yell to our Yorkshire Terrier, Cavachon or Yorkie Mix multiple times throughout the day.  The only problem is that they don’t understand what no means.  Dogs tend to get confused and anxious when words are yelled towards them or said multiple times.  Haven’t you ever found yourself screaming, “No, no, no, no…?”  A way that you can use the word “no” properly is by directing “no” towards whatever object or person that you don’t want your dog associating with.  By doing this your dog will associate that person or object with something bad rather than feeling that they are being yelled at.

Capturing a Behavior

Training your new Yorkshire Terrier, Cavachon or Yorkie Mix puppy can be done in many different ways.

One of these ways is by capturing a behavior that you are happy with.  A key part of this strategy is to always have treats available to give your puppy.

To capture a behavior you have to be paying close attention to your puppy.  When your puppy does something that you approve of you “capture” this behavior by saying “good girl” or “good boy” and giving your puppy a treat.  They will begin to associate an appropriate behavior with receiving a treat.  As you puppy gets used to performing a particular behavior you can give them different treats such as a pat on the head and eventually a “good girl” or “good boy” will be enough praise.

I purchased my dog, Lizzie, when she was five months old.  She was trained to be a show dog but her adult teeth came in crooked so she was put up for sale.  A show dog is taught not to sit.  Of course we wanted Lizzie to sit and we needed a strategy to do this.

We decided to try to capture the behavior of sitting.  I kept treats with me at all times and Lizzie would “stand” in front of me as she was taught to do.  Eventually she sat down.  She immediately received a treat.  It got to the point where Lizzie would sit, I would give her a treat and she would walk around the coffee table and sit again.  She quickly learned that if she would sit, she would receive a treat.  We used this same technique after she learned to sit to teach her to lie down. 

The technique of capturing a behavior worked for us and I’m sure it can work for you as well.

Puppy Training Must Start From Day One

When it comes to training your new Yorkshire Terrier, Cavachon or Yorkie mix puppy you want to start right from day one.  It is very important to decide what behaviors you approve or disapprove of from your puppy and have a plan of how to address these behaviors.  If you allow them to do a particular behavior one day and then scold them for doing the same behavior the next day they will become very confused and not know what you are expecting of them.

When I picked up my terrier, Lizzie, the first thing I decided was that she was not going to beg for food.  I know many dogs who have to be placed outside, in a cage or are just plain obnoxious when their family is eating a meal.  I did not want that to be an issue in my home. 

I am the type of person that eats most of my meals on my couch while watching TV.  It is particularly easy for a dog to hop onto a couch when they are very small.  The first night I brought my puppy home she jumped on the couch while I was eating dinner.  I gently placed her back on the floor.  This process continued over and over for a few weeks.  She would jump and I would put her on the ground.  She would jump up again and I would put her back on the ground again.  After a few weeks she realized that while we were eating dinner she was to sit quietly on the ground.

Training a new puppy, or even an older dog, is all about repetition.  You have to decide what you want them to do and show them by repeating the process over and over again.  It also helps to have treats handy!