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Marissa asked in PetsDogs · 1 decade ago

can you teach an old dog new tricks?

My teacher for psycology class gave us 2 options

#1 Write a paper

#2 train an animal

I would love to do train an animal and the most convient one for me is my dog. She is a 5 1/2 year old black lab. Is this to old to train a dog complicated skills? she knows the basic commands and can almost play dead, so she has some skills. I was thinking about reading a story and having her "act" it out. I have until mid january to train her.

so my basic questions are:

Is she to old to learn new tricks?

Can this be accomplished in the amount of time I have?

What types of things can I have her do?

Do you have any other suggesstions?

thanks in advance!

Update:

when i said "act out" i didnt mean anything too complicated. maybe her crawling from one place to another. turning around, ect. But as part of my presintation I would put it into a little story, just to make it interesting...

Update 2:

I would make up the story to go along with the tricks

20 Answers

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  • Favorite Answer

    Is she to old to learn new tricks?

    No not in the least bit. Actually dogs are not considered old till there 8 years of age. In human years, she is equivalent to a 35 year old woman. And 35 year olds are still young. And a 35 year old learns things each and everyday. The term "you cant teach a old dog new ticks" Is not correct.

    Can this be accomplished in the amount of time I have?

    Yes i believe so. Dogs are smart animals. And labs are very quick learners. I believe if you work hard everyday you can.

    What types of things can I have her do?

    Well following what you have said, You want her to act out a book. What are somethings the book says? You can have her sit up for some parts and speak for other parts. It totally depends.

    Do you have any other suggestions?

    Clicker Training. Its very fast and affective. Here is a link to clicker training-http://www.clickertrain.com/whatis.html

    Good Luck!!

  • 5 years ago

    1

    Source(s): #1 Dog Training Tutor : http://dogtraining.oruty.com/?FqZo
  • 1 decade ago

    Yes you can teach an old dog new tricks. It just takes patience for any dog of any age. It is actually easier to teach an older dog tricks because they have a better attention span then a puppy. Teaching your dog to act out a story in a play or book would take years though. That would really be complicated for any dog. I would work more on perfecting the play dead trick. You could finish that trick in time for your teacher.

  • 1 decade ago

    a dog is never to old to teach them new tricks especially a lab, they love to learn its in there nature. to have them act out a play might be hard for any dog. Something different and a little easier might work, a dog should be able to learn a new trick in a week if you practice every day and take the time to teach them. Good luck

    Why would you copy mine and i'm above you!

    Source(s): professional dog trainer
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  • 1 decade ago

    A dog is never to old to teach them new tricks especially a lab, they love to learn its in there nature. to have them act out a play might be hard for any dog. Something different and a little easier might work, a dog should be able to learn a new trick in a week if you practice every day and take the time to teach them. Good luck!

    Source(s): The person below me
  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Nope! I found older dogs are easier to train as long as they're motivated! My boxer is 6 now and I teach her new things all the time. They're more attentive to what you're asking. To teach them, get a toy or piece of food they like (my dog can't resist real liver pieces for anything... disgusting I know, but it works). Show them the treat, give the command (don't say any other words) and physically make them do what you want. Ie, if you want them to shake, say "shake" and pick up their paw, shake it and give them the treat. Do it over and over about 20 times and see if she'll do it on her own. If not, try another 20 times and check again. I've taught my dogs neat tricks like "left" and "right", "dead", "turn around", etc. Just repetition and treats :)

  • 5 years ago

    Hi, I understand that you are looking for some advice or resources to help fully train your dog or fix behavior problems. If a professional dog trainer is not an option at this time, or if you want to trt training your dog on your own (a great way to bond), I'd suggest you https://biturl.im/aU4AR

    A friend recommened it to me a few years ago, and I was amazed how quickly it worked, which is why I recommend it to others. The dog training academy also has as an excellent home training course.

  • 1 decade ago

    Oh my goodness....YES you can teach her new tricks!

    Of course you can! Labs are so smart, and I'm sure you can have her learining a bunch of new commands by the end of this week. If you have until January, you can teach her so much more.

    Guide dogs are trained to lead te blind in just 3-6 months. you have no idea how much they learn in that amount of time. It's crazy!

    here are some things to teach her:

    http://www.loveyourdog.com/tricks.html

    Source(s): Guidedogpuppy
  • Anonymous
    5 years ago

    The owner of the dog needs to know how to "operate" the dog, same way you can get into a car that's in perfect running order but if you don't know how to drive you won't have much luck making the car go anywhere. If the owner doesn't know how to maintain the training, the dog will soon become untrained again. Read more here https://tinyurl.im/ciMbM

    People seem to think that once a dog is trained, that's it. Not true. You must reinforce the dog's training every single day in some way. It's best if the owner and the dog go together to get trained. As a professional trainer once said to me "We can train any dog in 2 days. It takes longer to train the owners

  • 5 years ago

    Hi, I understand that you are looking for some advice or resources to help fully train your dog or fix behavior problems. If a professional dog trainer is not an option at this time, or if you want to trt training your dog on your own (a great way to bond), I'd suggest you https://tr.im/0U29A

    A friend recommened it to me a few years ago, and I was amazed how quickly it worked, which is why I recommend it to others. The dog training academy also has as an excellent home training course.

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