You can't teach an old dog new tricks! 

Or can you? And how easy is it?

There are many reasons you may have ended up bringing an adult or elderly dog into your home. Usually, it is because you have just adopted a rescue dog from a shelter. But there are other situations like a family member who may have become too old to look after the dog, or maybe you have had the dog from being a puppy, and it has just formed a few bad habits over the years. 

Habits

Is it hard to train or retrain an adult dog, or impossible even?

Well, let's be real. Ideally, the dog will have been well trained from a puppy, as like children, dogs do a lot of their best training at a young age. They are like a sponge and are primed to take in new information. 

However, there isn't a magical point where a dog can no longer be trained. Just like adult humans can retrain for a new job, dogs can be trained to do anything at any age. It may only take a little longer and be a little harder. 

It has been shown that even a stubborn adult dog can be trained in something new in 2 weeks with as little as 15 minutes of dog training a day. And this applies to any activity, whether housetraining, crate training, walking on a leash or lead, walking to heel, recall, sitting, agility training, or just something fun like rolling over to get a treat.

The fundamental aspects of training any dog, adult, or puppy remain the same... you need to be patient and consistent with what you are doing. 

Learn from each other

If it is rare that you will get an adult dog that has never been trained, 

that is sometimes the problem. They have had differing levels of training under different methods of training. They may be used to other commands, different techniques, and strategies. For example, you could be using treats as a reward, but they may not understand this as they are used to clicker training. 

It will also have learned acceptable behaviors in their previous homes or on the streets, which may not be permitted in your new home. From simple things like it may be used to sleeping on the bed with their previous fur parent, but you want them to sleep in a crate downstairs, or more deep-rooted issues like it may be aggressive around food. This is not them being naughty; you need to take the time to teach the canine what is acceptable within its new home. 

Therefore, as we have already said, patience and consistency are essential, but you may need to vary your approach a little until you find something that works best for you and your new dog. As remember, your goal isn't to stress the dog out. It is to provide it with training for its safety, security, and happiness. 

Especially in the beginning, it is best to use the little and often approach. Daily training for short periods is more effective than weekly long training sessions, for example. It is about building positive habits within a daily routine. 

Mix it up

Your priority should be to get your dog used to what behaviors are acceptable in the home. For example, where it can go to the toilet, where it sleeps, what it can play with etc. 

Once you have established that, you can start widening the training experience out into the real world, with things like recall and walking on a leash without injuring you or the dog. Dogs are sociable animals, so the more experiences you can give them, the more well rounded they will be. They need to learn what is acceptable around other humans. For example, they cannot jump up on other people. They also need to know how to react around other dogs and that not all other dogs are super friendly, as some may be reactive, aggressive, or scared. Taking them to dog play parks or dog meets up groups is an excellent way to supplement this side of the training. 

The general rule of thumb is the more experiences you give them and the less bored they are, the more outgoing and well rounded they will be. If a dog spends too much time in the house and not enough time out and about, they may become fearful of new experiences, sights, and sounds. 

Yes, training an adult dog may be more challenging than training a puppy. However, it is not impossible. 

It just might take a little more care, attention, and respect. 

You do need to take on the leadership role, and a dog should respect that. But it would be best if you were not aggressive or overly strict. You should want the dog to do what you are asking it to do because they love you and want to please you. It takes time to build that sort of trust with an adult dog. 

Dog obedience training is for their benefit, not just yours. It is your job to provide them with the best life possible. They are not toys or a plaything; it is about building a loving relationship with your new pooch and making them a part of your family.