# Old dog, New tricks



## misha (Nov 25, 2014)

So when adopting my dog my mind blanked on asking if she knew any basic commands and to my surprise, she knew none. My dog literally only knew her name and she's turning 7 years old. 

I spent my first month with her trying to teach her multiple things. So far she is decent with "leave it" "wait" "drop it" and "let's go" and she begins looking excited when I mention we're going for a walk. When she sees me putting on my coat she runs to the door. She gets better every single day with walking on a leash, the difference between today and a month ago makes her look like a different dog. But she still doesn't know how to sit. 

I don't know what I'm doing wrong. She loves the treats I use and seems very motivated by them but just when I think she's caught on to what I want her to do she won't do it anymore. I press on her behind or snap my fingers at her back side while saying sit, and then sometimes I just say sit with the hand signal and she sits and then the next time she won't and I have to press on her behind again. I do get frustrated but I never raise my voice. I praise her every time and more so when she gets it right. I've taught her a lot I just don't know why sit is a hard concept for her to grasp, or why I'm making it hard for her to understand what I want. 

Any wisdom will be greatly appreciated. I'd like teach her more but right now I just want my little girl to sit. People keep telling me "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" but that's rubbish. I've already taught her a lot, that's just a myth/excuse/phrase that means nothing to me. I am determined to get her to learn this, I'd just prefer to save my money for professional advanced training.


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## patk (Jun 13, 2013)

first check to see that she doesn't have any physical problems that would make sitting uncomfortable for her. she sounds like a willing learner. i think you can count on folks to weigh in with some good suggestions.


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## Suddenly (Aug 8, 2013)

I know you must be frustrated, but look how far you've gotten already. Take deep breaths and eventually she'll get there. She'll get soon enough.


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## Specman (Jun 14, 2012)

I am not an expert but I would suggest lots and lots of reps. The way I taught Max was to raise the treat over his head until it was advantageous for him to sit to track the treat


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## misha (Nov 25, 2014)

I'm curious though, how long does it generally take you guys to teach your dog a new command? 

Oh and she doesn't have anything that makes her uncomfortable when she sits, she sits all the time, just not on command. She was sitting just a while ago while watching me play video games. 

I just hate that right now a few people I know call her "dumb dog" because she won't do certain things on command and I don't think it's fair to blame a dog for what they don't know, that falls on the owners teaching ability. I just question my teaching ability... although I did teach my six year old nephew how to play Sudoku in twenty minutes. And I taught my cat to walk on a leash, and all I had to do was pull out the leash and she'd come running over to put it on, but she hasn't been out in almost a decade so she's forgot what I've taught her. If I could find a harness she can't Houdini out of I'd take her out for walks again.


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## poodlecrazy#1 (Jul 2, 2013)

If she is sitting plenty on her own maybe training her by Capturing the action would be best. The best way to do this would be to start clicker training. You probably could use a trigger word as well but I find clickers are a more distinct sound and make Capture training a lot smoother. Start off by loading the clicker. If you think she might be frightened of it you can either buy one that is loudness adjustable or muffle it in your hand or a cloth. Click give treat, click give treat, click give treat. Once she starts getting the idea maybe ask her to do something she knows already. Or train the Focus command if you haven't already. Every time she looks you in the eye click give treat. Eventually she will pick up on the fact that a click sound means a reward. Once she has this down you can start capturing actions you want her to do, such as sitting. You can do it around the home during daily activities when ever you see her sit click give treat. Or you can do a short sessions a few times a day. If she is not interested throw a treat on the ground a bit away from her. She will have to get up to get the treat when she is finished and eventually she gets bored waiting for you to throw another she will hopefully sit (or do some type of relaxing movement that you can capture, like laying down) and you can capture it, once she does, click give treat. She will eventually pick up on the idea that that action gets her goodies and will do it to get more. Once you notice she is doing this without you having initiate the action you can add in your command word Sit. Start by saying it as she does the action a few times. Once you can tell she will do the action again you can say your command word a bit sooner. She will eventually link the word to the command and that is when you can say sit and she will sit. 

Here is a good video to show you what I mean. (Notice in the second part she is not using the clicker but a trigger word, it can totally be done but for a beginner I find the sound of the clicker is consistent and more defined where as a voice can be much different each time and cause confusion for the dog.) 

http://youtu.be/ZGPSCvmXyRg

http://youtu.be/iQyAOdlO-oI


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## patk (Jun 13, 2013)

i'm no aficianado of clicker training, but poodlecrazy#1's advice makes sense. ultimately what you're going to be doing is identifying a natural behavior and naming/marking it. by rewarding the behavior you should eventually be able to get the dog to associate command/behavior/reward. or at least that's the way i've always broken it down mentally.

if your friends razz you, by the way, because she's not sitting now on command, just tell then she was smart enough to know she didn't have to do it for free!


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

I think that my dogs respond better to hand signals than verbal commands. I am training a puppy and the first step is leading her with a treat, and once she gets it, the treat is removed from that hand, and the motion becomes the hand signal. If your dog is not responding to the hand signal, instead of pushing him down with your hand, I would go back to step one, lure him into position with the treat. It seriously usually takes me around a minute to teach my girl something new via treat luring! Once she gets the idea that this is how you teach him something knew, you can get more complex, and he will work hard to figure out what you want. When I taught her to jump through a hoop, all I had to do was gesture through the center of the hoop with a treat in my hand, and after a couple of repeats, bam, she was jumping through that hoop!


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## mvhplank (Dec 5, 2012)

Tiny Poodles said:


> I think that my dogs respond better to hand signals than verbal commands. I am training a puppy and the first step is leading her with a treat, and once she gets it, the treat is removed from that hand, and the motion becomes the hand signal. If your dog is not responding to the hand signal, instead of pushing him down with your hand, I would go back to step one, lure him into position with the treat. It seriously usually takes me around a minute to teach my girl something new via treat luring! Once she gets the idea that this is how you teach him something knew, you can get more complex, and he will work hard to figure out what you want. ....


I agree that using even mild force (pushing on the back end) is not the best way--I suspect the dog resists and then gives you a "not-sit" instead. 

I taught my dogs to sit with the luring method, using a wonderful treat (not kibble) starting near the nose and heading toward the top of the head. The dog will naturally sit to make it easier for the nose to follow the treat. Then you can say "Sit" and give the treat. (Don't say "Sit" to ask for the behavior until the dog actually knows what it means.) 

You are correct that the dog is probably learning hand signals better because dogs don't communicate by talking, they use body language instead (sort of like hand signals).

And there are times when you will think that your dog has totally forgotten everything he was ever taught--it's temporary, just go back to the beginning, and you'll soon have him up to speed.


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## misha (Nov 25, 2014)

Well she learned to sit, actually caught on the day after I posted this, haha. 

Everyone always bugs me about how much I worry but I can't help myself. I want to make sure I'm doing things right. 

Now we are onto learning "paw" because it'll be helpful when putting her harness on. So it looks like old dogs do learn new tricks. It took a little longer than the book said, but then I've never had a book about training older dogs, it's all about puppies.


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## cmarrie (Sep 17, 2014)

7 is far too young to be put out to pasture! I'll bet your little girl is relieved to finally have someone challenging her brain. Great job!


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