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Training an Older Dog – Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks

NYC Dog Trick Training Class
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Pippin the Alaskan Klee Kai at Tricks Class in NYC

If you have adopted an older dog only to learn it has some behavior problems, don’t worry-you can teach an old dog new tricks. It is a good idea to know something about a dog before you adopt it, but sometimes you just won’t know what you are in for. Adopting an older dog means he may come to you with some behavior issues. Common problems pet owners have with newly adopted older dogs, are aggression, barking too much or even soiling inside the house. Whatever the case may be, if you use the right techniques when training your new pet,  you will be able to help him to behave properly, learn his place within your family, become a great addition to your household.

When you first adopt an older dog, be sure to really check it out for any behavior issues. If your dog has any aggression problems-maybe he is aggressive towards other dogs, people, or over his food. You will need to pay immediate attention to correcting aggression problems, as these could lead to someone getting bitten.  Try to determine if he has any behavioral problems needing special attention and the level of his previous obedience training-if any at all. Try giving your new pet some basic obedience commands and see how he responds. If he doesn’t know the basic commands, you’ll know he hasn’t been given any training. If he responds fearfully to a command to come or sit, this may mean he was abused by a previous owner. Make sure he is totally house trained, too. Take a thorough look at his disposition and behavior so you can see where to begin training your older dog.

The best way to get started training an older dog is to follow the advice of the best  professional dog trainers, and use a step by step program that takes you from basic obedience training exercises right through more advanced training. This takes all the guess work out of how to train your older dog, and also will enable you to avoid making the same mistakes everyone always makes when trying to train their dog without a good system in place. All the best professional trainers emphasize using positive training techniques. Using positive reinforcement, you will give praise and rewards to your dog for correct behaviors, and teach him how you want him to behave. You will also learn how to communicate with your dog in a way that dogs understand. Knowing how to use your voice and your body language has a lot to do with training your dog effectively.

You will learn how to be your dog’s leader-the Alpha dog. Once you have earned his respect, confidence and trust as the Alpha dog, he will be eager to follow your leads. It is a dog’s essential nature to try to please the superior members of his “pack”-that’s you and your family.

The whole family needs to learn to be consistent with the training, to avoid any conflicting and confusing training. With the right training methods your older dog quickly learns his place within his new “pack”.By establishing yourself as the Alpha leader, you will good results with solving behavior problems your dog may have brought with him.

Training an older dog to be the best addition to your family that he can be will provide you with a pet that you can be comfortable with in any social situation. Since you adopted the older dog to be a new part of your family, don’t allow him to be anything other than a joy to have. Be sure you take the time to train your older new best friend  and have the best relationship with him you can have.

If you want to read some more helpful dog obedience training articles, please check out the information on my website. Click here to visit: http://BehaveDoggy.com.

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