--- title: "Fun Tips on Training Your Dog Regardless of His Age" id: "239908" type: "post" slug: "fun-tips-on-training-your-dog-regardless-of-his-age" published_at: "2020-09-10T17:07:40+00:00" modified_at: "2024-01-08T12:25:13+00:00" url: "https://www.petlandbatavia.com/fun-tips-on-training-your-dog-regardless-of-his-age/" markdown_url: "https://www.petlandbatavia.com/fun-tips-on-training-your-dog-regardless-of-his-age.md" excerpt: "Training puppies is an easy endeavor but training an old dog is really hard. Or so you’ve heard. “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Wrong on both counts. First off, training any dog, regardless of age, is relatively..." taxonomy_category: - "Petland" --- [Home](https://www.petlandbatavia.com/) / [Blog](https://www.petlandbatavia.com/blog/) / [Petland](https://www.petlandbatavia.com/category/petland/) / **Fun Tips on Training Your Dog Regardless of His Age** [Petland](https://www.petlandbatavia.com/category/petland/) # Fun Tips on Training Your Dog Regardless of His Age September 10, 2020 · 5 min read · [cosmick](https://www.petlandbatavia.com/author/cosmick/) [Stay connected via Google News Follow us for the latest pet updates and guides.](https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=petlandbatavia.com) Training puppies is an easy endeavor but training an old dog is really hard. Or so you’ve heard. “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Wrong on both counts. First off, training any dog, regardless of age, is relatively easy if you use the two most important tools: treats and patience. Declining health might mean your senior dog can’t perform certain tasks, but within his physical limitations, older dogs can learn new things. Puppies may train faster, but older dogs outperform the pups in logic and reasoning tasks. Like humans, they learn from life experiences. They are also able to focus longer than a young dog. So what to teach your dog to do? Here is a list of tricks to teach any dog of any age. Using the techniques of consistency, repetition, and positive reward, any dog can learn these. Using a clicker to signal correct responses speeds this training up many times over. The most important thing about clicker training is timing. You absolutely must time the click to coincide with the correct behavior. A moment too late and he won’t understand what you are rewarding him for. 1. **Touch.** This is the basic command—targeting— that will be foundational in teaching other tricks. Simply hold out two fingers in front of your dog. When your dog reaches out and touches your fingers, immediately click and then give him his tiny pieces of his favorite treat. After he gets the idea, move your hand away so that the dog must come to your hand in order to touch it. When he is reliably touching your fingers every time you hold them out, add the verbal word, “touch.” (If he’s hearing impaired, just skip the word. The visual gesture will be all he needs.) 2. **Come.** If you have taught touch, give the touch command and hold out your fingers. When he touches your fingers, toss his treat a little ways away from him so he has to go get it. Then command “touch” again and repeat the sequence of command, touch (click), toss, repeat. As soon as he starts eagerly coming to you when he sees your hand outstretched, change the command from “touch” to “come.” 3. **Lie down.** Start with your dog in front of you and hold two fingers out as before. When he touches your fingers, click and treat. Next time, put your fingers on the ground and say “touch.” You’ll be amazed how quickly he will lie down to touch your fingers. Remember to click the moment the behavior is correct. When he’s reliably lying down to touch your fingers, change the command to “lie down.” Repeat it until he will lie down on command. 4. **Sit.** This time, use the touch command to teach your dog to sit. Start out the same way with the dog touching your extended fingers. Then lift the fingers up and slightly over his head. He will lift his head to touch your fingers and will probably lower his hindquarters at the same time. When he is sitting each time you lift your fingers above his head, add the “sit” command. 5. **Follow.** Teaching your dog to follow your moving fingers at this point should be very easy. Keep the fingers just slightly ahead of him and out of his reach. When you finally allow him to touch your fingers, click and reward. This one will be a lot of fun for him, so teaching “follow” will seem more like a game. 6. **Ring the bell** to go outside. One secret of clicker training is to capture behavior you want to reinforce. Instead of extending your fingers, hold a string of bells and command your dog to touch. At first, he may look at you confused. Just wait. Repeat the command “touch” and wiggle the string of bells a little to encourage his attention. As soon as he touches the bells, click and reward. Next, hold the bells a little higher than his nose so he reaches for the bells. When he touches them, click and reward. Next time, move the bells to a door or gate and when he touches them, open the gate and reward him after he passes through the door. You no longer have to verbally cue him, but *every time* he goes through the gate, take him to his potty spot. Slowly wait to treat him until he is closer to his spot, and eventually stop rewarding him for going outside and reward him for doing his business. Building on targeting, you can teach your dog to go get things, to pick up his toys, to open doors, and so much more. Any dog of any age can learn this way. So head to your nearest Petland, grab some Lil Gimmes training treats and start mastering some new tricks with your dog! To see videos of how to use this technique with your dog, watch this [Treehugger video.](https://www.treehugger.com/tricks-you-can-teach-senior-dog-4863692) [Stay connected via Google News Follow us for the latest pet updates and guides.](https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q=petlandbatavia.com) Available Now## If you loved this, you'll *love our puppies* Meet the happy, healthy pups ready to join your family today — browse the whole litter below. 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They tumble into the season with wide-eyed wonder, tiny… November 30, 2025 ``` AVERAGE Based on 358 reviews Posted on Google Kevin Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Amazing staff. All very nice and answered all my questions. I loved all the dogs but I had to see the dog named Kevin! I went in with a completely negative view on petlands but the staff really changed my mind by going over all the breeder info, If I am ever in need of a puppy I will go there and you should too. Posted on Google Cecilia Caballero Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. We came at a time they were very busy and never once did we feel rushed, or given attitude while asking questions. The two on staff were amazing and sweet! Posted on Google Noelle Chaney Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. I went in to get my dogs nails trimmed and was met with a smile and warm greeting from an employee, Dean. The trimming was quick and they really showed my scared dog good care. It was the most pleasant experience I’ve had when it comes to some of these pet places! Posted on Google Shayna V Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. We just went for a walk”puppy therapy.” Look at how cute they are. I was a little surprised that considering how few customers were in at the time & yet we only got a “let us know if we can help you with anything” and that was it. There were plenty of employees in store, as it was probably the beginning of the Friday night shift, before families started coming in. I had made an appointment, just in case we decided to see any of the dogs. I guess I’m accustomed to the employees being more personal and wanting to tell me things based on the conversation my group is having without me having to reach out to them. ```