Old Dogs Can Learn New Tricks

  Posted on June 18, 2012  by Joy of Living  No comments

This weekend, I had pet sitting visits with Bailey, an 11 year old Labrador Retriever.  He’s 11, considered a senior citizen in dog years but as I’ve come to find out, he’s got lots of energy and CAN definitely learn new tricks!

We went for walks on each of our three visits.  He’s a quick learner and knows the words “wait” and “slow” so he didn’t drag me down the steps as we started our walk.  Our early morning and evening walks were a good distance, but that didn’t seem to phase Bailey, he  liked being able to sniff the smells of the neighborhood and check out the sights.

After walks, he learned ‘sit’ and “wait” before digging into his food.  It only took a couple of times for him to learn these, again, not shabby at all for an older guy!

I decided to introduce him to the “find it” game.  Many dog clients absolutely love it and it doesn’t take them long at all to learn the object of it.  I hid a couple of treats, gave a clue, he found them with just a little effort.  Once he learned the game, he looked forward to it on each of my visits.

Many pet owners believe once their dogs get a little older they’re not up to much exercise or play, but my experience with Bailey shows that is not the case at all!  Get your senior dog up and moving, they’ll love you for it!