Untrained Chuihuahas! Long. Plus vent.

[jesses_girl]

Ok so MIL has 2 (Im not even going to try and spell it again) Lap dogs. I am a firm believer in training dogs, these 2 dogs are not trained, do not come when you call there name, and like to bark madly at you when you walk in the door. I do understand this particualr breed are VERY protective, but you cannot even go near them without being bitten, and it hurts! I dont care there only little, it still hurts! We often visit MIL, and we like to take our dog (Hes a staffy x) I love him to bits, he is good with kids, Trained! Anyway i could tell you all day about him

MIL's dogs dont climb the stairs so you have to take them down to the toilet, and when they go down they bark at everything! I cant even imagine what the neighbours would think, and the littlest one likes to provoke my dog to bark with them, usually when we're there we just give him a ball and he happily chews it up but if i forget and my dog goes outside to see what there barking at and barks aswell, he only ever barks once and trots back inside, but MIL yells at my dog for barking once while her two dogs are still barking!!!!! Even when i say that isnt bear hes sitting right here, she still yells at him, and not her dogs. Now noone could ever mistake the bark of her 2 dogs to the bark of mine. I would laugh if her dog sounded like mine...... So.... Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Shes 8 this year.... I want to train her so badly!

[ss_storm]

I think you can, just might take a little longer to get them to change their ways! Maybe have a read of Cesar Milan, he's a great believer in teaching old dogs new tricks, and that there is no dog that can't be rehabilitated.

'Little dog' syndrome can be so annoying! Just because it's little and looks cute doesn't mean it doesn't need to be taught manners!

[human bean]

Ohhh alot of little dogs drive me nuts too....a really yappy one across the road from us in particular!

Anyways, back on track - yep I agree that you could teach an old dog new tricks, as ss storm said it might just take longer. I can only guess the hardest part would be finding a strong drive to work with - if they are spoilt there may not be that strong food drive that can make the treats/training much easier. Or just a matter of finding the right reward.....but I would presume it would only be worth your time and effort if MIL was going to be consistent too?

Plus, a few months ago now I saw them bust the myth that an old dog can't be taught new tricks on mythbusters I think the dogs they worked with were 7 and 8yrs? Good luck!