Training A Puppy Vs Training Adult Dogs

Those who are looking to adopt a dog may have a difficult time deciding whether to adopt a puppy or an adult dog. This can be a difficult decision and there are certainly both advantages and disadvantages to adopting either a puppy or an adult dog. However, training issues are one of the issues a prospective dog owner should carefully consider when choosing between a puppy and an adult dog. It is important for the dog owner to note that there may be training issues which are specific to training a puppy or an adult dog. Generally speaking it will depend on the specific dog being adopted as opposed to the age of the dog to determine the training issues which may arise. Some adult dogs may be easier to train than puppies while other adult dogs may be significantly more difficult to train than puppies. This article will highlight a few different training scenarios to help the owner to determine whether an adult dog or a puppy would be a better choice for his situation.

First consider situations in which training an adult dog can be easier than training a puppy. The first dog I adopted was approximately 1.5 years old when I brought her home. She was a great adult dog who despite being grossly obese was already relatively well mannered. This dog I adopted had obviously come from a very loving home where she had no aggression issues related to fear whatsoever. She was also well socialized and got along great with other dogs and other people. She also knew a few basic commands such as sit, down and roll over. I quickly realized she knew these basic commands when she eagerly offered each behavior in return for a treat.

However, I soon realized she didn’t have a firm grasp of these commands. She had instead learned to do a sit, a down and a roll over in that particular order. She became very frustrated when I asked her to sit, perform a down and then sit again. At this point I realized she had been trained to perform a series of behaviors in a particular order and did not fully understand the verbal commands which accompanied each behavior. This required me to do some retraining. I went back to basics with her and began teaching each command separately to give her better grasp of the verbal cues. Then I tried combining two of the commands together. If she performed the incorrect behavior I would withhold the treat and give the command again until she got it correct and then praise her and reward her.

Next consider adopting an adult dog who is need of a great deal of retraining. The second dog I adopted was a puppy at only approximately four months old but she had a number of serious issues which required a great deal of retraining. I would consider this scenario comparable to adopting an adult dog who, due to lack of training in his previous home, has developed a number of bad habits which need to be corrected. This particular puppy had been surrendered to the shelter by her previous owner for, “Attacking children in the household.” I was apprehensive upon hearing this but as soon as they brought the puppy into the waiting room to meet us she seemed happy and excited to see us. I decided to adopt her and she was spayed two days later and released to me by the veterinarian who performed the procedure. The veterinarian told me to go ahead and give her a small meal before bedtime. The first time I put food down for her, she immediately hunched over the bowl protectively, glared up at me and began growling aggressively. I thought perhaps she was just very hungry because she was required to fast for a number of hours before the surgery and hadn’t eaten in awhile. However, the next morning she displayed the same aggressive behaviors towards me at meal time and even snapped at me when I reached towards the bowl. I quickly surmised she had a food aggression problem which would require some training. I hadn’t dealt with this issue before so I spent some time learning about how to lesson this type of behavior. I spent months feeding her by hand, giving her small amounts of food at a time and asking her to leave it. If she left the food, I rewarded and praised her lavishly to help teach her I was not a threat to her food. It took awhile and she is still somewhat apprehensive about stranger approaching while she is eating but she is much more relaxed around family members and even allows us to pet her or sit close to her while she is eating.

It is important for prospective dog owners to realize adult dogs may sometimes be extremely difficult to train because they may have developed a number of bad habits. Sometimes retraining these behaviors is not a serious issue but behaviors which relate to aggression can be dangerous to both the owner as well as others who may come in contact with the dog. For this reason, owners who adopt an adult dog with serious behavioral issues should consider consulting with an experienced trainer who can help them to overcome specific issues with the adult dog.

Finally, consider adopting a puppy at a very early age that was properly socialized with his mother and littermates. In many ways this puppy can be considered a clean slate in terms of training. A puppy of this age will typically require a great deal of training simply because he does not know anything about which behaviors are acceptable and which behaviors are not. However, he will also not have already learned bad habits which can be difficult to correct.