dog traing at home

I have a maremma who is quite old and when i am trying to tell her what to do she doesent alwayse listen this morning i was tealling her to shake hands and she did it (with a little help with me giving her big rewards )can any one give me any ideas

How old is your dog?
It could be that they are going deaf or blind and have a hard time understanding. Do you use hand signals as well?

You could do micro-rewarding. When you see, even a slight amount, of the behaviour your looking for - REWARD right away! Eventually you can work up to the desired behaviour by with holding the time frame from trick to treat

I found that when my Lab was getting old, she seemed to loose some hearing and then as she got even older, it got really bad. She also seemed to get a little senile as she got up there in age. So, be careful to be patient. At first I was getting irriated with her sometimes, where she had always been compliant with me before. Then it dawned on me..."hey, wait a sec....poor thing is probably getting forgetful." They do. Just show her what you want again and again and give her a tasty treat when she does it.

I have a dog that turned 14 last October and she just plain doesn't respond like she used to. She's got five obedience titles, four agility titles, earned her CDX (second level obedience title) with first places beating 20+ dogs in her class - and yet now she doesn't understand a simple "sit".

I think it's a combination of things. She doesn't hear nearly as well (although she DOES understand "food", "doggie bones" and "nummers" .. *L*). She's easily confused - literally confused, she'll wander around and look lost at times. And she's not nearly as limber as she used to be. When she lifts her paw for a "wave" she can't lift it very high.

So I accept that she's old, maybe a bit senile and certainly not physically what she was, and I just don't make her do much. She gets her treats just for coming inside when I call her and getting along with everyone else. Sometimes I think we just have to accept that as they get older, they just can't do the things they used to. It's very sad, I know. But it's important to just enjoy the time you have together and not fret over the old dog not being able to respond to commands.

I hug her a lot, scratch behind her ears and talk to her. And I cherish every day we still have together, because I know that her time is limited.

Melanie and the gang in Alaska

Very nice post! Yes, I use to say of my almost 14 yr. old Lab, Bonnie..."She's come to that old lady sense of entitlement." LOL. It was like, "I'm old. I've lived a long time and now I'm set in my ways. I'll do as I please." LOL.

my dog flow is 8 yrs old and she is getting quite slow butshe isnt getting that old realy our neighbours dog is 13 yrs old and still healps with cattle but flow is not nearly as active as him