Is it too late to teach a 6year old dog basic obedience?

I inherited a 6year old male english bull terrier. Before he came to live with me he had no boundaries. His owner use to let him inside if he wanted to come inside, lay on the lounge if he wanted to lay on the lounge, sleep in the human bed if he wanted to etc etc. when they walked it wasn't walking, the dog just dragged his owner around while he sniffed and pooped on everything. now i have him. is it too late to teach him basic obedience? he doesn't know how to listen or anything like that and he is driving me insane. what do i do? can i teach him or is he too far gone?? he is really stubborn too. wont listen to anything and doesn't understand any instructions i give him. i need help badly

no, it is not to late. but it may take quite a bit of work to get it done. you might be better off finding a professional trainer to do that for you

It's never too late, in fact it sounds like if you're to keep him, training him is going to be a must. Bull terriers are especially hard to handle breeds if not trained early on, but don't lose hope. Time, consistency and patience are KEY. Remember those three things. 1. Establish yourself as the leader. Be calm but firm with him. Yelling and being physical could cause him to challenge you and become aggressive. Don't have him in the room with you when you're eating, don't let him into your bedroom, if he is being hard to handle in the house, put him outside either in a fenced area or just tie him somewhere for a bit. This insures that you still have your own space and time to yourself. 2. Get a crate. His crate should be roomy for him and comfortable, with bedding and toys. It should be open when he's around the house, and it should be his safe spot, his den so to speak. However, if he is being punished or needs to be closed up for a bit, he should be sent here and closed into it. The crate comes in handy for when you're cooking, eating, and cleaning. 3. Exercise. This is key. This is a high energy dog and he has a lot of steam to blow off, he can't focus unless he gets enough exercise. Walks, jogging, off leash trips are all great. Just letting him into the yard is definitely not enough. Exercise will be a pain at first, before he's trained, but it will pay off once you're training him. 4. Diet. He seems like a high energy dog, he needs a low calorie diet. Table scraps that aren't greasy and sugary are good to mix into regular dog food, as is plain rice and plain pasta, chicken, etc. Home cooked food has less salt and by products, while commercial food has a good vitamin and mineral balance that your dog needs. 5. Training. This is going to be difficult, so I repeat. Time, consistency, and patience. I'm not going to go into detail here, there is so much to cover. However, he needs to learn the basics which are walking on a leash, sit, wait, and no. If you'd like more in depth help with this, feel free to email me ([email protected]), or post them as separate questions here on Y!A, I might find it and help you. Good luck and don't give up!

It's not too late. :)I've always had older dogs and I've never had issues with "retraining" them to fit into my home. I would look into either a dog trainer for some one on one time or an obedience class. You'll both benefit: he'll get the training he needs and you'll learn how to communicate and teach him. Patience and persistence will pay off. Good luck.

Depends on the dog and how experienced u r..... he shud be treat trainable. If u cant keep him give it to someone who loves dogs around but be very choosy in it..... doesnt his love make u tolerant of his behavior?