Teach an old dog new tricks

Teach an old dog new tricks?

Have you heard the saying, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”? I have. All of my life. Well, I’m here to tell you, you can – with work.

My Chico is 11 years old this year. The king of the castle can go pretty much wherever he wants to. There are exceptions. He can still jump with ease in the chairs and on the couch. But the bed was a little too high. Love him, he’s getting old. Of late he would sit on the floor and cry ‘cause he couldn’t make it. Oh, this had to stop.

You’ve heard of people who get hangry? I get slangry. Angry because I didn’t get enough sleep.

Picked up some boxes from work and placed them on the side of the bed he used. The cardboard was too slick. So, I covered them. He still wouldn’t use them. Plus, there wasn’t enough space for the boxes and me between the bed and the wall. This wasn’t working. I needed Chico to use the new platform at the same time, I didn’t need a broken ankle or a busted nose.

As much as I didn’t want to do it, I completely rearranged my bedroom. Cheekie only had one way to access the bed.

Preacher gave me a set of dog steps. I kept one covered box. He uses the box, no longer whining for help. And I get much more sleep.

The next step is to remove the box so he uses the steps.

After rearranging my bedroom, it dawned on me. I have a lot more open floor space. Not only was this good to teach Chico that he needed to use his new platform. But I got a clean room and more space.