Dispelling five myths you thought were true about dogs

Contrary to some ingrained beliefs about dogs, Jarred Hodgson provides information that will help make you a better owner and trainer, and help you understand these domesticated animals' behaviour.

- Jarred Hodgson

There are many beliefs and myths about dogs that we all, if not now, at some point, believed to be true. I remember being told that if you fill up plastic two litre bottles with water and leave them on the lawn, the dogs won’t toilet near them. Well, one of our dogs nearly went on top of it. So, let me dispel five myths you thought were true about dogs.

OLD DOGS CAN’T LEARN NEW TRICKS

This has been ingrained in our lives since forever. Our grandparents told us about this saying that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Interestingly enough, this is one of the oldest idioms in the English language. No wonder we believe it. Apparently, it is from as early as the 16th century!

Where did this come from, you may ask. Here is the first written record of it in old English, from John Fitzherbert’s The boke of husbandry (1534):

“...and he [a shepherd] muste teche his dogge to barke whan he wolde haue hym, to ronne whan he wold haue hym, and to leue ronning whan he wolde haue hym; or els he is not a cunninge shepeherd. The dogge must lerne it, whan he is a whelpe, or els it will not be: for it is harde to make an olde dogge to stoupe.” (See theidioms. com/you-cant-teach-an-old-dog-new-tricks/)

Rather interesting to read. Old English is funny!

Since then it hasn’t changed much, except for the spelling. We have just always stuck with it, but in actual fact it is false. Old dogs can learn new behaviours. It may be hard to change their behaviour, for instance if your dog begs for food, trying to stop it doing that can be difficult.