What do you think about when someone says "You can't teach an old dog new tricks"?

Question

Please...be creative. Dont tell me the obvious. (Unless what is obvious for you is unusual for others;))

Answer 1

When anyone says this it makes me remember a smart old dog a friend had. I see her sitting there looking at us like we had lost our minds because we tried to get her to fetch a ball along with the other dog. She just didn't do 'stupid human tricks' anymore!

Answer 2

The phrase "You cannot teach an old dog new tricks" means it is difficult to make someone change the way they do something when they have been doing it the same way for a long time.

Answer 3

It means people like animals get set in their ways. It is why my old co worker gets pissed when we try to simplify things through technology. The phrase is kind of off though, it should really go, An old dog is often unwilling to learn new tricks. To say you can't teach an old dog new tricks is wrong. When they told my co worker he was going to get bounced if he did not embrace our new system he learned a new trick real fast.

Answer 4

You really CAN teach an old dog a new trick, it just takes a lot longer than a young dog. Same with people.

Little kids learn a new langauge within a year and they speak fluently without an accent. Old timers like us would rather sleep.

Answer 5

How wrong for it simply is not true-old dogs can still learn new tricks new things,just not as agile in doing them as when they were younger for even dogs slow down or get stiff joints in their old age. But it does Not affect their capacity to love or to still be a welcome companion. Old age should not be adterrent to learning new things for that is the challenge of the universe and the people in it -we never reach the pont where we know all and so are always able to learn but need to be open to it. The only thing that shuts our minds are we ourselves. I simply do not accept the adage...Because or due to old age, do not take for granted that a limitation such as arthritis or joint pain is simply old age or if we forget -do not accept it is old age and therefor accepted. Health and having a functioning brain can be had if we want it but must do what is requird to have as is evverything in life. But in attempting to have we have for therein lies the challenge to want and then to do to get it

Answer 6

In the fall of 1776 in a small chateau in darmsdatd , germany was a noble man Herr Willie Brandt who had the dog 'ludwig'. During the course of their hunting trip in the woods of Heidelberg, they had to cross River Maine and it was the stubborness of his dog 'ludwig', which led Willi Brandt to say this now famous quote " YOU CAN'T TEACH A DOG NEW TRICKS " - ' SIE KÖNNEN NICHT EINEN HUND NEUE TRICKS UNTERRICHTEN '
Nowadays it is extensively used by all animal lovers and organisations like PETA to avoid further cruelty to the loved animals.

Answer 7

I always remember and visualize one "saying" I read some time ago, "you can take a horse to water but getting him to float on his back is gonna be one hard trick to pull", or something like that.

I always picture a horse with his legs up in the air and the head completely submerged trying desperately to roll over.

Answer 8

That they surrender to the use of cliches rather than thinking for themselves.

Seriously, though, people can learn at any age. The saying SHOULD be, "MOST old dogs are too STUBBORN to learn new tricks...but that doesn't mean it's impossible."

Answer 9

Meaning of the phrase aside and whether its realistic or not what I think of is a beagle with one of those round clown frilly collars, juggling three balls in the air, standing on its hind legs with an old gray muzzle, a wink and a doggy smile.

Karma.
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Answer 10

I usually get all worked up, because I am even worse than an old dog. I don't even know any new tricks to teach. I mean, I think and think, and nothing happens. "New trick... new trick... I got nothing."