I love these tales of old dogs and new tricks! My beloved was still learning new phrases well past her tenth birthday. But the first she ever learnt from me was, "Hoover up!" That one she learnt amazingly fast. Not that I drop food very often or anything like that...I hear you.It's definitely easiest to train a brand-new puppy, but I've learned it is possible to teach an old dog new tricks.
My current example is my helper's dog, who joined my household ≈3 years ago. As with most adult rescues, her true age is unknown, but she was believed to be ≈12 when she moved in, so she's ≈15 now.
She's very good and well-behaved, except that she was always allowed to jump up at people. Granted, at only ≈50 pounds, it's not as catastrophic as with a big dog, but I'm still unsteady on my feet and really just can't have her doing that. From the get-go, I went back to my trusty old bag of tricks and gently taught her not to jump on me. No training treats involved.
Separate from that, I've also taught her a new phrase and routine. Last thing at night she comes to my room, I say "bedtime snack?!", she lies down, then I hand her a chew...thing. [They vary daily, but keep her busy gnawing for 3-10 minutes.] She learned that in less than two weeks!
A friend inherited a black labrador when he was eleven, and taught him, "Stop dribbling" in Russian.
A lot of it is one-on-one loving attention, I'm certain. And consistency.
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