I got my dog from the pound about 5 months ago. I think he is a cross between an Alsation and Whippet although i am not sure. I also do not know the age, I would say about 3 years if I had too. When we first got him he was very nervous and would jump out of his skin everytime their was a sudden movement. I think he must have been miss treated, Allthough he was in the pound for 6 months. He has calmed down now and is very loving and friendly. When he is off the lead he is usualy well behaved and will come when we call him nearly all of the time. However their is a problem as we can`t teach him the basics, Things like SIT and PAW. I have sat loads of time with biscuits trying to teach him and he just does not have a clue what i am going on about. Could he be too old too learn ? Is their a way for older dogs to learn the basics ?  I would be gratefull for feed back    thanks

It is never too late to teach a dog the basics.  Teach the sit in the same way as you would a puppy, luring into the desired position and then adding a cue when the behaviour is reliable.   Use continuous reinforcement to start with working towards a schedule of variable ration reinforcement.

If your dog won't sit at all maybe you need to adjust your luring skills and have the dog against the corner of the room.

Is he quite happy sitting in his own time, if not he could have joint problems.    If he does sit okay when he wants to you can add a cue word as he goes into the sit naturally.

Wendy

thanks wendy. could you tell me how long i should train him for each day.

To start with, keep training sessions short. About 5 minutes two or three times a day will be plenty at the beginning. Stop before he gets bored, and when he's just done something well, even if you have to ask him to do something very easy at the end. Always finish on a high, and don't train at all if you're in a bad mood!
:)

We have a rescue dog and had the same problems - he was 4 yrs old when we had him. I found that he just hadn't got a clue what we were asking him to do and tried all kinds.
We took him to a training class and they were a great help, teaching ways of getting the dog into the postion you want so that you can apply the command to it.