Wat figurative language is this "you can't teach old dogs tricks"?

Page 1: page 2: "o father, all my life your fame as a fighting man has echoed in my ears — your skill with weapons and the tricks of war — but what you speak of is a staggering thing, beyond imagining, for me. how can two men do battle with a houseful in their prime? " —the odyssey, homer based on the two passages, how has telemachus changed since he first met up with odysseus?