For most of the dog obedience training methods, they emphasize on positive teaching and training, and consider Reward and Punishment as the central principles of how the dog should be trained.
Obedience training does more than just instill acceptable behavior for your dog; it also helps your dog understand his role in the family hierarchy. This understanding between your dog and the family will be established and preserved through the structure and rules that are expected and enforced daily.
Manners – While obedience training helps achieve understanding and polite behavior in your dog, it does not mean that the dog will not continue with behavior problems that he may have already learned. It is also important, for families, to teach their children how to respect the dog and its space, and to teach them what to do if the dog is rushing out of a door (rather than sitting quietly waiting to be let out).
Knowing your dog – This is one of the most important aspects of your dog obedience training methods. If you know your dog, you will be able to use his behavior to your advantage by harnessing any instinctive traits he has.
For example, its definitely true that kennel-born dogs are less dominant than those that came from the puppy mill experience. They have been living in a dog-proofed environment since birth and been taught on how to be a good dog.
Punishment – Punishing a dog when it does something wrong lets the dog know that whatever behavior it exhibits will cause pain. example: when you knocks on your friend’s door, and he runs to the door and barks, its possible that you could punish him by putting him back to where he was, down by the kitchen.
Reward – Removes a dog from a bad situation that has the potential to create bad behavior. Encouraging the dog to form positive associations with that particular situation. Example, if your dog has been barking nonstop since you arrived home from work and is creating a nuisance, a non-punishing teachable method could be to give him a special treat and plenty of praise only when he stops barking.
You need to be careful how you use rewards. Using a single treat, may not be harmful to your pet but using too many treats may cause him to gain weight and be overly hungry. Having and feeding treats all over the place only makes a dog lazy and unhappy – not an ideal scenario if you want him to be healthy and happy.
Whenever you’re training your dog, use all your senses to your advantage. You should use both verbal and hand signal to build your communicate with your dog. Make full use of them to make the communication process easier.
It is much easier to achieve a healthy relationship with a dog if the owner has some understanding of health and discipline. While discipline is important, it is also important to remember that health and wellness are just as important, and should be considered just as much as discipline.
One of the best ways to ensure that a dog is healthy in mind is to make sure that it has plenty of opportunities to exercise. This is only doable if the owner has someone to let the dog out, when he needs to get out.
Every dog has a big learning curve, so be patient and understanding. Reinforcement is a critical aspect of the dog obedience training program. When you reinforce a behavior, your dog will want to do that behavior again, and again. This is how learning works. Your dog will be well used to getting treats for good behavior.
There is no shortage of ideas that could be considered here, but I hope this has at least given you some inspiration, and will help you to make an informed decision about the methods you choose to use when training your dog.