Some dog lovers will be outraged to find out that you were hitting your dog. Sometimes, hitting your dog may make it become even more rebellious. Physically abusing your dog in the name of correcting can make it slink away in fear anytime it sees you.

To effectively train your dog, you need to know what motivates it. Each dog has a particular reason for doing something and therein lays its language. It is vital that you understand your dog’s language if you are to communicate with its effectively.

Walk your dog before you begin training it so as to help loosen up. In walking your dog, don’t let it walk beside you or in front of you if you want to establish a master/ follower relationship. Always ensure that your dog walks behind you so that it knows who the boss is.

Dog commands range from owner to owner. A dog may be taught to heel or to sit. Basic dog commands usually include sit, down, stay, recall and close.

A dog can send out a variety of signals to its handler and it is up to the handler to receive and interpret those signals properly. Misreading the signals that your dog sends to you during its training can bungle the training up. A dog can signal non-verbally to you that it is unsure, afraid, tired or nervous.

The learning theory is a dog training premise that inculcates four basic messages; reward marker, the keep going signal, the no reward marker and the punishment marker. The dog you are handling in training needs to be clear about each message you send out for it to respond favorably.

The extent to which you are successful as a dog handler depends on your ability to get your dog to understand you and your commands. More often than not, commands that dogs don’t respond to are those that are not clear. If you want your dog to respond favorably to your commands, try not to get your wires crossed.

In training your dog, you should use consistent commands in order not to confuse it. Dogs that get used to a particular command in a certain context are unable to respond to the same command in a different context. You should be consistent in your tone when training your dog in order to avoid confusing it.