Expecting your dog to learn what it is that you want them to do is not always that easy. If you expect them to get it right after just one or two sessions of training, then you may be expecting too much.
And you may be in for a big shock when you discover that training can often take much longer than you expect it to. Much of the reason for this is often because of mistakes which the owner, not the dog, makes.
One mistake a lot of owners make is in making too much of a fuss when your dog does not get something right. What you need to be doing is accentuating the positive, and overlooking the negative.
Your faithful friend loves the approval and attention of you, his owner, so when they do get something right that you have asked them to do, heap on the praise and approval, and it will pay dividends.
And another common mistake that a lot of owners make is in thinking that your dog understands English. They don’t, all they can do is to associate a few words with certain actions.
If they make a mess for instance in your house while you are out, its no good yelling at them when you come in, they will not connect the two things. Just show some tender loving care, and a big spoonful of patience.
Don’t make the mistake when training your dog of getting upset if she doesn’t understand you or continues to make the same mistake if you’re not catching her right then and there. Punishing her after the fact is pointless and ineffective.
The last mistake that I want to talk about is the one of having too high an expectation for your training. If your dog does not progress as rapidly as you hoped, then its no good getting mad about it, just accept it, and perhaps consider the possibility of some professional training.
There’s nothing wrong with asking a professional to help with training your dog and a pro may be able to show you some other mistakes you’re making or help to readjust your expectations. Either way, by asking for this help in training your dog you’re sure to not only be more successful but to also have a happier and calmer dog as well.

[rayter]

Nice tips, dogtrainer09! I totally agree with what you posted!

And another common mistake that a lot of owners make is in thinking that your dog understands English. <- Amen to that!!! Dogs have their own language. A dog training will only be successful if you implement consistent commands and signals.

Originally Posted by dogtrainer09

There’s nothing wrong with asking a professional to help with training your dog and a pro may be able to show you some other mistakes you’re making or help to readjust your expectations. Either way, by asking for this help in training your dog you’re sure to not only be more successful but to also have a happier and calmer dog as well.

This is so true! After adopting Tanner, I debated about whether to pay for obedience classes or do it myself. I've trained other dogs so I can certainly teach sit/down/stay/heel. But, I decided to do a group class to hone my skills and help with Tanner's socialization. Two major benefits of the class were: I realized Tanner has "dog issues" that I would not have known about working at home alone; and, the trainer was able to point out to me where I was not responding quickly enough or strongly enough. Classes or one-on-one sessions are more about the human learning than the dog learning--we have to learn how to teach our dog because most of the time the problem is at our end of the leash, not theirs. The trainer admitted to me that she goes to a trainer to have someone assess her body language and response time, too.

[lil mutt]

wow... great tips...
do you some background on dog training?
just wondering...

thanks.