So why train a dog? Is it not easier to have fun with your dog and 'shout' at it when it does something wrong? I wouldn't recommend this. A well trained dog will develop a very close relationship with it's owner and that relationship will last for the duration of it's life. A well trained dog will get nothing but respect and affection when visiting friends or being taken out for a day in town. How often have you walked past a dog with it's owner and it decides to bark or jump against it's lead/leash at you. This is always an uncomfortable feeling and children in particular get very scared when this happens.

A dog lacking in proper training can turn into a real problem in your home having barking and destruction issues. How long will your neighbors put up with this nonsense - how awful does it sound to a passer-by? The very first thing you should do when you bring a new puppy into the family is that biting a human is not the same as biting a sofa or a rug. Let the puppy know it hurts and it is not excepted. While puppies have very weak mouths their puppy teeth are still extremely sharp ( and hurt! ). Older dogs have very, very powerful jaws and can cause serious damage when biting. It is very important to make sure that the dog knows why it is being told off - don't just shout at it and hope the dog knows why because it won't, after all it's a dog.

On the flip side of the coin always reward the dog when it obeys and praise it when it does something correctly. Raising your voice or shouting is alright within reason but don't even think about abusing the dog in any way to prove your point. I cannot stress this enough - never hit your dog, there are other ways around discipline. Praise at the right time and discipline at the right time - full stop.

training your dog the sit command is a very important part of it's natural training. Try your best to get your dog to 'sit' on your command as this function will help you greatly in most other training techniques, for example: use the 'sit' command when you are about to open the front door to your house to let someone in.

These are very basic dog training techniques but you would be surprised the amount of people that own dogs neglect this. Put them into action when the dog is at a puppy stage and the rest of it's training will become a much easier task.