What you will need

Dog training will be one of the best experiences for you and your pet. Without training, the dog will soil on your furniture, chew things, bark, run away when called, perhaps even bite. Taking care of these problems before they occur will make it a lot easier on you and your dog both. Before you start training, you might want to pick up a few items:

1.   A leash and collar: These are very important, make sure to get the collar that will not put too much strain on your dogs neck. Choke collars can be good, but are not necessary for training. Leash length is something to take into consideration, a short 4 foot leash is good for walking and ordinary tasks, but for training you may need one that is 6 foot or longer. Usually it is best to buy 2 of each, one set for going for walks and the like, another set for strictly training. Experiment with different types of collars and leashes, most Pet Shops will have a wide variety for you to choose from.

2.   Treats: These will be rewards for when your dog completes a certain action during training. Rewards are given to make the dog catch on to "I do this and get a treat in return." which will make the dog very happy to follow your commands. Several companies make a wide variety of treats, find one that your dog really likes and stick with it. However, some dogs pay more attention to the treats than they do you so here is an alternate method. Keep the treats back for an occasional reward and offer your praise instead. Pet the dog joyously and say "Good boy!" or some other type of praising. This will ultimately strengthen the bond between you and your pet and it will most likely keep the dog wanting to train for you. He will be pleasing the alpha in his family, which is you. So he will gladly do anything that pleases you.

Punishment

The above are the basics you will need to begin training, the collar and leash are invaluable tools when it comes to training. If you have problems keeping your dog in the collar, tighten it a little but not too tight, if you can easily slide a finger between the collar and neck of the dog then it is a fine fit.

Now let's talk about a more serious subject; Punishment. Some people go into dog training and think that punishment is the only way to teach a dog. True, if a dog does do something wrong you should get onto it, but you should never actually punish a dog. With punish I mean, hitting, smacking, punching, kicking etcetera. This will only make problems worse and will eventually cause more problems to rise.

Some people will disagree with what I have said here and I might need to explain myself a little more; Punishment can be a good thing, when not used in excess or abused. A small tap when they do something wrong is fine, but way too many people abuse their right to punish. Also, many people make the mistake of saying the name of the dog while punishing, by doing so a dog may think every time it is called it is something negative. Try to only use the dogs name with encouragement. If punishment is something you're wanting with your training, you can find tons of books on the proper way to implement punishment with training. Just don't use it excessively or violently, I have seen many of dogs literally beat because they wouldn't listen to their owner and the problem usually lyes in lack of propper training. With that cleared, lets move on.