Training should be an enjoyable experience for you and your dog. If you are not in the right mood for training, don’t even start. Keep training sessions short, on the order of 5 to 10 minutes to maintain your dog’s motivation.

If your dog doesn’t respond appropriately to a command after several attempts, don’t reward him. Resume a few seconds later with a simpler command. Return to the more complex task later.

Always end the session on a positive note, asking your dog to respond to a command you know he will obey. Then reward him and issue a finish command such as “free” or “release.” This way both of you end the session on a high note and with a feeling of accomplishment. Avoid commonly used words such as “okay” as a finish command.

Every dog should be familiar with the basic obedience commands including come, heel, sit, down and stay. Teaching your dog to sit-stay and down-stay off leash is also a valuable lesson. Additional commands that are useful include: leave it, give it, stop it, enough or cease.

Keep in mind that a dog’s motivation to respond to a command decreases as the complexity of the task increases. Complexity includes not only the degree of sophistication of the task, but also requires understanding the dog’s motivation to respond. From a dog’s perspective the question is, which is more rewarding, chasing the rabbit or returning to the owner? Understanding this will increase your patience and chances for success.

Training should not involve any negative or punishment-based components. There should be no yelling, no hitting and no chain jerking. Each session should be upbeat and positive with rewards for jobs well done.

Remember that the opposite of reward is not punishment; it is no reward. If you ignore unacceptable responses, your dog will not be rewarded for his lack of responsiveness. Most dogs want to please their owners or, at the very least, obtain highly valued resources (food, attention and toys).

Ensure that your dog’s motivation for reward is highest during a training session. If food is the reward, train before a meal, not after. If praise, petting and other aspects of your attention are to be used as a reward, schedule the training session at a time when your dog hungers for your attention (for example, right after you have returned from work).

For complex tasks, such as the off leash down-stay, your dog will be more motivated to comply if he has received moderate exercise before the training session. Asking a dog that is bursting with energy to remain in a prolonged reclining position is asking for failure during the early stages of training.

Make sure the reward you use in training is the most powerful one for your dog. Food-motivated dogs work well for food, but the treats used should be favorite foods such as dried liver. You want the dog to be strongly motivated to obey commands to receive the treat. Food treats, if used, should be small – no bigger than the size of your little fingernail.

If praise is used as a reward, deliver it in high singsong tones, which are most pleasing for the dog. Also, enthusiasm in your voice will be much appreciated. If petting is to be used as a reward, it should be in a way that the dog enjoys, like stroking the dog’s hair on the side of his face in the same direction that it grows, or scratching him on the chest. Note: Petting on top of the head is not appreciated by some dogs.

Timing of the reward is important. After a correct response, reward your dog within 1/2 second of the command to ensure that your dog makes the connection between his behavior and the reward.

Use short commands such as SIT, DOWN, LEAVE IT, QUIET, OUT and OFF. Say the word once. Do not repeat the command. Dogs will hold the thought in mind for about 2 minutes. Shorter words are better than longer words and words that end in a consonant are better than those that end in a vowel because you can “spit” them out.

The only command that should have 3 sounds associated with it is COME. In this case, you first have to attract the dog’s attention by saying his name, ROVER, then COME (the actual command word) GOOD BOY, even before the dog comes so he knows he is not in trouble. Make sure your tone is crisp and cheerful.

Put your dog on a leash and attract his attention so he looks directly at you and you at him (“Watch-me”). Then issue an action word, SIT. A poorly trained dog might slowly get into the sitting position at which time you reward him IMMEDIATELY with praise, GOOD BOY, ROVER, (remember the high tones and heartfelt deliverance) and at the same time you immediately produce the reward.

An untrained dog will have to be assisted into the sitting position by moving a food treat over and above his head so that he has to sit to reach it. Success is greeted with warm praise and the food treat. In some cases, placement techniques (tension on collar, downward push on the rump) may have to be used.

Once you have the dog performing the desired response greater than 85 percent of the time in a quiet undisturbed environment you can move onto the next stage. Start to shape the behavior more toward the ideal response. You can start this by rewarding for a progressively faster SIT, that is rewarding the dog for sitting in 3 seconds, later in 2 seconds, and ultimately in 1 second or immediately.

Decide before you give the command what you are going to reward. You can also start to reward longer and more definite SITS so the dog has to do more than just touch his rear end on the ground. Withhold the food treat until the dog is sitting properly and then gradually introduce a time delay until the reward is given.

Gradually increase the length of time the dog must remain in a SIT-STAY until he can remain relaxed in this position for 1 minute while the owner is at a distance of 5 feet. Continue to increase the time and distance the dog is asked to remain in a SIT-STAY after the dog has been successful at the previous level for 5 to 10 trials.

For very long SITS, the reward should be given intermittently throughout the SIT, at least during training. The owner should teach a key phrase such as EASY or STEADY to teach the dog to associate relaxation with the exercise. It also is helpful to have a release command, such as FREE or RELEASE, which tells the dog when he has been obeying for the desired period of time.

Vary the commands during an individual training session; keep the training sessions short and frequent. Dogs will learn much more from regular short sessions than from longer, less frequent ones. Once the dog has learned several useful commands on the continuous reward schedule (i.e. the dog is rewarded for each successful performance of the behavior), the schedule should be changed to intermittent reward.

Initially, the dog may be rewarded 2 times out of 3, then every other third time and so on until rewards are only supplied occasionally. This is the way to wean a dog off food treats and is the cure for a dog that “will only work for food.” Remember, however, it always helps to praise the dog immediately if he has performed a command whether or not any other reward is forthcoming.