It is important to always incorporate fun things and play into every dog training session. Incorporating a few minutes of play time before the lesson begins can do wonders for your dogs attitude. Ending each dog training session with a few minutes of free play time is a great way to end on a positive note. It will also help your dog associate obedience training with fun.

It is important to keep the dog training sessions short, especially in the beginning. After your dog has been responding regularly, the treats and food rewards can be slowly reduced. It is important to continue to provide these food rewards, but it may no longer be necessary to provide as much, as often. After awhile, it will not be necessary to give your dog treats every single time it responds as requested.

In general, it should only be necessary for your dog to receive a food treat one out of every five times it obeys. The other four successes can be rewarded with praise and scratches.

It is important to remember that dogs are constantly learning, whether a formal training session is in process or not. Your dog is always learning something from you, be it good or bad. Therefore, it is imperative to make each and every interaction with your dog a positive one.

In a nutshell, here are some key points to always remember:

positive reinforcements and associations with training

be consistent in the training

distraction training

ignorance works too - do not approve unwanted behavior although you may mean well

do not rush the training process its better to get it right the first time

have loads of fun!