Before you train a dog, it would be ideal that you understood the psychology of the dog.
There are differences between a child and a dog. A cat and a dog. A horse and a dog. A fish and a dog. And a cartoon dog and a real dog.
Generally, novices try to coerce a dog into doing or not doing and feeling whatever they envision. It is more about them and their idealized version of “dogs” rather than what is going on with the dog right in front of them. This is especially a problem with dog breeds, and individual dogs, that will balk at heavy handed methods. For example, a Husky or Malamute. That just isn’t the way to work with them. Those breeds can easily panic when forced… Fool Around And Find Out.
Dogs are intelligent, affectionate, family oriented… dogs. Why push them in a way to make them lose their trust in you and in life?
Do what you want, but here is my approach…
Get Good Advice Regarding Dog Behavior. You can never know it all, no one does, but the more you know, the better. Find a mentor, such as a thoughtful dog trainer, to get ideas from, and to bounce ideas off. All along the way, your dog is being a dog. Not a human. This is the biggest part of training any dog and being successful at it. Working with a dog without understanding dogs will not work out.
Train YOUR dog: Not some theoretical dog. See what your dog is “saying” instead of imposing your picture on them. Read your dog. How is your dog taking, and feeling, what is happening?
Let The Dog Do A Lot Of Self Learning: I let dogs discover quite a few concepts along the way. If a dog is just a passive participant, like you moving a pillow from one couch to the other, then you aren’t really going to make the most of your dog. Your dog also doesn’t really know what is going on and doesn’t “own” the lesson or experience.
Have Planned Lessons: Prepare the environment and the setups that will help your dog experience what you want them to learn and master. People always tell me, “My dog knows how to Sit.” What exactly does that mean? They can walk over to their dog, treat or not, say “Sit”, maybe snap their fingers, and the dog will Sit. Ok… that isn’t anywhere near to what a Sit means or being able to use it in a real-world situation. There is a lot more to do.
Teach Practical Life Skills: Most of the videos you’ll see online are prepared set ups. No distractions. A tired dog. Filmed again and again until the dog gets it right. Doing stupid pet tricks that have no value in the real world. Narratives by people that don’t know what they are talking about.
Provide Exposures: I want dogs to learn to use all their physical senses and important natural behaviors: vision, olfactory, auditory, proprioceptive, touch, taste, social interactions, accomplishing physical challenges, exercise, establishing a territory, acceptance into a family, and a whole lot more. This is especially important for puppies under 16 weeks of age.
Pile On The Skills: I teach dogs, and their owners, a lot of skills along the way. It can take years to master it all, but even rudimentary understanding of each skill can give the owner more control of the dog in real world situations. Yes, I focus more on some skills than others for practical purposes. This kind of approach keeps the dog engaged with the owner. It is like working out. If you always do the same exercises, you will adapt… but you will later be vulnerable to injuries, your fitness with decrease, your attitude will get stale, and you will probably quit. Training should be interesting, and to get dogs to continually have to adapt to new challenges makes them always ready to learn, to pay attention to and maintain trust with the owner, and to put in effort instead of passively going along.
All of this is geared towards dog psychology. They are higher order mammals, and we should read them and treat them as such. They aren’t cats, horses, fish, cartoons, or stuffed pillows.
Plan accordingly.