Learning how to train a dog means much more that just learning how to give commands and expecting your dog to follow them. If you really want to become an effective dog trainer you need to buy a dog psychology book and learn how a dog thinks. Once you have a better understanding of how dogs think the symbiotic relationship make it much easier to get any dog to follow your lead and go exactly what you want them to do. Because most people tend to treat their pet as another member of the family it can make training them very hard as the dog may not get a clear picture of where it's proper place in the family is.
If you take the time to read a book on dog psychology you will gain a much clearer picture of how a dog thinks. This will give you a clear understanding of the pack mentality that is a dog's natural instinct. Unless you use a training method that lets the dog know where it fits into the pack, there is a distinct possibility that the dog will not follow commands, this is only because he does not understand his role in the pack. The problem is that most people think that their dog thinks in the same way as they do in human terms. According to a recent dog psychology book instead of asking your dog to think like a human being, you need to learn how to think like a dog in order to become a successful dog trainer. Dog think of things in black and white, unlike humans there are no grey areas only and a dog either can or cannot do a particular thing.
This applies to every aspect of his training, if it is wrong to behave a particular way today it must always be wrong. When training your dog you must never change the way you react to certain behaviors as all this serves to do is confuse your dog. If you read your dog psychology book you will soon see that by fussing over your dog after he has done something wrong all you are doing is reinforcing the behavior and you will have to start training him all over again. In order for a dog to be stabile or balanced he must always know exactly where he stand, there is no room in his mind for uncertainty as this will only lead to more behavioral problems as time progresses.
More importantly according to the same dog psychology book the best thing you can do to train your dog is to use positive reinforcement training. This is a very simple process and only requires that you use your dog's name and words of praise in a cheerful and positive voice every time your dog does the right thing and obeys your commands. When he misbehaves you should not use his name but rebuke him in a negative tone of voice as this the most effective way of punishing him for his transgression. If you would like a book on dog psychology and training you need the one available at Dog Secrets by Kevin Salem. This book was written to help both owners and trainers learn the skills necessary to train any dog and have fun while you are doing it.