You can live happily with a well-trained dog, but it is going to take a lot of work on your part. Dogs can be such wonderful, affectionate companions but lets face something, they are just more lovable when they are well-behaved. Even the cutest, sweetest dog can really be a big nuisance if not trained properly.

Sometimes he or she may repeatedly mark its territory behind your couch, make your kitchen floor its regular potty area or dig up your neighbors flower bed. Aside from the messes that you will continuously have to clean up, an untrained or disobedient dog can cause you huge embarrassment if it does not behave well with guests or with other pets around.

Train your dog effectively by educating yourself. Before you can have a well-trained dog, you must first become a well-informed owner. The number one thing you need to know is that most dogs, if untrained, behave exactly how they are supposed to behave, like dogs!

You cannot expect a dog to be intelligent enough as to naturally know what is or is not acceptable pet behavior. That is why it is very important to provide your pet with proper dog obedience training as early in its life as possible. Doing so will instill good habits in him from a young age and he will be much easier to handle as he grows older.

In fact, it is every dogs nature to please its owner. So if you have the knowledge you will find that your dog can be very receptive to training. Do not be overwhelmed by the thought of doing the dog training yourself. You do not need to teach him circus tricks or anything but just basic behavior and practical commands. This will make your life easier and your dog will be happier and more eager to please you. He or she really wants to be your best friend.

Try to find out the right approach that best suits you and your dog. Using a stick to play fetch with your dog is totally permissible, but do not hit him with it. Cruelty and abuse will solve nothing. They are bound to make matters worse for you by making your dog overly defensive and potentially dangerous.

In the same way, plain exasperation will not help you establish dominance over your pet. Your dog needs to see you as its master in order to become obedient. Train your dog, do not let him train you. Understanding dog psychology early on in dog obedience will certainly help make your job much easier.

Later on, you will learn more fundamentals about dog training such as communication. Establishing good communication with your dog is essential. And you being the leader, you will have to set your own shared language that your dog will learn to understand and heed.

Simple commands like sit, stay and fetch are among the most common words you can use as part of this shared language. But there are far plenty more, and when she learns to understand how you want her to behave, the more you will love her for it. That is virtually guaranteed!