If you have a dog, you should employ the techniques of basic dog training so that you have a happy dog and a happy family. Some of the basic lessons that you should teach your dog include:

Recall. You have to teach your dog to come when you call. This is helpful so that you know your dog will come when you call if there is danger and is also the basic lesson a dog needs to learn before you can do any agility or later training.
Sit and Down. The dog needs to learn to respond to these two commands in order to remain in place at the start line of a competition. It will also make things easier when there are other dogs around so that you won't have to deal with an incident.
Potty training. This is a basic training lesson that you need to teach your dog, whether it is large or small.
Barking. This may be a hard lesson to teach dogs that they only bark when necessary. You have to teach them to bark on demand and one way to do this is to get them excited about something and then give the dog a reward. You also have to teach the dog to stop barking on your command and again rewards work well.
Controlling aggression. If your dog is aggressive, you have to understand what iscausing the aggression. It may be territorial when other dogs are around or it may be protective of you and your family. In this regard, you may not be able to handle the training on your own, but have to seek professional help.

There are dog training books you can buy with all the techniques outlined making it very easy for you to start using them. Socialization is one of the training areas that will take you the longest amount of time. You have to desensitize the dog to new sights and sounds, but if you present them as normal and non-threatening, your dog will not have an adverse reaction.

Your Dog Training Guide provides lots of information on dog obedience training and related topics.

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