Here’s a thought-provoking article, written by Kevin Salem, on the 10 biggest mistakes people - even dog trainers - make during dog training! Do you agree?

Myth #1: Training Ruins a Dog’s Personality and Breaks His Spirit
Dog abuse does that–not proper training combined with dog psychology. When you catch your dog making a mistake, you need to correct it, not punish it. There is a big difference!

Myth #2: Train Your Dog with Treats and He Will Eventually Listen to You Just As Well, Even Without Any Tidbits Forever and Ever After
 Wouldn’t you rather rely on your Love, Leadership, Praise and Technique, instead of Hotdogs, Cheese, Biscuit and Dried Liver? Let’s face it, it doesn’t take much talent OR skill to bribe a dog to death and then confuse it with dog training. Everybody knows that’s simply–”bribery!”

Myth #3: Dog Parks Are the Best Place to Get Your Dog Socialized
This is where your dog actually picks up lots of bad habits that aren’t easy to break.

Myth #4: Don’t Bother Giving Your Dog ANY Commands, Until You Get His Visual Attention by Saying, “Watch Me!”
First Answer this honestly! Would you rather have your dog look at you or actually “listen” to you? I prefer both. But we all know that LISTENING is far more important.

Myth #5: Since “NO” Doesn’t Get Your Dog’s Attention Anymore, Change it to “Eh”, “Eh-eh” or “Shht” Instead
You definitely want your dog to stop whatever it’s doing the second it hears,”NO!” Even if you have been somewhat successful in getting your dog’s attention with strange terms such as: “Eh,” “Eh-eh,” or my favorite of all–”baaaah.”

Myth #6: You Can Solve Your Dog’s Bad Habits, Which Mostly Occur in Your Home, by Joining an Obedience Class
Here is the main problem with dog classes: they are structured to teach your dog the “obedience factor” only! Ask yourself AND the trainer conducting that group class, how are you able to solve my dog’s bad habits that mostly occur in my HOME, by joining your group class that is full of ten more unruly dogs?

Myth #7: You Can’t Really Teach a Young Pup Under Four Months Old. And If Your Dog Is a Few Years Old, You Are Totally Out of Luck!
No dog is ever too young or too old to learn what is right and what is wrong, what is acceptable and what is not. It doesn’t really matter whether your dog is an eight week old pup or a stubborn eight year old dog.

Myth #8: All Dogs Can Be Trained with the Same Training Tool
There is no magical tool that works on EVERY dog. Some dogs are just too strong, too big, too fast, too stubborn, and too sneaky for their poor owners. So which training tools do top trainers swear by? The answer may surprise you. But they too rely on whatever tool that works best for them and their dogs.

Myth #9: Dogs Were Born to Please
Sorry to burst your bubble, but the majority of our dogs would rather please themselves first. It’s obvious that your dog loves you dearly, but don’t confuse that with “respect” or “obedience.”

Myth #10: If You Send Your Dog Away to Be Trained, It Will Learn to Listen ONLY to the Trainer and Still Ignore Just Like Before
Here’s how I will bust this myth once and for all! No dog trainer can argue with the fact that all the best-trained dogs you can think of have been trained by an expert first. Dogs for the blind, dogs for the handicap, hunting dogs, and attack-trained police dogs, are just to name a few.

This article has been summarized… read the whole thing HERE!