Basic Principles of Dog Training and Behaviour
I believe that dogs learn by three basic principles, what's rewarding, what's punishing, and what's of no consequence. The most influential of these to the dog are the rewards and the punishers.
I encourage all of the owners that I work with to help their dogs to understand the rewards of making the right choices and getting paid for it. It is very difficult for a dog to stop making the wrong choices if they haven't been taught what the right alternatives are. However, once the dog knows what it is that you want it to do, it needs to then learn the consequences for making the wrong choices. These may be punishers - designed to make the dog regret the choice it made. Or you may simply take away something that the dog considers valuable.
I will help all of my owners to find things that they can use in their dogs training as rewards. These may be verbal praise, physical contact like stroking and patting, foods and treats, clickers and toys. We may also look for suitable punishers, such as water pistols, rattle bottles, or cans or training discs. Notice that I use the word 'punish.' There is a political correctness creeping into the world of dog training, which is becoming as ridiculous as it is in our own lives, and I can't be bothered to buy into it.
Understanding Punishment
Punishment is not a dirty word, it's just a word, and like rewards, it is just a part of real life. Dogs use it, and we do too, so let's call a spade a spade (and not a digging implement). I do not condone physical punishment. Hitting dogs is excessive and unnecessary.
Some owners become too reliant on punishing their dog. Punishing can be more satisfying to some owners, and can make them feel better for having put the dog in it's place. So using a rattle bottle to stop a dog from carrying out a behaviour may do just that, but if used incorrectly, it can make a behaviour much, much worse. This is why no form of punishment should be used without an understanding of how to use it.
It is important that owners recognise that a dog that needs to be punished has almost certainly not been trained properly in the first place. An example of this is a dog I was called to help with. He was a very large male dog who was physically in his prime. He was being very assertive over his owners, and argued with everything that they tried to force him to do. So they tried a rattle bottle. He was furious at this, and bit the owner. The moral - rattle bottles are not suitable for every dog.
Understanding Reward
On the same vein, rewarding can be more satisfying to some owners, and can make them feel better for having paid the dog to encourage the right choice. But like punishment, reward too can have disastrous results if used incorrectly.
An example of this happened only recently. A dog that appeared on Borstal had been seen by a 'behaviourist,' and the owner was advised NEVER to confront him if he misbehaved, but that she should offer him food and/or toys to make him change his mind. The result was that he learnt that it was profitable to misbehave, as this was a reliable way to get fed and played with. Inevitably his behaviour got much, much worse, and resulted in him biting her on many occasions.
Some people do not understand that food given works best if the dog has a sense of having earned it. All too often I meet owners who have been taught by so-called dog trainers to simply shovel food into the dog for everything, with the result that the food is so devalued to the dog that it is virtually useless as an aid to training.
Beware of Making Things Worse
There are lots of people on the internet chat forums giving advice on dog training and behaviour, and acting as though they are professionals.
The advice they give, often on potentially very serious behavioural issues, is given with minimal information and background from the owner. I don't know of any reputable dog trainer/behaviourist who would routinely give advice on serious problems without meeting the owner and the dog. Often the people advising on these sites are pet dog owners themselves, with little or no professional experience, but act as professionals.
There is nothing to stop these people giving very dangerous advice, as they cannot be traced, and never use their real names. In short, if the advice you are given doesn't make sense to you, or isn't working, or is making your dog worse - get advice from a member of a reputable organisation such as the UK Registry of Canine Behaviourists (UKRCB)or the Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors (APBC).