Best tips for training a disobediant dog?

People complain about negative reinforcement, as if it were somehow cruel and ineffective. It's exactly the opposite. No different from spanking your child when they've misbehaved, a practice that went on for thousands of years before the new-age hippies started taking control of our culture and castrated the American way of life. Now that I've got that out of my system...

If your dog is doing something bad, negative reinforcement works better than positive. You have to make him know he's doing something wrong, but you have to do it right now, before he forgets what he did. That means you have to sit and watch him for a while when he's likely to do bad things, and you should be nearby. When he jumps up on the table to grab a bite, spank him on the ass and yell "NO!".

This is an unpleasant experience for the dog, and after 1-3 times he will associate the unpleasantness with what he was doing at the time.

The alternative is positive reinforcement, in which you reward him for good behavior. The problem with that is if you reward him for not jumping up on the table (etc), he'll just associate the reward with what he's doing at the time, for example sitting patiently and looking at the table. This can work, but it takes a lot more time and patience.

I cannot emphasize enough that negative reinforcement works only when the dog is doing something he should never do. My policy for dog training is this:

• If the dog does something that is specifically good, or which I'm training him to do, I use positive reinforcement. A combination of treats, belly rubs, pets, and praise works very well, with more of these elements depending on how good the thing he did was.
• If the dog fails to do something good, I withhold all rewards and repeat the training.
• If the dog does something that is specifically bad -- Something he should never, ever do, I use negative reinforcement. An ass spanking, NO, or swift but soft kick will do nicely. Not enough to injure the dog or leave him in pain for a long time; just enough so he associates the bad thing with the bad experience.

Occasionally, when the dog is behaving and not doing anything specifically good or bad, I'll reward him for good behavior with the items mentioned in the first point above.

Potty training via this methodology took exactly one incident. The dog popped a squat on the carpet, and I responded with NO and a swift kick which swept his rear off to the side. I then put him outside immediately. He sat at the door, wondering what to do as he had never been outside alone before, while I gathered my coat, phone, and leash. Then I took him downstairs to poop properly. He has not done it inside the house a single time ever since. Negative reinforcement works, as long as you do it properly and judiciously.

My dog loves me.