Any suggestions on DOG obedience/training?

Patience is the key. Teach the dog that praise is the greatest reward for doing what he is told instead of treats and stuff like that. I really lucked out and got a retired CCI dog with a 25 command vocabulary. Every command was exicuted imediately and without hesitation. Nothing like a well trained dog. I had a friend that taught his dog to bark for how ever many fingers he held up at a time. That took some real work.

 

Labs are very bright, so you should have a relatively easy time training one. The key is to be consistent with the dog and use common sense. The easiest way to get a dog to lie down (from a sitting position) is to have a small treat tucked away in your fist. Let the dog smell the treat, then lower the treat to the ground in front of the dog. Most times, the dog will follow the treat and lay down in front of you. As the dog lays down, give the "down" command (or whatever word you want to use). Repetition and praise will teach the dog this command in no time.

To teach "stay" start out by having the dog sit down in front of you. Tell the dog to "stay" but don't go anywhere yourself. The idea is to put the dog in a situation where he/she will succeed. Don't wait too long, then praise your dog for staying. You can gradually start to give this command and back up away from your dog, but don't push him too much. Make sure your dog does not fail more than 3 times in a row. If he fails, make it easier for him. If your dog breaks the "stay" command and comes to you, turn your back on the dog and ignore him/her. After you ignore the dog for a few seconds, take him/her back and put in sit/stay command again. You will want to build in a release word as the dog learns "stay" as well. I use "ok" but you can use whatever word you want. Use the release word, then call your dog to you and reward him/her.

For young dogs, keep training sessions short. Puppies have relatively short attention spans, so you'll have the best luck with 15-20 minute sessions a few times a day.

 

Consistency is the key.

We tought our lab to stay, sit, lay down or say hi (wiggles his paw) within minutes. As 8 Snake said, have a treat handy and as he does things just say the order. It doesn't really matter what you say as long as the tone is right.

However if your lab is anything like mine, there are times you will get nothing out of him. When he's excited, he just runs around and jumps all over the place ... no point in trying to get him to sit at that time! I'm usually too busy chasing him and stealing his toys anyways! LOL.

 

You bring up a very good point here. When you're training your dog, it's important to try and use the commands when the dog is most likely to be successful. Puppies are like little kids, sometimes they'll listen and sometimes they're not in the right mindset for training sessions.

 

I did the PetSmart training with my dog and thought it helped out alot.