Right.
Here is a short, succinct list of do's and don'ts when training your dog.
Its by no means comprehensive, but if you can follow these you'll be in a good position.
Shouldn't take more than 60 seconds to read: -Both you and your dog should be in a suitable state for the training, fresh, alert, rested, not hungry or thirsty.
Taking a walk or something before hand together is great for this, it will improve the alertness in both of you and increase the effectiveness of the training.
-You should both be free from distractions.
Watching the game on the TV whilst training your dog probably won't work.
-Keep the training session fairly short, about 10 minutes is a good duration to work to.
Longer than this leads to frustration in your dog as they just aren't able to hold concentration for long periods of time.
-Enjoy it.
If you enjoy then so will your dog, and learning is optimised when your dog is enjoying it.
This is how a lot of early learning is done in both humans and dogs.
-Keep it positive.
The last thing you should do is resort to yelling and/or physical violence.
This may result in very undesirable behaviour in your dog.
-All the above would be equally well applied to a person, really its not too far removed.
Treat your dog well and you'll get fantastic results.
If you can apply these simple things in your training you'll be set up well.