How do you train a dog?

My family and I recently got this adorable puppy named Cookie. But Cookie's only a puppy, and she tends to cause a lot of trouble. Does anyone have any tips on how we should train her? If this helps, we know that she's a mixed breed. Her mother was a Laborador Retriever and her father was an Austrailian Shepherd.

The best way for most puppies, especially if she is your first dog, is to enroll in group obedience classes. Training is not that hard, but working under the eye of an instructor who has trained many dogs and their owners can be beneficial even for experienced dog owners (even if you know all the mistakes, most people can't objectively watch themselves working with their dogs and catch themselves making the mistakes). Group classes also give you a chance to teach your dog to pay attention to you even with distractions (few things are more distracting than other dogs!) and you may be able to find doggy friends for Cookie to set up play dates. In addition to basic obedience training, every class I've ever been to has covered other basic issues of dog care and how to prevent common behavior problems. If you have a local dog training club, they usually offer classes that are open to all members of the public. Your vet should also be able to give you a list of some trainers in the area. Petsmart also offers training classes, although their trainers vary greatly in ability, experience, and competence and I personally prefer independent trainers.If you can not attend group classes, there are some good books out there. I recommend Clicking With Your Dog by Karen Pryor. It covers all the basic commands and uses illustrations to help the reader understand the step-by-step instructions. I also recommend Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson. It does go into some of the basics and how to teach commands, but more importantly it will give you a pretty good understanding of how dogs think and why they do some of the (often naughty) things they do. Although it does cover some of the complexities of animal behavior and operant conditioning, it is written in a very straight-forward and easy to understand style.