Training or reading the dog in front of you...

[Naj]

Perhaps some people are simply quicker learners, or have had access to better teachers.

[EssGrouse]

The best trainers train you to train the dog, not just train your dog.

Adrian Slater & Will Clulee are masters at it.

[farmboy]

Those that have it,seek out others that are less developed and teach/mentor future teachers/mentors.
If you wonder if you have the gift,ask yourself,which one are you?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ7vIufVkCk

[newf]

"Read the dog" is great advice for a trainer of reasonable ability to always keep in mind when teaching new skills or encountering problems. As advice to novices, I think it is relatively meaningless. Just as well to say "wax on, wax off" from the movie Karate kid. Beginners don't know the language of dogs. They need simpler guidance along the lines of: 'reward the behaviors you want and don't reward undesirable behaviors.'

Go through that process for awhile and gradually one will start to "read a dog" and understand the subtle advice for both it's simplicity and complexity.

[Andrew]

Quite simply its a case of "learn to read your dog" by what means is variable. If your handling and the dog actions go up a couple of gears then its on a scent. this is surely what the teacher explains until the pupil learns
Bit like teaching somebody to drive, at some point they become deemed adept to learn and gain experience on their own by reading the road and road conditions

[Naj]

It's easy to forget that the dog is the best teacher, if you have eyes to see. If the dog speeds up when hunting, you don't need someone to tell you it is because it is on scent, you'll realise that soon enough simply by making the connection between the find & the increase in pace. If a dog breaks then you don't need someone to tell you that it is about to 'go', you'll learn that pretty quickly. It would be a dim pupil that didn't put two & two together. What an experienced trainer can do is advise on how best to handle any given situation, but if the handler doesn't make a conscious effort to learn to spot the tell-tale signs & interpret the body language that the dog is constantly throwing back at them then they will never get a grip on training, no matter how good their mentor.

Naj

[Andrew]

Isn't that what I said

[Naj]

Depends upon what you meant by the 'teacher'.

[Judy]

Is it something that can actually be taught or is it something which has to be learned by experience / observation? We all know people who have been around dogs for donkey's years and still have no idea what the dog is telling them and newbies who have it taped very quickly, occasionally these people have been to the same classes too...
If each succeeding generation were able to learn and improve on the preceding generation wouldn't we all know everything there is to know about dog behaviour by now?

Off to pour another glass of white.

[farmboy]

Perhaps it is more of a rarity here than I thought.