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

[Megsdad]

Wondering why the thread was started and the OP hasn't ventured an opinion? Too busy reading the dogs in front of her perhaps.

[Naj]

Isn't it simply a quality that any accomplished 'performer' learns, & what makes them 'accomplished' & separates them from average to poor performers. An accomplished driver is constantly reading the road ahead. An accomplished musician/singer is constantly thinking several bars ahead. An accomplished sportsmen/game player is constantly thinking ahead of the game. They have all learnt from experience to anticipate what is likely to happen next & be prepared for every eventuality. Some will never learn & it always takes them by surprise.

Naj

[Andrew]

"the dogs never done that before" how many times have we heard it. but then there the other side of the coin when you can see its going to happen but can do nothing about it.

[Springfield Pointers]

You cannot plan for every eventuality, but you can have a plan for every eventuality.

[Rascal]

Sorry MD for various reasons not been around for a few days....I posed the question to hear others views on it and to try and to see if anyone could demystify it a bit because it can sound rather elitish sometimes....

For me in it's simplest form it means finding out what motivates your dog and utilising that in training....It should be fairly easy to do simply by watching your dogs reaction but I watched a video a week or so ago of someone praising their dog both verbally and physically.

The dog quite obviously wasn't enjoying it and certainly not finding it rewarding. I'm not sure if the dog would have reacted differently if the handler had altered their tone which certainly didn't convey the handlers pleasure nor if they'd physically praised by a different method other than going in over the top of the dogs head and giving some fairly hefty pats on the neck and shoulders.. Putting myself in the dogs place I'm not sure I would have enjoyed it either....

And yep I agree it's probably not something you can teach someone as peoples power of observation are very different from others. We've all done those tests where you look at a picture for so long and then answer questions on it and the differences between folks answers are amazing...

Having said all that is it something you "see" or is it something you "feel" or both?

Rascal

[Old dog]

Both

[trekmoor]

I agree but think that what you "feel" is transmitted to you by what you see in the way of body language or even facial expressions from the dog. If the dog is fairly near you then even it's eyes can tell a little story. Sometimes the visual signals you have picked up on are so tiny that you aren't really aware you have seen them and think it is a "feel" for a dog.

Difficult thing to explain properly.

Dogs are known to be very good at picking up the tiniest of signals that signify human emotions , I think we can also do that in reverse if we have a belief in what we think are our instincts.

Wullie