handler gives less and less help to his dog as 

 training progresses, until the dog is coming 

 around him and stopping at the heel position 

 on the commands of COME and then HEEL. 



d. When the dog stops at the heel position, the 

 handler puts his left hand at the base of the dog's 

 tail and applies mild pressure until the dog sits. 

 At the moment the dog sits it is reinforced with 

 "Good" and then given food in the usual man- 

 ner. When the dog starts sitting as the handler 

 touches it at the base of the tail (croup), the 

 handler can then start giving the verbal SIT 

 command an instant before touching the dog, 

 until the dog is sitting on the verbal command 

 for reinforcement and the touch has been elim- 

 inated. 



e. When the dog is sitting on command, the 

 handler takes the leash in his left hand, close 

 to the dog's neck, gently pulling down until the 

 dog goes down; the instant the dog is down 

 the handler reinforces as usual. Continue with 

 less pull on the leash each trial until the dog 

 goes down on the verbal command DOWN with- 

 out assistance. 



/. The handler starts with the dog sitting at 

 the heel position, gives the verbal command 

 STAY and, holding the dog back with his left 

 hand, takes a half step forward and then rein- 

 forces. This continues until the dog ceases try- 



ing to move with its handler and he can stop 

 restraining his dog. He can then take two steps 

 after giving STAY before reinforcing. Continue 

 this procedure until he handler can move away 

 from his dog to the desired distance. When the 

 dog has learned all of these commands, the han- 

 dler can then start giving them without a set 

 pattern, such as giving the dog DOWN after 

 moving to the end of the leash, or STAY when 

 the dog is coming back on recall; each command 

 given in this way should be reinforced because 

 it is no longer a chain leading up to reinforce- 

 ment as far as the dog is concerned. After the 

 dog has learned to perform all of the commands, 

 the handler can give a series of commands before 

 reinforcing. If he wants a new signal or com- 

 mand to take over, or have the same effect as 

 an old signal (i.e., he has already taught the 

 dog to go down on the verbal command and 

 he wants it to go down on the hand gesture), 

 the handler gives the new command (hand ges- 

 ture) and instant before giving the old com- 

 mand DOWN. The dog will associate this new 

 signal with the old one and start working on it. 

 The difference in the search chain is that the 

 handler wants the dog to perform a series of 

 events, one after the other, by giving the dog 

 a minimum number of commands; in concurrent 

 training he wants to gain control of his dog in 

 all possible situations. 



26 



