Figure 11. Step 1 — handler guiding dog to heel position 

 (right hand). 



search chain. Sometimes a dog will fail to stop at heel 

 when it should, but again it is not reinforced ; it is required 

 to start again, and it learns that stopping at heel is the 

 only action that will "turn on" reinforcement. 



3. A common problem instructors must be alert for is 

 that of handlers attempting to advance their dogs along 

 the search chain too quickly. This will only confuse the 

 dogs. Another pitfall is trying to teach a dog two tasks 

 (e.g., orienting and sitting) at the same time. Again, 



most dogs will only become confused and quit working. 

 This often causes the handler to believe his dog is 

 stupid or lacks motivation. 



h. Step 8 — Reconditioning of Reinforcer 

 "Good." In preparation for elimination of the 

 dropper, the dogs must first be reconditioned 

 to "Good" (i.e., "Good" will replace the noise 

 at the feed pan indicating the appearance of 



17 



