Figure 10. Food pellet dropped into feeding pan as dog 

 passes handler's right leg. 



to its handler to start again, but it should at 

 least glance in the direction of the pan after 

 sitting on the second or third trial. It can then 

 be reoriented on the pan. Reorientation is con- 

 sidered complete after 15 to 20 successful trials. 

 Training time: two to three 15-minute sessions. 



Notes. 1. Notice that in the last several training steps, 

 the dog was reoriented to the pan following the intro- 



duction to the' new action. This procedure will continue 

 into further stages of training. 



2. When working the search chain, keep in mind that 

 the dog must successfully complete each step in the chain 

 in order to be reinforced. If it omits any step it is re- 

 quired to begin the trial again. Some dogs will try to take 

 short cuts to get reinforced, such as remaining at the 

 pan to get more food without working for it. The dog 

 soon learns that this doesn't work, and it returns to the 



16 



