Training and Pedestrians...

[Mrs.K]

what do you do if your dog finds a pedestrian on a training search and the pedestrian is frantically waving the dog away, dog comes and indicates and you know there is no sense whatsoever, to do the "show me" part. Do you just send them out to search yourself? Do you reward them for having found somebody and indicating yourself? Do you try to talk to the pedestrian that just walked away?

I had it happen yesterday. Her reaction was beautiful. She first went to the lady. Then the lady tried shushing her away (I could watch everthing from the rubble I climbed up to), that is when she went a couple of steps back, kept her distance, came back and indicated.

[jocoyn]

Your dog is wilderness, right?
Your dog is NOT scent specific right? [using an article]
Well, your dog did its job and needs to be rewarded and, I guess, told to work more-It just becomes a multiple person problem.

Am I on the right track? Our team uses a scent article for all dogs so we don't have that issue (or if we do in early training, we let the behavior extinguish just like we would with a trailing dog)

[Mrs.K]

Yes, we don't do scent discrimination. They are supposed to find any living being out there, so yes, she did her job. We've only done multiple "victims" once before but it was two team members, so the pedestrian was pretty awesome (in an assuring and proofing kind of way). The only thing I couldn't do was the "re-find" since she "did not want to be bothered".

After that I sent her back out to work and, she then, found the helper.

Originally Posted by jocoyn

Your dog is wilderness, right?
Your dog is NOT scent specific right? [using an article]
Well, your dog did its job and needs to be rewarded and, I guess, told to work more-It just becomes a multiple person problem.

Am I on the right track? Our team uses a scent article for all dogs so we don't have that issue (or if we do in early training, we let the behavior extinguish just like we would with a trailing dog)

[jocoyn]

Seems to me you may want some multiples in there to keep it from extinguishing . When I do multiples on cadaver problems I don't always reward - I just say good work, work more.

Same thing I dont always reward an HRD find. Jackpot effect and all that. Just dont want it to extinguish.

As is we cant reward a real world HRD find unless we absolutely know it is confiirmed which is usually after the fact.

[FG167]

I would reward (no re-find) and then "find more" command. She was right

[Mrs.K]

Yes. I really want to do that. Plus we have to up the time. She's got a rock solid foundation and even though she hasn't been searching as long as the FEMA dog, she held up with him, just fine. But from now on, we really have to make it harder and longer. Throw multiples in there and use as many different helpers as possible. Even helpers she didn't get to meet before.

Originally Posted by jocoyn

Seems to me you may want some multiples in there to keep it from extinguishing . When I do multiples on cadaver problems I don't always reward - I just say good work, work more.

Same thing I dont always reward an HRD find. Jackpot effect and all that. Just dont want it to extinguish.

As is we cant reward a real world HRD find unless we absolutely know it is confiirmed which is usually after the fact.

[ladylaw203]

Your dog was correct. Same principal applies when we deploy a patrol dog into a building to find a crook. We give warnings before sending the dog because the dog does not know the difference between the business owner and the burglar

One should always always always reward a find. That is the the dog's paycheck and a contract between the handler and the dog. The fact that we do not reward on a real deal unless whatever was found is identifiable as the target odor,will be forgiven.
The dog should KNOW that final trained response will get him rewarded. Now, putting out muliple aids and a verbal good dog find more is fine,however, it depends on the dog as to whether or not it causes a problem. Not all dogs are the same.
I train all of my scent detector dogs to absolutely commit to source. Period. I do not call them off. In the real world where I might have multiple targets,I can adjust.