David,
Wish I saw your post before going to work this evening. I would love to see if my dog will false alert or fail to pinpoint odor if I use the "show me" command when I see him slow down while working the odor. Ill have to try it tomorrow night.

As far as aggressive alert dogs who become frustrated when the handler uses the "show me" command; like I stated in my previous post, what you probably witnessed was a dog who was, IMO already ruined because of poor reward delivery and the dog knows where his reward is coming from. Also, a handler that pays his dog for a bark or biting is just compounding the problem. A handler I know had this very same problem. Fresh out of the drug school his dog was jam up. After a few screw ups with the reward the alert intensity went down and the dog began looking back at the handler. The frustrated handler subsequently began commanding the dog to "get it out" or "Show me" and started paying the dog for barking or biting. Its was a sad thing to watch this dog degenerate into a poor excuse for a drug dog that no street officer wanted to use.

Thats what I mean by frustration. The dog has found the dope, then comes the frustration, "show me,show me" and the dogs like"what"?Then the dog starts barking so the handler finally just gives the reward because the dog doesnt want to scratch anymore or the dog starts to bite at it and tear something up so the handler rewards the dog so it will stop.So after a couple of years of this you end up with"for example" a dog that you cant search a vehicle with because it will destroy it.

David,
I see where you are coming from now. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> I agree if you use this method every time it can cause problems. The only time I ask my dog to "show me" is when he isnt directly on source when he is working a problem that allows him to get on top of it. Fortunately this doesnt happen very often with my dog. On average I would say he isnt right on source maybe once or twice in 15 searches or so. I only use the show me tactic when Im not satisfied in his alert. He understands that he wont get rewarded until he pinpoints. For me it works well.

Also, this evening I did some bomb training and gave him the show me command when he got odor and wasnt near the plant. No premature alert. Commands to show me in the absence of odor never caused him to break stride in his search. I love my dog.

Howard,
Ive seen dogs that do a "show me" command and pin point the find very nice.This is because they have a dedicated handler that understands or cares about having a dog that performs well and are careful not to train into or allow any bad habits to become part of the norm with their dog.The only difference in the dogs that do a nice "show me" command(that Ive seen) seemed like they liked to look at their handlers alot, or atleast more than I personally like.I guess everyone has a pitcure in their mind of what a perfect search should look like. Mine is a dog that locks up like a bird dog on a point (with a sit or down)..

David,
Nice. Ill bet it is a beautifull thing to to see when your dog alerts. I admit that my partner does look back at me after the sits which I attribute to him knowing that the reward is coming from me. The nice thing about the way your dog alerts is that for some reason, god forbid, you miss his indication when he gets odor you still know the source because he is staring at it.
This is my first passive alert dog. Although the basic training techniques are the same as aggressive, there is a somewhat different way they must be handled especially when working explosives. I have learned that the eyes must be on the dog at all times as well as scanning the room or whatever for likely areas that need to be searched in which explosives may be hidden. This takes alot of practice to be fluid without interupting the dog or missing an alert.

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> Although our two dogs indicate slightly different, they are both well trained and competent. Happy Holidays