During training/testing a second person, who is not visible, audible, or smellable to the dog, and who knows the conditions of the course, observes the pair via

During training/testing a second person, who is not visible, audible, or smellable to the dog, and who knows the conditions of the course, observes the pair via cameras and microphones. When the dog hits on something, the observer presses a button, indicating which target or decoy was indicated, or that an unexpected other object was indicated. The observer may also indicate when the dog seems distracted, or especially attentive to the handler. A computer takes the buttons as inputs, and if its intermittent reinforcement program indicates it, the handler receives an instruction to reward the dog. The program may also reward the dog for misses, or just for paying attention to handler instructions, so the handler is not able to associate rewards with accurate hits. The handler then still has to investigate the hit to determine what the dog found.