Some schools do that... Sometimes it works, more than often it doesn't. The dog will NOT identify more than one person as the Alpha dog of the "pack" so to speak. It's against the dogs nature to do otherwise. Because of that, in a multiple handler situation, you'll have the master handler then you'll have the other person that the dog listens to because of the interaction with the master handler... once that person is gone, the dog will test the other handler for the Alpha dog spot. That takes away from the ability of the dog and handler to do the job as well as can be done.
Any school that teaches "unlimited handlers" is suspect in my book and obviously doesn't understand the way a dog thinks and how a dog's social position is structured.
Mike
So if a military dog's handler, leaves the service, goes on leave, transfers, get's in a car accident or get's popped on a drug test, the dog is useless?
Not buyin it!
Do you have more expertise than the folks at Lackland?
May I postulate some more?
1st, Schutzhund-type work - which is what alot of what we think of as "military/police" dogs do - is undoubtedly much more complex than teaching scenting (and we're talking here scenting for items, not searching out live & dead people which would surely require a bit more work to ensure the dog at least stays w/the person if not tries to dig him out).
2nd, as elsewhere indicated, dogs like Labs (retrievers) are frequently used for this kind of scenting work. Overall, retrievers are probably more open-ended and adaptable than herding and guarding dogs like Shepherds, who are generally bigger "1-man" very loyal dogs. Breeds can vary alot.
3rd, think of the nature of the average scenting operation. There are probably tons more opportunities to do scenting and it is overall less intense than patrolling and holding captives. Think of airports. Is there really only 1 dog/handler in the average security service? Might a scenting dog be expected to work many more hours than a union human is allowed?
Hence, training expecting unlimited handlers might not be surprising for this kind of work. If you're talking Schutzhund, you're talking Shepherds and Rotties and Dobes and Belgians who are doing very intense work and training, and are more naturally 1-man dogs. (Not that they can't handle more than 1. After all, referring to the "alpha" theory - don't wolves experience alpha changes in their lifetimes w/o being alpha ever themselves? You bet. There's no reason the average dog can't handle a new alpha even when they're very loyal.)