The dog in the picture shows engagement in the big prey but does not make it all the way to the moose without strong support from the handler. Beeing of a versatile german breed, the dog lacks in courage, a dog of this breed should be able to do better.Again the dog is held by the collar and an assistant, disguised under a blanket or felting, pretending to be a big prey, a "moose", jumps out about 10 meters in front of the dog. The "moose" then continues to run in a zig-zag pattern across the path and at a distance of about 40 - 50 meters he partly hides and goes down into a sitting position, thereby reducing his size and appearing less threathfull to the dog. The dog is then turned loose. At this point we are starting to strip the dog a little. A good, brave dog advances towards the "moose" and has investigated and unmasked it within minutes. Few dogs have the power to do this without any support from the handler, the dog in the picture had great difficulties to find out about the real nature of the "moose", despite of strong support from the handler.
When we see a dog in this situation, some of the question we have to ask are: Is the dog strongly engaged in the moose? If it is not we must remember how the dog behaved with the small prey, the hare. If the dog was strongly engaged in the hare but does not engage in the moose then we might think that the prey drive is not that strong. If it is strongly engaged in the hare and the moose but does not try to investigate the moose without support, then we might think that the dog has a strong prey drive but lacks the courage it takes to make contact with the big prey. But we can not yet draw any definite conclusions about the dogs behaviour from these few situations.