The dog walks on the lead with the handler along a path. A few meters in front of them a rag doll is suddenly pulled up from a hide. At this moment the handler releases the lead so that the dog can escape as far as it wants. From these pictures we can see that the dog has taken stand far behind the handler and refuses to come close to the doll. This could be due to lack of courage and will to defend and it must be weighted together with the dogs behavior in the earlyer situations.The dog is then persuaded to investigate the doll and then walked back and forth around the doll until it has lost all interest and fear towards it. Soft and nervous dogs usually start to brake down at this point and further testing may be cruel. A responsible testleader must be able to see this and stop further testing.
A good dog doesnt back more than a few steps here, if at all. It places itself between the doll and the handler an will soon investigate the doll without help from the handler. A good, brave dog with fast reactions discover the bluff within fractions of a second, such a dog is very safe in the society. Other dogs first reaction might be a violent attac on the doll, these are dogs that use their sharpness first and their brain later, when they feel they have time to do it . In a real situation such a dog is dangerous.