Biting a retreating agitator at long distance

Next, we send the dog at long distance, with the agitator seventy‑five to 100 yards away. Agitator and dog rush toward each other at full speed. The decoy yells and brandishes the stick menacingly. When they are still forty or fifty feet apart, he suddenly stops short and reverses direction. At the moment when the dog arrives, the decoy is in retreat, backpedaling as fast as he can.

^{It is the helper’s job to protect the dog from injury during the courage test. The braver the dog, the more difficult this is to do. The helper avoids a direct impact by, at the last instant, stepping a little to the side, which moves the center of gravity out from behind the sleeve. This way the “catch” is not a collision but a smooth pivot. (Officer Chris Worsham’s “Beny.”)}