Catching the dog correctly. At this point, everything depends upon the helper

At this point, everything depends upon the helper. He must rush the dog in such a fashion that the dog is fairly challenged, but he must also, at all costs, avoid a head‑on collision with the animal. A good decoy does this by, at the last instant, slipping his body mass–his center of gravity–out from behind the sleeve and allowing the dog’s inertia to pivot him. The maneuver requires considerable experience and athletic ability and, if badly done, it can be dangerous for the animal. Therefore, with a good dog that bites bravely, one must be extremely cautious about sending it on courage tests.

However, at the same time, there is no need to practice the courage test frequently. Quite to the contrary, the fewer the full courage tests the dog performs, and the fewer impacts it experiences, the more impressive it will be on trial day.

The only problem we have encountered in using this method is that sometimes the dogs become too brave, too committed to the bite. In the case of a dog that is too fast in the courage test for its own safety (or the agitator’s, for that matter) we simply practice the courage test repetitively. We use an expert helper, keep the distances short in order to keep the dog safe, and after repeated impacts the animal normally becomes more prudent.