Overall this has been an interesting and informative thread.

Al, I really like your explanation and distinction between sharpness and aggression. It's quite profound in it's simplicity and yet it is probably too complex a concept for some self proclaimed experts to grasp. I'll share a couple of observations about working Shars in PP based on an experiences I had in Pozarevac with one particular Sarplaninac out of Niz kennel lines. The particular dog was owned by a former Serb special ops military guy who worked at our steel mill in Smederevo as part of the contracted security company.

I got to go to his house to meet his Sarplaninacs. He had one dog that he said was his "best protection dog" and from meeting the dog in person you would never know it at first glance. The dog appeared to be laid back bordering on soft but when you really observed him it was a quiet calm assertiveness and at the same time you could see that he was "taking everything in and calculating" the whole time. What really surprised me was that the owner told me that the dog would not do bite work at all or react to it because he knew it was a game. Any presence of a bite sleeve or a bite suit worn by somebody the dog either knew or did not know and he just did not react. I watched the dog be non-responsive to another of my coworkers who put on the bite suit and the dog just looked at him when the agitation work was ongoing. I thought it may have been because the dog knew this guy so I personally tried to agitate the dog in full bite suit and the dog just stood there and looked at me like I was an idiot.

There was neither fear nor aggression in his posture or behavior. Just the look of WTF are you doing dude!!! I am not claiming to be a professional decoy by any means but I have been around Schutzhund for 25 years and have agitated a dog or two in my time so I was astonished by this. I did not otherwise see the dog put in a situation where he would need to display his protection traits as I have no reason not to believe the guy. What I think it does show is the cognitive intelligence that many LGDs seem to have that just does not seem to exist in other breeds of dogs. It is somewhat similar to other Sars that I have seen that will do bite work and will immediately and go back to attack the decoy when he lets the sleeve drop after the dog has grabbed it. I've never seen this behavior occur instinctively in dogs other than COs, CAOs, and Sars when they catch the sleeve and the decoy drops it.

Lastly, it's also too bad that we have to put up with individuals who become "legends in their own mind" when it comes to what they think their grasp of knowledge of dog behavior is and what the superiority of their dogs are. Yet as just one example they show their lack of true understanding of dog behavior (notice I was nice and didn't say ignorance) when they define multiple drives in dog behavior that do not even exist and are merely in a few cases are just subsets of prey drive and defense drive.

John Bayard Swinford is probably rolling in his grave. But I digress some people are just not coachable.