[blockquote]The dog that's being tested in a match is not being tested for his work with the flock! [/blockquote] Yes, I knew that Wolf :wink: -but inevitably you have to have to choose in most cases. For example, you have 3 LGDs.: nr.1 who has the best bonding ability and discovers threats quicker than the rest. nr.2 who is excellent but not as good as nr.1 nr.3 who is very good but not as good as nr.1 and 2. Now let's say that all of them have strenght/guts/drive enough to protect the livestock from predators. However, it turns out that nr.3 is the best in dog fights. Well, should you choose nr.3 for mating/breeding then? In my opinion nr.1 would be a better choice. Of course, you could be lucky to have a dog that is both the best LGD and fighting dog, but how often does that happen ? Not often enough to base a breeding program on it at least, it would be way too idealistic.