The man stops. The dog, growling furiously, only relents when his owner shouts a command and then, wags his tail almost in unison with his barking. The dog is judged on speed, grip, the ability to slow down the person, and response to his owner's command among other things. It is not only a tough gauntlet for the dog but for the handler as well. It involves tracking, obedience, and protection work.
Protection involves several components.
We have a blind search where the dog has to search six blinds on a field to find the helper that's hidden behind one of the blinds. And there are several other exercises, and really what we're showing is the courage of the dog, the drive of the dog and the controllability the handler has to have. There's a lot of obedience involved even in the protection work. And to the dog it's a game. These aren't wild, vicious dogs that we train to be attack dogs.