To me, he looks like he's having fun with the sleeve, and you can't deny his INTEREST in it, even if you doubt his ABILITY.
INTEREST, in a sense
Is drive, and like wrknrott and nelson are trying to say, it looks like that dog is lacking it. Maybe if you have seen high drive dogs you would understand where they are coming from. The dog may show some drive (I have seen dogs show less), however, most working dog folk are looking for alot more that what that video demonstrates.
A dog does not need to feel a real threat in order to bite out of PREY. Of course a good balance of both prey and defence is ideal (some peoples ratios are going to differ) but to me prey drive is the strongest drive a dog can have and defence the weakest. I will take a high prey dog ANY DAY (as long as its nerves are good). Personally, I like the dogs who go out there just wanting to crush the decoy, just because they want to....:lol: :lol: :lol: This dog seems to lack that. When I think high (prey) drive, I picture a dog that is barking and lunging, and generally just going insane. This dog seems a little more lacklustre. Even with the decoys big time prey movement (waving his arm around in the air) the dog seems to lack some intensity, especially for a raw dog who has seen no control and is basically being allowed to work freely. What would happen to this dog if control was demanded? My guess is he would look even flatter than he does in this video. .
It would have been good to see more of the decoys actions than what was shown in this video too. I think that would expose even more to us.