when a person so intent on hurting you, or is strung out on drugs and doesn't feel pain or feer, something along those lines. Sometimes it doesn't even take someone like that, just someone to call the dogs bluff. Most dogs as the Dr. put it, "react". They react aggressively and put on a good show. Most people will back off or leave. I think when that person decides the dog isn't all that scary, or the dog doesn't matter, most dogs will sense that their display isn't working, and they turn to self preservation mode and run and hide.
Oh and Dan, the part about the training isn't always a predictor wasn't supposed to be about you and Gunner. I like what you guys do, it just reminded me of a guy that came out with (I forget the breed, one of the larger guardian breeds) anyway, it hadn't been trained. One day it jumped an assaliant and put him on the ground, protecting his handler. He was over the top of him with his front paws on his shoulders barking in his face, then just sat there on him so he wouldn't move. This is how the police found them, the dog kept him on the ground for like 10 minutes.
I wasn't there to see that, but I have no reason to doubt the story. The people seemed trustworthy, and the story had filterd through the PD to some people that used to train their PSD's with us and was confirmed that way as well.
ANyway, these people were blow away by what their untrained "pet" did and were told they better get to training it so they could control that protective instinct. These dogs have no prey drive, its almost entirely defense, and it works just fine with them. They brought him out for weeks, and with very little pressure he would not engage anything, worse yet he cowered behind his owners every single session. The amount of pressure was ver small and this dog wouldn't do anything, this same dog that had proven himself in real life wouldn't do anything in training. It will always stand out in my mind and serve as a reminder that you just never know for sure.