When doing this, I would start with the helper standing behind an abject like a blind or crouched behind a car, peeking around the corner to make the eye contact. He should never start by standing directly in front of your car, that's another step. Remember, the helper is the one who's afraid here, not your dog. And if it stays this way, only good things will happen.

I guarantee you if he maintains eye contact, it's just a matter of time before she barks. Eye contact is a signal of a challenge, and she'll pick up on that soon thereafter. Strong nerves, weak nerves, it doesn't matter, she's going to bark. Just take it slow and don't rush it. And as soon as she shows the slightest bit of confidence, even a slight grumble, that helper should immediately run and hide like he's afraid for his life, possibly even making high pitched noises like a frightened little old lady, lol. End of exercise, and first fight a knockout.

Any helper building up defense MUST be a good actor. If he needs coaching, I would find one who doesn't. When your dog is in the car without any option to either get out to attack or to escape, it's all on the helper whether or not the exercise is a success or failure.

And be out of sight before this takes place, maybe a wait a few minutes so your dog forgets where you are but where you have a good view of what the helper is doing.

The helper is a pretty manly man, I don't know if he'll go for the high pitched squeal...LOL....I'll do just like you say....

I agree with Lee,

another thing is that the helper should have "ran away" after the first aggressive movement the dog made, not after 3 hits and all the snapping and growling.

I do think that the dog staying in the middle was avoidance, but necessarily in a bad way. I don't feel that most people need/want a dog that would immediately become vocally aggressive with a person simply for walking up to their car... Keep in mind that this dog has never been trained to respond to this type of situation. Now, if it had been thouroghly trained, and then still proceeded to stay in the middle, I would have concerns about that!

take it back down a notch, and allow the dog a chance to win easier fights.... The point of this is to teach the dog confidence in its defensive mind.. not test the drop dead fight/flight response... also keep in mind, as someone else already pointed out.. in a car, there is nowhere for the dog to run, so this is not a far stretch from table training.

I think I should have been more thorough with my instruction to the helper. He has had experience helping with other dogs, just not my dog. Too much too quick, I agree. The problem was the dog did not show any signs of aggression for the helper to run away from until I got there, and only then after he pretended to fight with me. She was literally as still as a statue. She only moved to adjust her ability to see him when he circled the car, nothing more. I still think it wasn't avoidance, although I am outvoted, and a bit prejudice. She could have moved down to the floor, or to the opposite side of the cab he was on, etc. I understand there was not really anywhere for her to run to, but there was enough room to really see if she was making an effort to avoid him,although I might very well be wrong. I don't want to turn it into table training though, so I plan to start fresh next week with greater detailed instructions to the helper, and without any physical aggression. Continued thoughts are appreciated.....thanks to all who have replied!