I read about a dog named "Focus". I'm a pretty big guy, I don't like standing alone either (and in peaceful Canada too). It's a tough trick, but has anyone managed to train their dogs to just sit nice for the 1/2 hour it takes -- you know, without stealing the darkcloth, chewing the tri-pod, or burrying the spotmeter? It doesn't take much dog sound an alarm when someone walks up behind you though. I'm in the middle of the experiment, but a 1yr old 70lb dog (who I thought was supposed to be a "gundog" hunting dog)is not in the LF mode yet. Dean