Well, in contests, it is often asked, "Was he willing to continue?"
And you must answer yes or no.
The no answer means the dog quit.
The yes answer means the dog lost, but was still game (willing to continue) at the time of stoppage.
Neither one is a permanent statement.
A dog can quit in one contest ... and then win 8x more and never show a sign of quitting (like Crenshaw's Ch Rascal) ...
And a dog can show game in one contest (be willing after some severe trauma) ... but then quit his next time out.
In the end ... you just never know what's going to happen on "the next one" ... and NO man's "assessment" is ever 100%
I think most of us, with some time under our belts, can analyze the surrounding factors and decide if there was enough adversity to take our hat off to the dog ... or not put too much stock in what happened.
Jack