Reviewed by Jessi Clark-White

By Helmut Raiser, English translation by Armin Winkler

German copyright, 1979

Paperback, 88 pages. $20.00

Available from Dog Sports Magazine

If you’ve watched Helmut Raiser’s Schutzhund seminar videos and like them, order Der Schutzhund. It contains Raiser’s theories on subjects such as drives, trigger stimuli, critical distance, appetence, instinctive action, Leerlauf-(idle motion) reaction and gesture of intent, action-specific exhaustion, instrumental conditioning, and many other obscure terms in book form.

Just don’t expect much in the way of clarity. Mr. Raiser is speaking to a very specific audience, namely experienced protection aficianados with the desire to learn his theories. If you belong in that category, you ll probably treasure this book, which was translated into English by Armand Winkler.

If you’re new at protection work, want to find out about Schutzhund training in general, or if the subjects I listed above made your eyes blur, Der Schutzhund is NOT the book for you!

This is the first time I’ve seen such detailed information on drive theories and protection work in book form and Armin Winkler does an excellent job translating this complex text into comprehensible English. The chapters which deal with the actual training of a protection dog are well illustrated with clear black and white photographs, and contain some excellent training ideas.

This is a special-interest book which will appeal to only a small group of people due to its content, which is complex and presented with a definite lack of clarity. But if you’re a dedicated trainer, helper, or handler, it is worth serious study.