Der Schutzhund

by Helmut Raiser, translated by Armin Winkler

88 Pages

Paperback

 

$29.99 (shipping included)

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Helmut Raiser deals with the training of working dogs in protection work in his well illustrated book (159 photographs), he gives equal consideration to the duties of handler, dog and helper.

 

In part one, the theoretical part, prey-, defense-, aggression-, and fighting drive, the innate drives of a dog, which are used in the training of protection work, are discussed. Part one goes on to explain basic ethnological terms and laws, such as: instinctive action, trigger stimulus, drive goal, Leerlauf (idle motion) reaction, conflict behavior, stimulus summation, action-specific and stimuli-specific exhaustion. In conclusion, classical and instrumental conditioning are shown as the typical methods through which dogs learn.

 

In part two, the purely practical part. Raiser gives methodical instruction on how to develop and train dogs in protection work. Whether it is prey-drive or defense-drive development, the hold and bark, the out exercise, or the blind search, methodically and technically correct helper work is always important. 29 briefly but informatively captioned pictures sequences, with between three and ten photographs, taken in succession in extremely short intervals, clearly demonstrate how handler, dog, and helper have to work together in the different exercises.