K9 Working Breeds: Characteristics and Capabilities

Front Cover
Dog Training Press, Jan 1, 2007 - Pets - 248 pages

In order to understand people better, we often look to their past. Resi Gerritsen and Ruud Haak show that the same is true for dog breeds. By taking a look back through the history of those breeds most active in K9 work, Gerritsen and Haak reveal why the traits of each breed emerged to make them world class K9 workers.

Each chapter in this book examines the history, characteristics, training experience, and physical defects of the world's best working breeds. Only through understanding a breed's history can a K9 handler truly appreciate the different characteristics and capabilities of the dog they're working with. Knowing this information is invaluable in training a dog in order to develop his full potential. To this end, the authors include a chapter devoted to the difference in training the increasingly popular Malinois versus the previous top K9 worker, the German Shepherd.

 

Contents

Introduction
11
1 History of the police dog
13
2 German Shepherd dogs
33
3 Belgian Shepherd dogs
82
4 Malinois
105
5 Working with a German Shepherd dog or a Malinois?
117
6 Dutch Shepherd dogs
126
7 Labrador Retriever
137
8 Doberman Pinscher
177
9 Rottweiler
207
10 Other breeds
223
Bibliography
244
About the authors
246
Copyright

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About the author (2007)

Dr. Resi Gerritsen and Ruud Haak are world-renowned specialists in the field of dog work and the authors of more than 30 titles on dog training. They train search and rescue dogs for the International Red Cross and the United Nations (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), and they have trained drug and explosive detector dogs for the Dutch police and the Royal Netherlands Air Force. Gerritsen and Haak also act as international judges for the International Rescue Dog Organization.

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