As a professional dog handler and trainer of working dogs, member of the Metropolitan Police Dog Display Team and working dog trials judge I was involved with many breeds of dogs over a period of almost thirty years. German Shepherds, Labradors, Dobermans, Rottweilers and Weimaraners. Added to this I have an avid interest in hunting dogs, Foxbounds, Beagles and also sight Hounds. Over this period I have been an obsessive dog watcher and reader of dog books, either breed books or training instruction literature back to the time when training was known as “Dog Breaking”.
This may appear to many of you as “blowing my own trumpet time” but I have the following reason for telling you the above CV. So many books that I have read over the last few years have appeared so repetitive and my interest began to wane. Then one day whilst visiting my son, who by the way is owned by two Ridgebacks, I picked up a copy of Sue and Ean Craigie’s booklet “The Imbali Way of Raising and Training Your Ridgeback Puppy”. I could not put it down and became completely engrossed in the contents. This is the ultimate in the thinking person’s method of training a dog. The experience and thought that has gone into this booklet is tremendous and it has been written in such an intelligent and understandable way that even the most novice dog owner can fully understand and put it into action. No stone has been left unturned, I know that the bookelt is aimed at the Ridgeback but so much of the Imbali Way, with thought, could be very useful for other breeds.
Obtain this booklet. Don’t borrow it. Buy it. Sit down in a comfortable armchair with your dog (dogs) at your feet. Read from cover to cover. Then read it again and you will know in your mind that this must be your training bible.
Peter Geeves
Retired Metropolitan Police Dog Section