Interwiew with Dr. Helmut Raiser

by Epp Maltis
Published in Estonian Assotiation’s of German Sheperds Magazine 3/2005

Warning!
The following article contains signs of a cult of personality :)

DR. HELMUT RAISER – NEITHER THE DEVIL, NOR A MESSIAH, JUST A HUMAN BEING

Seminar in Estonia: Dr. Helmut Raiser, Tõnis Vanaveski & Piirikoer Basko, July 2005

I have not met many people in my life who are as charismatic and inspiring as Dr. Helmut Raiser.
An important factor in my being so impressed by Dr. Raiser is his strong resemblance to my father, whom I also remember as a prematurely greying man who simply shone with intelligence and vitality with his life experience as a bonus.
Dr. Sigmund Freud, who was also mentioned by Dr. Raiser at his seminar, would probably see many associations here:)

When listening to Dr. Raiser, I catch myself thinking – thank God this man is at the service of positive forces! (Let us agree here that dog sports belong on the positive side of human activities, alright:)?
Such a sharp mind is definitely a powerful weapon in the hands of a man who has an unbelievable power of conviction and the ability to understand his listeners (in the given context, dogs as well).

When I registered for the seminar, I was sure it was going to be something special, but I did not expect anything as powerful as what I got.
As I thought I knew Raiser’s theories and saw myself as more than a rookie dog handler, my biggest concern (on the basis of the protection seminars of foreign trainers I had experienced before) was my “work partner” – GSD from german showlines.

I was secretly thinking that should Raiser turn out to be a real “Fuehrer,” I will not bring my dog to the protection field at all. I assumed that as he only works with work line dogs whose instincts are extremely strong, then he would reject mine anyway and even if he will not, he would be using training methods that are way too strict.

I could not have been further from the truth when thinking that. My prejudices started to crumble at the IPO competitions that were held before the seminar and that Dr. Raiser came to see. My IPO 3 result was held back by the penultimate grip of the protection part – at long range attack, dog didn’t “out” even after the third order.
Later, when I tried to look poker faced when watching the performance of others, Dr. Raiser came to me and said with a smile: “Shit happens!”
And I was not the only failure that he noticed and sympathized with.

On the second day of the seminar, I politely asked his permission for a short interview for the magazine of Estonian Association of German Shepherds. The poor man had already been almost tortured to death with questions the night before, after a day’s work…Which is somewhat understandable – it is not every day you get the opportunity to obtain knowledge from such a source!

So – the situation:
Warm evening of the second day of Dr. Helmut Raiser’s protection seminar in Estonia. Seminar participants, the doctor and his wife are all sitting by the fire.

Interview with Dr. Helmut Raiser:

EPP MALTIS: Dr. Raiser...

DR. RAISER: Helmut!

EPP: OK, Helmut, before your seminar, I had come up with lots of questions about dog sports and protection work. Now, after listening to you and watching you for these two days, I have got my answers. When presented by you, everything really is as simple as you say it is.
So, instead of asking questions, I would like to point out the four things that amaze me about you.

Firstly, your personality.
I don’t know about the others here, but I imagined you to be a rough and ice-cold German gentleman, who would line us all up and tell us how things are done.
However, you have proved to be a warm person, an excellent communicator who is obviously very fond of his family (at the beginning of the seminar, Dr. Raiser spoke quite a bit about his three sons and he was accompanied by his wife when in Estonia).

HELMUT: (laughs) Well, I can’t understand either what has made the world see me like this. I am not the Devil and I am definitely not a Messiah either, I am very human!

EPP: Secondly, I am amazed by your excellent physical form.
When compared to our young helpers, you seem to have more stamina in the protection field! (Ms. Raiser laughs and adds that things are the same in Germany:))
I apologize for asking, but how old are you?

HELMUT: (laughs again) I am 53. And at this seminar, your helpers are working under strong mental stress, which affects their physical form.

EPP: Thirdly, I am amazed by your courage to admit that you have changed your convictions about training methods in recent years.

HELMUT: Yes, in the 35 years when dog sports has been a hobby of mine, I have had to rethink quite a few things. At the same time – some principles have stood the test of time. Some I have discarded in the meantime and then returned to later – they have appeared to have worked after all. Dog sports itself has changed a lot in this time.

EPP: The fourth thing that amazes me is your attitude toward our dog material that is not the best and our dog handlers whose level is questionable.
We have seen many foreign protection trainers (who have been good in themselves), whose message has basically been: your dogs are no good and you’re no better yourselves.
If anyone at all has the right to be touchy about this subject, then it is you. But we saw you try to teach every dog handler present at the seminar and work with every dog. It is admirable!

HELMUT: (sounding surprised): But that’s why I came here – to teach you! And there are dogs like that in the whole world!
I am often asked whether it is respectable for me to compete with average dog material considering my earlier results. My answer to this question is – this is the dog I have at the moment!
I have seen enough dog handlers in the world who are constantly looking for the “right” dog instead of working harder with the existing, rather good material. My message to them is: hey, I competed at Bundessieger, OK, you may not always see me on the pedestal, but where are you? Nowhere!

EPP: And now a question to you as a practising dentist: What do you think of brushing dogs’ teeth:)?

HELMUT: (laughs) I think it is very important to keep teeth over the life, but a dog’s life is 10-14 years, a human becomes 80.
10 years are no time for teeth, if you don’t eat sweets. But if you want to keep them 80 years, you have to work for this:)

EPP: Thank you, that is all from me.


This seminar night, like the previous one, also continued with everyone sitting by the fire and asking Dr. Raiser tons of questions. Every question got an answer.

Things in this world have been organized in such a manner that there are few brilliant minds that take us by the hand and lead us to simple truths.
Those who participated in Dr. Helmut Raiser’s protection seminar had the fortune to meet a man like this!