David Hancock has been interested in working dogs all his life. His career in the regular army brought him into contact with service dogs and enabled him to study working dogs in many countries. He has written three other books on dogs, Dogs as Companions, The Heritage of the Dog and The Bullmastiff A Breeders' Guide, and he contributes regularly to Dogs Monthly an other magazines. He judges working terriers and working tests for gundogs.

British gundogs, terriers, hounds and especially sheepdogs are used and held in high regard wherever working dogs are employed, and Border Collie stock from Britain is to be found wherever sheep are worked by 'strong-eyed' dogs. Inevitably, however, some old breeds have disappeared and, regrettably, many more may follow. In this book David Hancock describes the working dogs of Britain down the ages, the extinct and the extant, uncovering the development of the various modern breeds and highlighting the changes which have taken place in their appearance.