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Foreign Titles
American: The Secret Seven and the Case of the Dog Lover
German: Aufgepasst Schwarze Sieben
French: Surprise Au Clan des Sept
Dutch: Paniek in de Grote Zeven
Spanish: Un Susto Para Los Siete Secretos
Portuguese: Roubaram o Toy aos Sete
Danish: SOS og hunde-tyven
Finnish: SOS ja koiravaras
Turkish: Gizli Yediler Hirsiz Avcisi
Catalan: Un Espant per als Set Secrets

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Brief Summary by Julie Heginbotham: Peter and Jack fall out, and Jack says he's leaving the Seven. But no one wants him to go and Peter sends Jack an apology. But Jack sends a letter back to Peter saying, he is forming his own club with, Susie, Binkie, Bony and three others, and they'll be the Secret Seven and you'll be the Secret Six! But then valuable dogs start to go missing, and the thief appears to be a large person according to his footprints. But whilst the Six are investigating, Scamper goes missing too. Hearing this news Jack wishes he was part of the Seven and helps by making an amazing discovery!

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Full Reviews (These may contain spoilers):

Dennis Worley's Review
The next book Shock for the Secret Seven certainly lives up to its name.

Maybe it was inevitable that one day Susie would provoke Peter too far and his temper would get the better of him. Jack's main problem is that he can never remember the password, and yet Susie always knows it. It is one of those little anomalies of life. Jack also appears a bit absent minded at the start of this book and this is put down to examination pressures. Having to put up with Susie, Binkie and 'Bony' (a genuine French boy this time — not someone in disguise) doesn't help either.

Jack has come in for a fair bit of criticism throughout out the series, mainly because of Susie, but this time Peter really lets himself go:

"How DARE you let Susie know the password? And WHY aren't you wearing your badge? You don't DESERVE to be a member of the Secret Seven! And FANCY bringing that awful boy here!"

Peter in full cry! He matches Mr. Goon as far as talking in capital letters is concerned. And that's not all he said. I don't know why he has such a problem with Bony, but it seems the harmless French boy could have been the 'last straw'.

But the worm will eventually turn. A person can take only so much. Jack stands up for himself and resigns. Then Pam puts her foot in it by remarking that it is a pity that Susie doesn't belong to the Secret Seven as she isn't afraid of anything and is really so clever. Peter explodes again: after all this is a very foolish thing to say at a time like this. It's also a bit odd, as in earlier books Pam can't stand Susie. So the Secret Seven cease to exist for a time, as they don't take on another member, not even Scamper. Jack refuses to return even after an apology is sent, and Susie almost gets her wish to belong to a Secret Seven society, albeit her own, but Jack decides to go it alone. The presence of Binkie and other girls in Susie's proposed 'Secret Seven' (Mark 2) was probably too much for him, and it is not mentioned again.

A dog stealer is at work and the shepherd's dog is stolen. Peter says that they've never come up against a dog-stealer before, but we know better (Go ahead Secret Seven). George almost gets his marching orders as well when he starts to mock Peter in a hollow kind of voice. It's quite out of character and pure folly in the light of the earlier events. He was also interrupting Peter, which is unusual for George who usually waits his turn to speak.

In another shock, Scamper disappears as well, although Susie thinks he has just run away from Peter!

The mystery is difficult to solve. They don't have enough clues, and what clues they do have are misleading. They become desperate to do something and Colin's shadowing almost leads him into trouble, a la George (in the fifth book). Pam and Barbara don't fare any better with their idea, but at least they are trying. It's the sort of juicy mystery the Find-Outers would have liked to get their teeth into I think. With only three chapters to go it doesn't look as if the society members will be able to solve it, and, strictly speaking, they don't.

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Review by David Cook
From starting the series by giving the Seven an adventure each holiday, latterly Enid was giving them one each month! This takes place in December and the gardener refers Peter and Janet to 'last month' when they had to remove onions from their shed referred to two books back in Secret Seven Fireworks! This occurs when, because the weather is especially cold, the gardener is installing a 'safety first' stove in their shed. The story starts in term time but carries on into the Christmas holidays and concerns, for the second time, dog thieves, though Peter has forgotten the events of Go Ahead, Secret Seven because he says that, despite all their many mysteries, they'd never "come up against a dog stealer before"!

This excellent story is a whodunnit, the first since Secret Seven Adventure, and as good as a Find-Outers story. Indeed, the thief uses the same ruse as did the Find-Outers' Invisible Thief to throw suspicion elsewhere. It is full of interesting, well-drawn characters, Susie, Binkie, Matt the shepherd and his sheepdog, Shadow, and the gifted French boy, Bony. Peter has a huge tantrum, which results in Jack resigning from the Seven and managing to solve the mystery alone. There are many clues, suspects, and red herrings and, unlike some of the Find-Outers stories, the culprit doesn't display obviously unlikeable traits — it's quite a shock to discover his identity. The story is totally believable except for one thing I'm sure the culprit's employers would, in real life, have supervised his doings more closely. These illustrations are hidden by default to ensure faster browsing. Loading the illustrations is recommended for high-speed internet users only.