Shark walker, cavalier, 'girl', and alien minder 'dog'

[mintoji]

Earth has been contacted. An elite is being selected to interact with aliens. A trio of bright, talented, and courageous young people are brought together. A hands on marine biologist, hence the shark walking, a historian with an enthusiasm for enactment and a "little" Earth outlook: the cavalier, plus "a Girl!", who if I remember correctly was the hard science person. There was also an alien minder who was not humanoid, was very physically tough and who masquerading as their "dog", accompanied them on their mission to a less advanced earth-like world . I read this in the late sixties, it was a great book for older children as the very different members of the team learned to work together and respect each other. The characters were maturing just as the human race was maturing. I cannot remember the title or author but would love to find this book again. Any help much appreciated, Ian

 

[mintoji]

I'm just pushing this to the head of the list again in the hope that one of the great and good of the book search forum picks up on it.

 

[mintoji]

Come on folks, I can't be the only person left on the planet that read this!

 

[mintoji]

The "dog" was so physically powerful that it could breath underwater.

 

[mintoji]

The "dog" was so physically powerful that it could breath underwater.

The historian used a quarter staff as his weapon of defence.

 

[sueelleker]

Space Winners by Gordon R.Dickson?
"They were humanity's hope - the first young people selected to leave Earth for study in the Galactic Federation. But something went wrong in deep space. Terribly wrong. Suddenly Jim Rawlins, Ellen Bouvier, Curt Harrington, and the squirrel-like Alien philosopher Peep were castaways, stranded on the quarantined planet of Quebahr - with no training, and little hope of rescue. Between them and the Federation's emergency beacon were primitive Mauregs, aggressive Walats, lizard-like Noifs - plus danger, conspiracy and the mystery of an impending high-tech war on a backward peaceful planet. Without warning, the future of the two worlds - Earth and Quebahr - depended on three young humans' ability to adapt and survive."

 

[mintoji]

Yes! Thank you, ('words cannot express, etc...'). Just downloaded it. I'm looking forward to matching the reality to my memory. If it's as good as I recall I'll be getting hardcopies for several friends reading lists. Thanks so much.