# Working with Peter Verachtert Video



## Catu (Sep 6, 2007)

This weekend Akela and I were to a Peter Verachtert IPO protection seminar. Here Peter is teaching my helper how to avoid Akela's trashing and shifting on the sleeve.

Akela y Peter.wmv - YouTube


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## gagsd (Apr 24, 2003)

Very nice work. 
I really like Akela, and very good skills as well.


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## Zahnburg (Nov 13, 2009)

That is one of the awesome things about Peter. Not only is he unbelievably good at working dogs he is also excellent with teaching people. 

I am sure your helper (and you, and Akela) learned quite a bit this weekend.

I am really looking forward to his visit here in May.


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## Catu (Sep 6, 2007)

Yupi! Finally I could put the video directly (sorry for the finger  )






Thanks! Akela may not be the flashier dog, but I love how he is starting to show power.

Effectively, Peter has a way to make things simpler, which at the end is very encouraging.


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## gagsd (Apr 24, 2003)

I meant "very good handling skills."


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## Catu (Sep 6, 2007)

gagsd said:


> I meant "very good handling skills."


Thanks :blush:, I thought you meant the helper skills, it would have made more sense


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

I have that same shirt!
I didn't see Akela thrash the sleeve at all, he had a nice calm grip. Can you share what Peter suggested? 
I like the way you platzed him to out, we do that too.
The only time he 'shook' the sleeve was because his ear looked itchy, not due to wanting to kill it.
He is really focused on the helper not the sleeve, I like that, and his H&B is great!


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

I really like it, at least in these clips he appears very calm and in control. I personally like that more than a "flashy" dog that is just screaming and bucking around all the time, especially with a dog his size.


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## GSDBESTK9 (Mar 26, 2002)

Very good!  Peter is very very good, looking forward to seeing him again in May.


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## Catu (Sep 6, 2007)

onyx'girl said:


> I have that same shirt!
> I didn't see Akela thrash the sleeve at all, he had a nice calm grip. Can you share what Peter suggested?
> I like the way you platzed him to out, we do that too.
> The only time he 'shook' the sleeve was because his ear looked itchy, not due to wanting to kill it.
> He is really focused on the helper not the sleeve, I like that, and his H&B is great!


You don't see it because Peter is very good at preventing the behavior (Akela is young, so we are in time to prevent it to become an habit) more than in correcting it. Basically he doesn't let the sleeve to become "dead", because then is when Akela regrips. You can see him moving the elbow, as example. He also likes to spin the dog so if he regrips, he loses it, but with Akela that is easier said than done  . Peter puts more pressure in the dog too, the fight makes Akela'to bite harder, as opposed to pure prey.

He shook the sleeve because he had a load of slobber into the ear :crazy:

Akela can be jumpy, but as Lies said, with a dog of his size there is so much you can allow without being dragged along the field. This was the first day, the second day I worked specifically (with different grades of succeed  ) in the obedience applied to protection.

Carolina, good you are going, I'd send Akela with him only so you can take pictures of him  . I did a bit of helper work too in this seminar and Peter said I wasn't that bad. If he keeps is word I'd love to go to his place one of these days and train with him to improve myself.


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## gagsd (Apr 24, 2003)

I noticed that moving the sleeve by the elbow, and wondered if that is something I could get one of our helpers to try as Ari has developed the habit of regripping "inappropriately."


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## Vandal (Dec 22, 2000)

Mary, 
If your dog has high fight drive and is re-gripping, usually this is because the helper is not respecting your dog's power. Or, someone is trying to change your high fight dog into a high prey dog. The result is usually the same, it causes confusion in the dog and the grip will suffer. That is mostly what I see now in SchH training. Dogs being worked when they are not in drive.


For me, when the dog fights and counters, the helper should turn away. The first times the dog does that in training, the helper should submit and slip the sleeve. Most do not do this but that is how you channel aggression into prey work. You cannot change a high fight dog into simply a high prey dog but you CAN channel the aggression into the prey work. That was the intent when this style of training was developed. Most people try the former however and get away with it because they never trigger the fight drive. They train the dog when he is in that frame of mind, ( prey drive). One day, something might trigger the fight drive and that is when the control goes away. However, if the helper makes it a fight in training and you train the dog this way, you will have better control than you would with nothing but prey work. 

Most helper's stay facing the dog when the dog fights, ( again, talking about dogs who have fight drive). Some will even try to calm the dog when they fight, which usually makes them fight more. This is when they will shift their grip. Without going into a long reason why, you can look at it as simply the dog trying another behavior to gain control of the helper. That is what the more serious dogs are trying to do, they are not there begging for the sleeve.

Many are afraid of fight drive nowadays but most can't get the dog in that drive anyway. If they do manage to get the dog there, as I said, many simply do not respect the dog's power, which again, leads to problems. As the helper, you have to realize what kind of dog you are working, not all dogs want to play. Ignoring the dog's response is simply incorrect and unnatural. If a dog bit the helper on their bare arm, and fought them, they would not be on their feet, much less standing over the dog just looking at him.


With Peter, the movement there is a prey attraction. He does prey attractions before the the dog is sent up for the barking. He pops the sleeve up for the bite which is a prey attraction and the moving of the sleeve while the dog is on the bite, is also a prey attraction. So, we have prey work in the exercise where the dogs were intended to show fight drive. He also is quite good at giving in just enough, which encourages the dog to pull.


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