This once peaceful country house...
DOG GROWLS This is our life.
...is now a special place... Back, back.
My house smells of his wee.
...for those at the end of their tether.
I'm frightened it's gonna kill him.
He has pulled my arm out the socket.
If she could get off that lead, she'd be hanging off her face.
This is make or break for us.
Here, a team of expert trainers...
Down.
Back.
They look like SAS geezers.
...take on... Stop it.
...some of Britain's worst behaved dogs...
Wow, no, not good.
Oh, my God.
...and their humans.
How much training do you guys do now?
None.
What's this? She's lost trust with humans.
At an academy...
This is your opportunity to move forward
and we're gonna give you those skills. Yeah.
...unlike any other.
We need to get that muzzle off you. Oh, I love your face!
APPLAUSE Good boy.
That has never happened before.
Can you believe that?
Pow-pow-pow-pow!
LAUGHTER It's like he's a different dog.
TOY SQUEAKS Jump. Oh. Good try.
Where's that ball? Good boy.
Nice, excellent. Yes, good boy.
As a new day dawns at the dog academy...
Come. Quick. Go, go, go.
...the bold...
DOG BARKS Ah, ah. No.
...and the brazen...
Come here please. Come here then, come here.
Oh, guys, man, guys, guys, guys.
...are already making their presence felt.
Oh, she's jumped up on the fire. Oh, God.
You need to give me a break.
There is some food up there but d'you know what?
You're gonna have to work for it.
Cody, today's the day.
Maggie, you're gonna get your comeuppance, baby.
HE LAUGHS
Right, we're here.
Desperately seeking help with their headstrong hounds...
...a newly engaged couple, John and Diane.
Come on. Here we are. Come on. Good boy.
Watching on, trainers Victoria and Adam.
It's beautiful, isn't it? Let's hope they can fix us.
Hello. Hello. Nice to meet you.
Is this the Dog Academy?
It is, yeah. Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Grace.
Hi, Grace. And who have you got with you?
We have Cody, the German Shepherd.
Cody's 15 months.
And Maggie,
also known as Princess Margaret, because she's a diva.
Princess Margaret.
And the D word, the diva.
She was Maggie in Maggie's World.
She was Maggie in Maggie World and everybody loved Maggie
and she was pampered and everything and then Cody arrived.
She prefers him asleep. If he's asleep, she's fine.
All right, let's take a look.
Look at those teeth bearing. Oh, no, she does not like this.
That is too close. Yeah.
DOG SNARLS
Oh, he just wants to play...
Oh, look and she's like, no, go away.
Oh, no, she's trying to like, put herself away.
Yeah. Go away, she's saying. Take off.
I wonder what has happened between them.
I love both our dogs,
we love both our dogs but when we got together,
Maggie was already your dog and I came into your world.
How did you meet?
We met the very old-fashioned way of online dating.
Diane stalked me.
We just assumed that what we had was a great, great friendship.
And I didn't realise we were falling in love.
ADAM: Aww, brilliant. Oh, lovely.
The softie went and asked my Dad,
89-years-old, for my hand in marriage, on St Patrick's Day.
It's the right thing to do to ask your parent's permission.
Yeah, and we're gonna get married in August.
If the dogs don't drive us apart before then,
we're getting married in August. SHE CHUCKLES
So, you two are in love, we just need these two...
We just need these two to fall back in love.
Come on then. I can't wait to get my hands on these dogs, let's go.
Hello, oh, hello. Oh, oh.
So you can see now...
Oh, I see a little bit of moment attention.
I can see Maggie growling a bit.
The growling wasn't at you, it was at him.
She can sit on the settee and he can walk past her and she'll go "grrr."
OK. And then it'll get to a point where she'll just lunge at him
and she'll just grab clumps of hair out of him.
DOG SNARLS
Yep. This is our life.
Yeah, sweet little dog just turns into this... This psychotic clown.
When he was little, she loved him.
She loved having that little play mate there.
He ran out one day and she basically went into him
and it was like being hit by a freight train.
She tumbled over, shook herself down and walked off and then,
she just said, that's it. Playtime's finished.
She has never played with him since. It was instant.
I've got a lovely little video here of them playing nicely
with each other and Cody was a puppy.
Happy days, which are sadly gone.
When she growls, what happens?
We've tried the naughty step.
And who goes on the naughty step? Is it Cody or Maggie?
Maggie for growling. For the growling, OK.
Always Maggie.
We constantly tried to stop it.
DOG BARKS
Cody, sit. Yeah, it's hard work.
Just the relentless nature of what's going on.
It does... it does grind away at you. Yeah.
Cody, sit.
If they were humans, we'd like to be able to say,
"Look, you won't do it again. And he just wants to play."
I think she's just a diva.
All right. Leave it with us. Little bit of work to do.
We feel like we've tried everything.
And we're just at a loss what to do next.
Good boy. Good boy.
Can you imagine how wonderful it would be
if we just went out at the end of this
and not have the constant growling?
That would be a dream come true, wouldn't it? It would, yeah, yeah.
I think they need to really understand Maggie a bit more,
understand where she's coming from
because they're using words like diva. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Come here, darling. She's stressed right now.
When a dog yawns in
a situation where it might feel overwhelmed,
that is a definite stress signal.
Maggie, it's gonna be all right, girl, you are.
Dogs communicate all the time with their bodies.
It's just that humans have
a really difficult time understanding them.
It's a bit like learning a language for the first time,
it takes time and a lot of patience.
DOG WHIMPERS
I know, I know. It's all right, darling.
Woohoo! Clever. You know the drill.
Wait. With me. Good.
Fire, with me. Good, Jungle. Good.
Right, we're here.
Eagerly awaiting their new student...
Here we go. ..trainers, Nanci and Jo.
All right, we have Laura and Dave
with two-year-old, Border collie, Marvin.
Good boy, Marvin.
Marv, it's OK.
Wait, wait, wait, he doesn't like it.
OK, she's already worried.
Marv. DOG BARKS
Oh.
That's not a happy bark.
Marvin. Stop it.
Sit. Marvin.
Remember to give him space, Dave. Yeah. Yes.
She's really stressed.
So, I'll just open these if it's OK.
Yeah, but don't come to... Yeah, I won't come the back.
Sit down, get back, sit down. Sit.
So, what kind of dog parents are you guys?
Loving? Worried. Worried.
Come on, Babs. Good boy.
I'll just sort it all out. Good luck.
Thank you. You won't need it. See you later.
Come on, Babs.
Hey. Hello.
I'm Grace, welcome to the Dog Academy.
Hello. Nice to meet you. And you. This is?
Sit. Marvin. This is Marvin.
Oh, jerking the lead. Oh, she's getting quite strict with him,
isn't she? She's being quite firm.
Even with the muzzle on, he looks really beautiful. He does.
What? Are you showing off? You showing off?
I think there was always a bond from the minute I got him.
We got him from a farm. He was covered in sheep poo.
I had him, I put him in the bath and I was like washing him.
I fell in love with him instantly.
He was just like someone I had to look after, I guess.
Does he get a lot of attention? He does. Yeah, too much.
Does he not like the attention? No. No, he doesn't like people.
We've got hard eye contact from him on Grace.
It's one of our stress signals.
That's his way of communicating, "I'd like you to stay away, please."
TRAINER: "I see a threat."
What is it he does exactly?
Lunges at them and he's silent, so
he doesn't really make a noise or give you any warning.
It's not obvious what he's about to do, so you kind of have...
You're sort of watching him all the time.
He permanently does like, a risk assessment on everything.
Should I not approach then, best just stay? Stay back.
Stay behind the desk.
Oh, Marvin, I hope we can help you, buddy.
They'll be out very soon to chat with you, so I'll leave you to it.
Thank you. Good luck. Thank you. Thanks.
Love you, Marvin. Good boy.
Deary me. My hands are sweating.
Nice. Wait there. Good, wait.
Dogs, come.
TOY SQUEAKS Yes. Yes.
Oh, man, she's just overwhelmed.
As the trainers get to work on sibling rivals,
Maggie and Cody,
owners Diane and John are making themselves comfortable in
the human training room.
You see, I would like this,
instead of having all matching furniture,
is stuff like this, not just have a three-piece suite.
It's one thing after another. It's a good job I love you.
Hello. Hello. Hello.
Oh, right.
You can settle on the sofa without dogs.
How often do you get to do this? Never. Never, yeah.
In the pre-Cody days,
we were able to do this and Maggie was silent, but now,
if we sat like this, there'd be a low level rumbling.
Mmm. Yeah.
It's almost like she wants to say, "Mum, Dad, is he still breathing?"
Right. Why do you think Maggie does what she does?
Maggie was the only dog for five years.
I think she wants to be the main dog in the house. OK.
I feel guilty that we brought Cody into her life.
It upsets me because she's always looked after me so much.
My husband died very suddenly about three and a half years ago.
Wayne and I had been married for 37 years.
We were due to go on holiday the next day, he went to the gym,
he never came home.
It was massive cardiac arrest.
What's this?
Maggie was very much Wayne's dog.
Oh, she loved him.
She started coming to bed every night with me,
to make sure I kept going, if you like.
You come back to the empty house
and Maggie was there to give me the cuddles.
Maggie was my saviour.
OK, she's been through a lot with you.
I'd do anything to fix this.
When Maggie exhibits aggressive type behaviour,
she's just scared.
She is merely trying to protect herself.
Cody away. Good boy.
She's had this incident when Cody just knocked her over.
It was something that just made her go,
"OK, put the brakes on, no more, buddy.
"You do not come into my space."
Traumatic incidents never get erased in the brain,
they're always there. Yeah.
Really what the dog's going is like, "I am scared,
"I am insecure and I don't feel great and he hurt me
"and now, I'm the one that's getting told off." Hmm.
Yeah.
She must think, I'm crying out for help and... you're not. Yeah.
We're just like...
You put her on the naughty step. Yeah. Yeah.
I'm sorry if this is upsetting you.
I know you love your dogs very much, don't you?
Yeah. I can see that.
They're family, aren't they? Yeah.
They're absolutely family and you want the best
for your family. You do.
So, how do we do it?
DOGS BARKING
At the Dog Academy...
Hello, there. Hi. Hello, guys.
...owners Laura and Dave are hoping the trainers will be able
to calm their reactive Collie, Marvin.
Welcome to the Dog Academy. Hi.
So, how long has this been going on for? He's two now.
Since he was 12 months old.
He's never physically bitten, but it's more of a warning,
I think, a lunge. OK.
I mean, he split a guy's lip. It was bleeding.
It was a headbutt, not like a physical bite,
he doesn't wanna bite. It's like a warning, "Go away."
We haven't had anyone round our house for six months.
He hasn't been stroked for, like, well over a year...
Won't let anyone stroke him. By anyone other than us.
So, at the moment, he appears to be quite relaxed. Yeah.
He always looks relaxed until someone gets too close.
He's like Jekyll and Hyde, literally he... like a switch.
If you got up, really quickly now, if you just got up.
Would you be happy for me to try that? Hmm.
He... he will go. It's all right, I know what you're here for. Yeah.
Just take a nice, deep breath.
I'm just gonna stand up and sit down.
All right.
Breathe, Laura. Good lad, Marv, good lad.
Well done. Just gives me information.
OK, not trying to stress you out. It's just become like a routine.
You know, when people come near you, you're like,
"Oh, go away, don't come near me." Cross the street.
Ooft. God. I love him so much,
but I know if we don't fix him, he'll get worse.
He'll bite someone and he'll get put down, that's it.
OK. I honestly feel like we can help you.
I hope so. I'll be honest, we're at breaking point.
I, sort of, don't wanna get my hopes up
because if he's not fixed, then he will have to go.
Imagine handing over the lead.
Touch, good girl. Think about it. Touch.
No. Touch. Good girl,
I'll give you that one, on the house.
So, we had a lot of fun with them. We've done a load of work.
What we wanted to get Maggie to understand is that
being around Cody isn't such a bad thing. Mm-hm.
So, what we've worked on is that every time
she looks in Cody's direction,
you're gonna use "Yes" and give her a piece of food.
All we're starting to do now
is change her association from a negative,
into a real positive when she sees Cody. Come on.
Good.
Yes. Cody. Reward.
Yes. Oh, lovely. Very nice.
Cody? Come on, let's go. Yes. Oh, good timing. Very nice.
Brilliant, oh, Cody's going, "Where's mine?"
To the untrained eye,
you might think all they're doing is just giving dogs food,
what does that do? Well, food is extremely powerful.
Yes.
When dogs anticipate something wonderful happening to them,
their brain is flooded with great chemicals.
Yes.
It's actually changing neural pathways in the brain
to build positive associations
with things that dogs have formerly found overwhelming.
It might be simple things that we're teaching you,
but they're so effective.
But they require timing and consistency.
OK. Yep.
TRAINER: Fire, up... up, up, up. Good.
Lie down. Good. Wait.
Sit. Relax yourself a little bit, Laura. Sit.
Don't worry about him. Just relax. Good boy.
In the training room, Laura and Dave are preparing to hand Marvin over,
so he can work one on one with Jo.
So, to give you an insight, I have two Border Collies.
One of my Border Collies,
his name's Twist and I know exactly how you feel
because Twist was just like Marvin,
he was frightened of people, he would lunge, he would snap.
The thing is, there is hope. Yeah.
So, I'm gonna ask you to put the long line on. OK.
Lovely. So if wanna just nip under the line.
Good boy. And come with Nanci. You're OK. It's OK. I'm sorry.
DOG WINCES
Is that a little cry? It's all right, mate. It's all right, mate.
It's OK, it's OK, Marv.
Do you wanna let go of the line and walk to the door?
And just let yourself out.
Where's your toy? Now hand him it,
have a little play, have a little game of tug.
Come on, Dad, make it more interesting than that.
That's it. That's it.
On the lawn, Adam is teaching Diane and John a redirection technique
for when Cody aggravates Maggie.
So, the next exercise for Cody, is to teach him that
if he does get too close to Maggie,
we've got a word that tells him to go off and find something else,
rather than trying to pester Maggie for attention,
give him a word that can help him move away.
So, we've used, "Where's your toy."
It gives him another method to gain attention or have some play,
or have some fun.
Nice and relaxed, walk forward, drop the toy behind you now.
Now turn. Cody? Where's your toy? Where's your toy? Yeah. Good boy.
Play, play, play, play, play. Yes. Good. Good work. Fabulous.
Lovely. So, we're gonna put you through a little challenge just
to see how these skills are going.
So, you're gonna be on your own doing this, all right.
Yes, OK. We will do this. Good.
To simulate the environment where Maggie feels most anxious,
Victoria and Adam have set up a lounge area in the pen.
Diane, bring Maggie in.
I hope this works, this is quite a test, I have to say.
Yeah.
The challenge?
John must guide Cody towards Maggie on the sofa
without her growling or biting.
Now, remember when Maggie looks at Cody, you say yes, you reward.
OK.
Hang on, just shut the, oh, hello. Yes.
Good.
John, you're just gonna take two or three steps towards Maggie
and then you're gonna turn and then send him back for a toy.
Come on, big boy.
Diane, watching Maggie more than watching Cody, remember. Yes.
Cody.
TRAINER: You're coming a bit near too quickly.
Cody. Cody, Cody. Careful, careful.
She's gonna go for him. DOG GROWLS
No, no, no. She growled.
Let's move him away.
Cody. Hey, hey. Daddy's here, eh? I'm sorry.
It's OK. It's OK. We'll see.
Can we get you to do some tricks? Lie down. Lie down.
I've got a lot to learn, haven't I?
I feel like, for a lot of people when they come here,
it's kind of D-Day.
I actually have noticed that all I do is talk about the dog,
it's an obsession now cos I just wanna fix it.
I literally got to the pub one day and burst into tears,
I was like, "I can't... I can't cope with him, he's affecting my brain."
Like, mentally, I think I've not felt myself because of him.
Do you feel you need a bit more support from Dave?
Yeah. I've told you, we need both need to be,
we need to be training the dog, we need to be on the same page,
you've given up, you don't do any training.
We chose him, we got him. Yeah, but I don't know what to do with him.
It's like I've never known anything like it.
You've got a dog that doesn't like people.
Have you given up on him a little bit?
Yeah. I have, yeah.
I mean, I haven't stopped loving him.
But you've given up hope.
Yeah. Yeah.
I'll always love him, but I just sometimes feel that
he could be better with the right person.
Laura had got to that point herself.
If I can't fix him, or help him, or manage it better,
so we get a better way of life, then I'll have to rehome him.
I spoke to this lady in Wales,
I travelled five hours to go and meet her.
Oh, you did go? Yeah, and she was like, do you wanna rehome him?
She was like, I'll have him tomorrow if you want me to,
I took him away and didn't leave him there.
It's like, I love him, but it's like heart and head.
So, my heart was saying,
"I love you so much, I don't wanna let you go to anyone else."
But, my head was saying,
I can't explain it, it's like the most beautiful,
wonderful dog in the world, but he, like, stresses me out.
Hey, you all right, buddy? It's all right.
It's mid-afternoon at
the Dog Academy and training is in full swing.
So, can you teach me how to do dog tricks?
Yeah, yeah, do you want to do, middle?
Wow. Good lad. Just give him one. Hand down.
Middle.
Straight to you. That's how good of a trainer I am.
Full dog trainer, you.
Marvin, showing me the whites of your eyes,
telling me you're a little bit stressed.
In the indoor training room, Jo is trying to establish
a relationship with a reluctant Marvin.
That's OK. Honestly,
I'm a little bit stressed too cos I'm worried about you.
Are there good sniffs in here? Well done. Good boy. That's clever.
It cannot carry on like this.
What you're going through would sink a lot of people.
Dave's said, a million times,
haven't you, since he was a puppy, he's a special dog.
He just behaves slightly differently to any dog I've ever come across.
The thing is, getting a dog,
there's... no formula that says, if I get A, I will get B.
Whatever you get, you end up with and Marvin's your dog
and this is who he is and he's a very sensitive little boy.
Dogs, emotionally and cognitively are highly similar
to three-year-old children.
He's your three-year-old little boy,
but he's not your typical little boy.
He's very sensitive to sensory information.
You're the mum of a sensitive baby.
When someone comes too close and he doesn't feel safe,
he's barking and he's lunging. He's not barking and lunging
because he's an aggressive dog that wants to hurt someone,
he's that sensitive little boy that's saying, this is too much.
I see that every time you feel more worried,
you're holding him tighter cos you're so afraid
of things being out of control, but what you're doing to Marvin,
when you're tightening around the lead,
is telling him, mum's cross with me.
So, if mum's getting cross, then there's definitely
more of a reason to worry. Danger, yeah, yeah.
Marvin is at his weakest when he feels vulnerable
and Marvin is at his most dangerous when he feels vulnerable.
That's probably the best...
Best explanation, but I do feel like...
...best explanation of his behaviour I've heard.
What he needs is us to build his trust in the world.
You're his safety blanket.
Any time anything unsure or scary happens,
"Good things need to happen it's OK, it's OK,
"don't you worry, my little boy."
What I would ask is that, going forward, the plan we give you guys
and the programme we put together, you stick to it,
we stick to it as a team, OK.
This time, you say, "Look, Laura, I've got you, I'm taking your hand
"and we're gonna get through this together." Yeah.
Today is the start of a new life for Marvin and I hope,
a much better relationship with Marvin.
Yeah.
That's nice, I like you're walking with me.
Come on, let's go. Good lad, well done.
After an hour of working to gain Marvin's trust,
it's crunch time for trainer, Jo.
Good boy. Well done. We need to get that muzzle off you, don't we?
It's absolutely possible to train a dog,
while the dog is wearing a muzzle.
Here, let's try again.
But because we're using food and toys to train the dog...
No? OK.
...we'd like to get the muzzle off as soon as it is safe to do so.
SHE EXHALES DEEPLY
Good lad. How about it?
How about it? Yeah? What do you think?
Timing of when to get the muzzle off is very difficult.
This is where understanding of body language is so, so important.
When you see the dog start to relax,
when you see the eyes soften a little bit
and they start to interact with you,
maybe follow you, walk with you.
Come on, mate, let's go.
You're starting to building a relationship.
But there is always a little bit, at the back of my mind,
that's my what if,
the anticipation of what if I've got it wrong.
As Marvin is a bite risk, Jo adds an extra layer for safety.
Come on, then.
Marv.
Come on, then.
Marvin!
There!
There's that tail.
Oh, there we go.
I'm loving that.
I got you, I've got you.
Yes, I do. I've got you.
I'm gonna take his muzzle off.
You are such a good lad.
There we go.
Hi. Big yawn. You all right? Hey.
OK, good boy.
Ah, come on then. Bring it, bring it.
Whoa, yes, yes, yes!
I've got a cow, ready? Good boy.
What you got? Oh, I love your face.
I love your face.
It's a shame to put
the muzzle on it and hide it from everybody.
Come. Quick. Come on then. Come on. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Where's your toy? Cody, where's your toy? Where's your toy?
Yes.
Back in the pen, Diane and John have resumed training
with warring siblings, Maggie and Cody.
We're gonna run that from the top again.
We're gonna run that from the gate.
So, John, what I want you to do is slow things right down.
Do it in increments, right?
OK, yeah.
Diane, same as always, Maggie looks in Cody's direction,
there's gonna be yes and treat.
Yes. Come on.
Yes. Good, now turn.
Cody, where's your toy? Where's your toy? Come on. There you go.
Good. Ah, nice. Well done. So, in you go with a bit of fun.
Yeah, look at this one.
And then take the toy back, start again.
You're just gonna take one extra step forward.
Cody. DIANE: Yes.
Great work, Diane.
TRAINER: That's good, now go back. Where's your toy? Where's your toy?
No, that's good. You're doing really well, doing really well.
Fabulous. DIANE: Good girl.
All right, now I want you to go right up and sit on the chair.
Come on.
DIANE: Yes.
OK...
Yes. Nice. TRAINER: Here we go.
Come on. That's it, good. That's it. Yes.
Good boy. Cody.
Wow, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, go with him, good.
Yes, good boy. You are so close, guys.
DIANE: Yes.
Good, take a seat. Very nice, take a seat.
Good boy. Good boy. Wow. They're together.
Wow. Oh, my God. Got it.
There you go. Who's a good boy?
Bit messy in places, but that's a massive, massive win.
Who's a good boy?
Diane, how do you think Maggie's getting on?
Yeah, good. She's much calmer. Yeah, if Cody was playing with a toy,
or anywhere near where he is now,
she would absolutely have the teeth glaring.
She's that relaxed, she's just not bothered at all.
That's it. That's it. Oh, if you can sit like this,
the two dogs sitting there, her not reacting, that's beautiful.
Co-existing happily. Isn't that lovely? Yes.
TRAINER: But you see, it takes work for both of you, right?
Absolutely. This is how it's gonna be for a while,
but it's not gonna be like this for the rest of your life. Yes.
It's been emotional. Elating, hasn't it?
It's been a relief. Yeah, it has been a relief,
to actually put a label on what the problem is.
Do you want a treat for working so hard? I feel like I need a treat.
Good boy. Good boy.
It's gonna be a challenge. It will.
I think we've both got doggy determination...
We have. ..to make it work. Yeah.
OK, you ready? Here comes your little boy.
Following an afternoon with Jo...
Hello. Here he is.
...Marvin is reunited with owners Laura and Dave.
No muzzle. Hello. Hi.
Here's your boy. Thank you so much. Well done.
And he looks so much more beautiful now with his face on show.
No more Hannibal Lecter.
Now Marvin is free of his muzzle, the training can begin.
So, we're gonna look at what you would normally do
when someone approaches you.
You're all right, you're OK.
So, can I have my pedestrian please?
Marv. Oh, God.
Just relax. I'm anticipating it already.
I know you are. Chill.
Sit. Good boy.
Can you wait there, please?
Every time he looks at the person you say "Good," feed.
Do you wanna get a sausage in your hand ready?
I've got it in my hand, don't you worry. Get loaded.
What we're doing is we're building
a positive association with strangers.
Good. Nice. Good boy.
You can feed to his mouth if it's easier.
Now let him eat those and relax.
We don't want frantic feeding. Chill.
Stay where you are and let him, let him see our pedestrian again.
Good.
OK, Sean, can you take a step closer, please?
Marvin, sit.
Relax. Yeah.
All right. The more you relax, the more he will. All right?
Your anxiety is not helping.
It's not helping you and it's not helping Marvin. No, no, not at all.
Remember you're his safety blanket, so you need to help him feel safe.
Good. Lovely.
Sean, can you take a step forward please?
Good. Well done.
That was really good, Laura, well done.
When was the last time anyone got that close to him? Well, never.
Our goal is for him to feel good, it's for you to feel good
and it's for our stranger to be safe. Yes.
DAVE: Good boy.
With Laura and Dave making good progress,
Nanci and Jo want to put their new skills to the test.
Can you hear me? LAURA AND DAVE: Yep. Yes. Brilliant.
Marvin. Marvin.
He's a little bit tense, isn't he?
His ears have got that position on him, what's gonna happen.
NANCI: So, today we're gonna bring you to the Dog Academy cafe,
so if you wanna make your way through the gate.
To teach the couple how to handle Marvin in a social setting,
the trainers have created a cafe environment.
So, shortly we'll have two more visitors,
who are going to take a seat.
I want you guys to take a deep breath, relax,
and follow the steps that Jo's giving you.
Here they come.
OK, remember your training, remember your training.
Good luck, guys.
OK, he's still lying down. Good.
DAVE: Marv. Good.
Oh, OK. Marvin, Marvin.
You guys, remember your training.
So, whenever Marvin looks at them,
say "Good" and feed him to his mouth,
or drop food on the floor, for him to find.
Good. Good.
Good.
Laura's smiling. Marvin's relaxed.
Good. Good.
Absolutely beautiful. Brilliant. Really well done.
Good boy.
All right, guys.
We're gonna up the ante a little bit.
Your fellow dinners are gonna get a little bit more animated.
So, would you like some tea?
Good, good.
Thank you very much. There we go, excellent.
JO: Guys, you're looking a little bit anxious.
We are.
Take a nice, deep breath for me.
Yes, I think I'll have some for myself. Excellent.
Good.
Loosen the lead a little bit.
Good.
He's not taking food. The more that you relax,
the more relaxed he feels. OTHER GUESTS: Chin-chin.
My concern is that he's giving really hard eye.
How are you today? Yeah, I'm good. I haven't seen you for ages.
DAVE: Marv. Marvin.
He's stiffening up. He's getting quite stressed.
Good.
Guys, I honestly think we really need to call it.
Guys, just take a little break so he can relax.
Marvin.
Marvin, Marvin. Good boy, gentle boy. Good boy.
I'm feeling a bit anxious about this one. Me too.
I hope he does OK.
Can't have people round for dinner,
can't take Marvin out very much, out to friends,
all the things you wanna do with your dog.
So, I really, really want this to work for them.
Marvin, Marvin, come here buddy. Good boy.
Jo and Nanci are hoping to teach Laura and Dave a new technique
to help Marvin feel more comfortable when meeting strangers.
Good. Well done, that was really good, Laura.
Look how much looser your lead is now
and he seems so much calmer. How are you feeling?
Yeah, I feel more comfortable.
Lovely. So, what we're gonna do now is teach you a behaviour,
where Marvin can actually go and say hello to somebody,
without growling, lunging, or nipping,
if you invite him to and he wants to.
Yeah, yeah.
So, the cue that we're using for this is,
"Would you like to go say hello?"
The person that you're gonna say that to
is gonna put their hand down and he would touch it, good.
The tricky bit here is that we want the reward to come from you,
not the person who's hand he touched.
Yeah, so, then, we're rewarding him and also that takes him away from
the person that's removing their hand.
Yeah, so, give it a go, guys.
Marvin, do you want to say hello?
Good. Good. Nice. Good boy.
Do you wanna have another go? Marvin, do you want to say hello?
He's so clever. Good... Good boy.
I'm just a little bit in love. I know.
LAURA: Good boy.
NANCI: With a lot of anxious dogs who are a little bit uncomfortable
around strangers, the concept of a human reaching over them
and patting them on the head is really overwhelming, so what we like
to do is let that dog choose to approach the human,
gives the dog a little bit more control and more choice.
While Nanci and Jo watch on from the Human Training Room,
Laura and Dave are in the pen for one final test.
It's lovely to see Marvin lying down.
Hopefully he'll stay relaxed. Oh, my gosh.
OK, Marvin, fingers crossed. You can do this. Good boy.
All right, Laura, you've suddenly realised that across the cafe
is your friend Kamal. OK.
You've not seen him for ages,
so you're gonna stand up and you're gonna take just two or three steps
closer to Kamal. With the dog. With the dog.
That's why you're here! That's kind of the point. Yeah.
If you both feel relaxed, you're gonna say to Marvin,
"Do you wanna go say hello?" and Kamal will lower his hand.
How do you feel about doing that? I'm a bit nervous.
Take a deep breath, relax.
It's all right, Laura, you've got this.
Yeah, got this.
So, just like you have done,
every time he looks at Kamal, you are gonna be giving it,
"Good" and feed. Good.
Laura seems so much calmer.
Good. I love how Laura's waiting for Marvin
to actually focus on the stranger and then
pair the stranger with the feel good treats.
Good.
Ah, they feel more relaxed to me.
They do. Oh, and he's sitting down, that's brilliant.
That tells me that he's relaxed.
Good boy.
Absolutely beautiful.
Good boy. Good.
How do you think he's looking, Laura?
He's looking all right at the moment.
DAVE: Good boy.
He is, so would you like to invite your friend to say hello?
OK.
Marvin, would you like to go say hello?
Good. Brilliant. Good job, well done.
I actually can't believe it. Good boy.
That's amazing.
Myself and Jo are celebrating big time for you in here.
Well done.
Seeing Marvin feeling comfortable was just the most amazing thing.
This is gonna be a journey that you guys are gonna go on,
as a team, all together,
helping each other and helping Marvin. Yeah.
I think we haven't been on the same page for such a long time,
if I'm honest. Now, I feel that I understand his behaviour
and I'll treat it differently and I can see there is light
at the end of the tunnel.
Honestly, thanks so much. Thank you.
Come on, boy. Good boy. Good boy.
See you, Marv!
I know there's gonna be blips along the way,
but I feel excited about the future.
Hopefully we'll get him to the point
where we actually can go out and about. We can have a happy life
with him cos I love that dog. I love him, so, yeah, I'm hopeful.
It's going well.
There's less and less growling taking place, which is fantastic.
Yeah, I can get them both a treat
and they'll happily sit side by side. Go on.
They will sleep together on the rug.
They can sit on the sofa together. We're a happy family.
Yeah. Much happier.
Subtitles by Red Bee Media