DOGS BARKING
DOG GROWLS
This once peaceful country house...
DOG GROWLS
This is our life.
...is now a special place...
Bear. Bear.
My house smells of his wee.
...for those at the end of their tether.
I'm frightened it's going to kill him.
DOG GROWLS
DOG BARKS
He has pulled my arm out of the socket.
If she could get off that lead, she'd be hanging off their face.
This is make or break for us.
Here a team of expert trainers...
Down.
Back.
They look like just nice geezers.
.Take on... Stop it!
...some of Britain's worst behaved dogs...
Whoa! No, not good.
DOG BARKS Oh, my God.
...and their humans...
How much training do you guys do now?
None.
Sit.
She's lost trust with humans.
...at an academy.
This is your opportunity to move forward,
and we're going to give you those skills. Yeah.
...unlike any other.
We need to get that muzzle off you.
Oh, I love your face!
Good work!
That has never happened before.
Yes!
Can you believe that?
HE ENCOURAGES
SHE GASPS
It's like he's a different dog.
DOGS BARK
Are you going to come get dressed?
Can I encourage you to put your feet in there, please?
Oh, it's too small!
It's early morning at the Dog Academy...
Shall we get a little pic for the 'gram?
...and the students are dressed, ready for the day's lessons.
What a sweetheart!
He's even got his bow tie on.
He is dressed for the occasion. He is! I love that!
LAUGHTER
Looking to make a fashion statement of his own
is the academy's latest student.
Is that a bandanna he's wearing?
Yes. This is one of his many.
Oh, right. OK.
He's usually got an accessory, hasn't he?
Like a bandanna or a bow tie.
He's got more drawers at home than I have.
THEY LAUGH
This is Dexter.
He is a long-haired Chihuahua...
...with alopecia, so not quite long haired all the time.
So what else do you buy for Dexter?
We don't know if you can see this while you're driving,
but we've got his face on a bag here.
You've got a dog's face on a bag? Yeah. Why?
So he's with me all the time, you know?
THEY LAUGH
Three-year-old Dexter lives with owner Charlotte
and new addition to the house, Sean.
We met prior to lockdown.
We kind of sped up our relationship, unfort...
Well, unfortun... Unfortunately?! Wow!
Well, it was like... It was like... Sean, careful what you say!
It was... It was just one of those...
We'd only known each other eight weeks.
I was under the impression you were moving in temporarily
during lockdown, and you never went home.
Oh, my goodness! So maybe Dexter's feeling the same, hey?
THEY CHUCKLE
I think he looks at me and goes,
"You do know I was here first, right?"
SHE LAUGHS Yeah!
"I come before you."
"I'm up here. You're down there." Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
Right, Dexter, are you ready for your catwalk, son?
He is. Dapper Dex! Dapper Dex. Are you ready?
Let's go, Dapper Dex. Let's do it.
Keeping an eye on their new arrivals
are trainers Adam and Victoria.
Can you grab him?
Shake off, so a little stress reliever. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
This way. Come on, then. Good boy.
Are you ready? Shall we see who's in here? Let's go have a look.
Hello! Hello! Hello! Are you all right?
Yes, thanks. Yeah, good. Thank you.
I'm Chris. Welcome to the Dog Academy. Take a seat.
I'll sign you in. This is Dexter.
I love his bandanna!
Thank you.
Are you going to say hi? DEXTER GROWLS
Uh, Dexter... HE BARKS
Sh. Here.
Leave him. He's all right. He's all right.
VICTORIA: Now he's growling and barking.
He just seems like he's just constantly on edge, doesn't he? Yeah.
DEXTER GROWLS Dexter...
OK.
Anyway, tell me a bit more about you two. How did you meet?
Um, doing musical theatre.
He came up to me. He was like, "Hi, I saw you in Shrek The Musical."
I was like, "Did you?"
I love that.
I was a tap dancing rat.
SHE LAUGHS
She's very talented.
LAUGHTER
DEXTER BARKS
Is Dexter in a starring role yet?
No.
HE BARKS Sh.
HE GROWLS
So what brings you here today?
Dexter's just got a little bit jealous of me and Sean.
Oh. He's the third one in the relationship?
He's a dominant figure in the household. Mm.
Whatever he says goes.
HE BARKS
OK, let's take a look.
So if Sean even tries to come near me now,
you'll see Dexter complain. DEXTER SNARLS
Oi!
VICTORIA: Oh! Oh. "Don't you come near my woman."
DEXTER GROWLS
Get down. Get down.
They can't even kiss.
Just leave it. Just...
Dexter!
Oh, no. I mean, this is... That's serious, isn't it?
That's serious.
Dexter, stop it.
HE SNARLS Oh!
I'll grab those waters for you, if you want? Lovely. Thank you so much.
Is that all right? Yeah. Thank you very much.
DEXTER SNARLS Oh! I'm so sorry.
You're in the right place. I'm wishing you good luck.
Thank you. Thank you. OK, see you in a bit.
Bye. Bye.
Dexter, that was naughty.
VICTORIA: It's actually quite shocking how intense he is.
HE BARKS
You ready for this? Let's do it.
DEXTER BARKS Dexter.
OK. Hiya. Are you all right? Hello! Hello!
Nice to meet you. Hello, Dexter! Good, good. Lovely to meet you.
You too. Hello, darling.
As you can see, I'm not reaching out to touch him. Mm-hm.
I'm going to let him come into my space
cos there's too much pressure for him. Yeah. OK?
Tell us a little bit about Dexter.
He's been with me since a puppy.
He lived with me for...
...about a year before I met Sean.
Lockdown 2020, Sean ended up moving in with me, and everything changed.
If you were to sum up your relationship with Dexter, what would you say?
HE EXHALES
I think...
...it's tense.
The bedroom is kind of...
It's also the dog in the bed. All the time.
I will walk in and I'IL hear a growl,
but then I have to work out where is Dexter on the bed.
Oh, God. Yeah. So I've done it before, I've put my hand
on the pillow or the cover and he's nipped me.
Like, we've tried... That's a bit of a passion killer, isn't it?
Yep. Yeah. THEY CHUCKLE
Dexter's the best form of contraception
just because he will not give me and Charlotte that space
to be affectionate with each other and have our own alone time.
Do you have any respite? Do you have any, like... We go to a hotel.
OK. Genuinely. I'm sorry, wait a second. You have to go to a hotel?
Wow.
I can't imagine a life without him, but we can't carry on the way he is.
I'm at a point now where I'm literally at the end of my tether.
And the thought of him having to go and live somewhere else,
like, literally breaks my heart, but I don't know what to do any more.
Right, we're going to see you guys soon. OK. Thank you. Have a rest,
get a cuppa. Bye! And we'll see you shortly. Yeah, see you later.
Thank you. See you soon. Bye. Hi, little one! Hi!
It is hard and people say, "Oh, he's just a dog,"
but he's not just a dog to us, is he?
He's so much more than that.
I just... I just hope that we can change things.
Um... Yeah.
DOG BARKS
DOG GROWLS
ADAM: It's actually quite a common occurrence that a dog has
an attachment to a certain person.
But actually, Dexter's behaviour is extreme,
especially when Sean approaches.
So we have a tool that we can use
to make a good association for Dexter,
that Sean approaching is a really good thing.
Dogs can be conditioned to hearing a particular sound
in association with something really good happening.
We often use something really simple and effective, like a crinkle bag,
which is basically teaching the dog that every time they hear that sound
of the crinkle bag, it feels good because they know something
good's going to arrive.
Come on, buddy.
The person holding it, by association,
then becomes interesting to the dog as well.
Right, his tail's down again,
so I'm just going to let him rest for a second.
DEXTER GROWLS
How is Dexter's behaviour affecting you both?
We don't have a...a normal relationship.
We have... There's kind of no romance.
The romance is gone. Mm.
And this is just normal, you know?
We just sit like this on the sofa. Sit like this and...
The dog comes in between us.
Yeah. You truly are sat there with an imaginary dog between you.
Yeah, yeah, we literally are. Absolutely.
I mean, it's really, really interesting.
It's like fight or flight constantly.
You know, you're on edge all the time. Yeah. Yeah, exhausting.
It's exhausting.
We are tired.
And it's putting a hold on us starting a family
because we don't know how he would react, basically.
Yeah.
We're at a crossroads in our life.
We want to start a family of our own, a human family,
and we can't have a family with him being as he is.
We can't have a baby AND Dexter.
And that breaks my heart, really.
It makes me feel really bad and quite shameful as well,
to be honest. So, yeah, sorry.
We've sort of said we want to give him a chance and us a chance to turn
it around before we make that choice, really.
I know this does really... it affects you emotionally a lot.
We just...
we just don't want to make that have to make that decision.
Just the thought that having a baby, that baby would be in danger.
That's really hard.
Let's try again.
Sit.
Good girl.
It's mid-morning, and the Academy's latest additions are en route.
So, Ben, tell me about the young lad in the back.
So this is... Wonder is a beagle with a springer.
Wanda or Wonder?
Wonder. So like Stevie Wonder.
I think you meant like a Fish Called Wanda. Fish called wWanda.
No, no. Oh, right. OK.
I didn't name him. I got him from Dogs Trust.
Why do they call him Stevie Wonder?
Because he's... Because he's blind.
Is he really?
He is just over a year old, and since birth, he's never been able
to see anything. Oh.
Oh, what's that?
He doesn't have a clue what it is.
Wonder...
what?
What's his harness?
Just says "blind dog"” on it. | thought you said "guide dog".
A lot of people think that I'm blind.
Oh, do they? Yeah. So I was on't train last week.
I asked one of the workers,
"Where's the bit for the bike and the luggage and that?"
And he was like, OK, so if you just turn
around and then about two metres behind you, you will see..."
I was like "Mate, I'm not blind. The dog's blind."
"Oh, right. OK. Sorry."
All right. OK. wonder.
Wonder. There we go.
Should we get this out here? There you go.
I'm sorry. Right. Wonder, come on.
He likes a play.
But how he perceives the world is a complete mystery to me.
He started, and he's having a wee. Fantastic.
If you didn't have this harness on, a lot of people
wouldn't think he's blind.
But as soon as you sort of watch him bang his head into a wall or stare
at a tree stump and start barking at it, then you realise
he is fully blind. Yeah. Yeah.
He does like to smash into goal posts every now and then,
which is why one of his eyes is red.
Like Terminator.
Yeah, very much so. Yeah, very much so.
He relies very much on his scent and taste.
You'll probably notice that he likes to lick.
Oh.
I mean, he's destroyed your dog
and he's wee'd all over your electrics
and he's pulled your lamp down.
It's probably best that we get him out of here.
And he's had another wee. Right, Wonder. Come on over here, mate.
Come on. We're all right. We'll get you out of here.
Good boy. Better. Good.
It's snack time at the academy. While some tuck in...
Leave. Leave. Good boy.
...others are still having to work for theirs.
Hello, boy.
In human training,
Victoria is looking to get to the root of the problem
with Charlotte and Sean.
Why did you bring Dexter into your life?
Because I wanted a companion and I wanted someone to love
and to be loved by.
And, yeah.
Were you by yourself then?
You were, yeah.
And how was it? How was your life at that time?
I worked long hours.
I just lost my grandma, you know, coming home from work.
No-one to talk to, going back to work the next day.
And he was there for me.
For you? Yeah.
So you got him...
You got him to be a companion? Yeah.
What do you think from Dexter's point of view, he would say
about the role that you fulfil in his life?
I'm his companion, too.
Yeah.
When Sean moved in, All of a sudden there is this other person coming
and taking your attention away.
So when you got him, you were feeling lost and he fulfilled
that need that you had.
But I do think HE'S now lost.
Yeah. He is not trying to establish rank over you.
He is not trying to dominate you.
He is controlling your behaviour because he's really insecure.
I think he has a fear of loss of that comfort
and safety you provide.
How do you feel hearing that?
It's tough.
He doesn't know where to go, who to turn to, what to do.
We needed someone to tell us, you know, because you can't see
it when you're in it.
So it's - where do we go from here?
First of all, the most important thing is that you stay together.
You cannot let a Chihuahua control you.
We've got an invisible one here.
Stop this now and no... Move closer together.
For goodness' sake. Let's start it now.
Yes, because Dexter is not here now.
You can cuddle, right?
It's not going to be a walk in the park.
I can tell you that right now.
He needs direction.
He needs consistency.
Sean is going to become a bit more important to Dexter's life.
OK. And I think you can have your dog and your baby.
That's really good to hear. That's what we wanted to know.
That's what we want.
All right, Ben, you ready? All right. Yes. Let's do this.
We have a dog called Wonder. I like the name.
Come on. Careful, careful. Good lad. Good boy.
Assessing their latest arrivals, trainers Sean and Kamal.
See you later.
Come on, Wonder. Hey.
Oh, careful.
What does he say on his harness?
Oh, blind dog.
Oh, OK.
You got... You got a smell?
He's curious, isn't he?
He's using his nose.
That makes sense. Yeah.
You're OK.
Hello. Hi. You OK?
Yeah, not bad, thanks. How are you? Good. Yeah, thanks.
You must be Ben. Ah, yes, I am Ben.
Nice to meet you, Ben. And this is Wonder.
This is Wonder.
Wonderful meeting you.
Take a seat, Ben. Get comfy. Thank you. Lovely stuff. Cheers.
It's really interesting to watch the dog come into a new environment
and essentially almost take a mental screenshot.
Dogs do so much information gathering with their nose.
For him, it would be his default,
wouldn't it? Yeah. Definitely the thing he's going to do.
He will wander around everywhere.
Oh, I see. He's just smelling about so.
Oh, careful, mate.
And he will bump his head. But try not to worry too much.
Oh.
Oh, bless his heart.
Oh. He's got that feather duster.
That's OK.
Let me take that.
He gets stressed out because he's in a new place.
He's a ball of chaos. Stop that, mate.
Don't do that. Hey.
He will rip that to shreds.
Come on over here.
Wonder is amazing at home.
He knows every inch of the house, and he never bumps his head,
never gets worried.
But it's when we go to the pub, could be on the bus.
We could be anywhere.
He struggles. Wonder.
He starts barking, gets very vocal, and we typically have to leave
and take him back home.
WONDER BARKS
wonder!
He's getting really, really wound up.
Yeah.
Oh, bless him.
Wonder.
He could have handled this so much better, couldn't he?
Yeah. He could have guided the dog. Helped him.
Hiya. You all right?
I'm Kamal. I'm Ben. Nice to meet you, Ben.
Nice to meet you too, mate.
Excellent. Nice to meet you. Sean.
Little man.
So this is Wonder, and he's been blind since birth. OK.
And he gets very anxious and sort of loses his head,
really, when he's in new spaces. OK. Right.
Getting really, really upset and then start getting a bit
destructive and sort of having a wee.
Doing all that sort of stuff.
How bad does it get for the dog and you, then?
So it depends on...on the space.
So if we're on the train, for example, he just finds
it impossible to relax.
It can get quite distressing for him.
You're all right, mate. You're OK.
WONDER BARKS
Is that typical of what he would do?
Um, yeah.
Sort of gets to a point where he's just, he's had enough
and he wants you have to, you have to sort of like,
take him out.
So how does that feel then, having to do that?
I just know that he's upset and he doesn't, he doesn't want
to be there.
He doesn't... he's not enjoying himself.
It breaks me heart that I can't help him.
And I can't just tell him it's going to be OK, mate, and...
And sort of alleviate his fears and his anxiety.
Yeah. Yeah. I hate it. I hate it.
Yeah.
He's got something in his head at the moment about motorbikes.
OK. He's going to run out and he's going to hurt himself.
Yeah.
What is it you want to achieve?
So I need help in sort of being able to understand how I can
calm him down.
And I want to take him everywhere.
Take him on the train on a weekend and, you know, got to go
to the moors and take him on a big walk.
One of the reasons why we got Wonder is because when he was born,
he was going to be terminated.
The farmer obviously bred him for work, but he's not really much
of a use.
Mate, you're all right. You're all right. You're right. You're OK.
Come here. Come on over here.
So he's sort of getting a bit anxious now.
He wants to... He wants to get out.
I absolutely love him.
Absolutely love him and want him to live the best life and smell
the best smells and be able to explore and not feel caged
in by his blindness.
WONDER BARKS
Let's go. All right. We'll see you shortly.
Just hang out here. Thank you very much. Cheers. Cheers, bud.
Watch yourself. Careful. Good boy.
Good girlie.
I really like the fact that you're holding hands.
It's so nice.
We need the strength.
Reunited with Dexter...
Oh, who's that?
...Charlotte and Sean are about to learn how to tackle some
of his temperamental tendencies.
Was it exciting? You've had a good time?
All happy? Yeah. Ready to get going? Yes, definitely. Perfect.
So the idea of the exercises that we've devised is to get you back
to being a proper family.
That's what we need. Good.
So the first exercise I'm going to show you is the hand target.
To get him to move from one spot to another.
So if you're on the sofa or if you're in bed, you can move
them without him getting more and more agitated.
OK. OK.
Using a hand target is an extremely valuable tool in being able to move
a dog around in a stress-free way without having to pick the dog up.
You're going to present a hand so that he can see it.
And what we're aiming for is that he puts his nose on your hand.
At that point you're going to use.
"Yes" and then you're going to treat. OK. Yeah.
So all we're teaching him is that nose on the hand
is a good thing. So it's just going to be touch.
Yes.
He approached.
He then got the chicken.
So that's your exercise.
That's for you. Sean, I've got an exercise for you as well.
We wanted to try and pair the sound, associate it to you, which was also
associated to a really good high value stuff.
OK. Yeah.
As soon as you put your hand in, it rustles, you get a tiny bit
of high value food out. Food down.
Right.
Because Chihuahuas are very small, they see the world from a different
viewpoint than most other dogs do.
It's a big world out there and quite a lot of Chihuahuas actually
resource guard, which means that they hold on to their resources,
things that make them feel comfortable and things that make
them feel safe, and that includes people.
So this becomes a real sound cue.
This is, "Oh, Sean's coming."”
"It's going to be fun!"
Rather than, "Uh-oh, Sean's coming." Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. All good? Yep. Got it.
But from this point, you're now going to be put to the test.
BARKS Let's go. Let's go. Good girl!
This way. Hiya, boy!
Hiya.
Going to help you see this world a little bit better, aren't we?
Sean is getting to work helping blind dog Wonder stay calm
when in new environments.
People think blind dogs are at a disadvantage to seeing dogs,
but really, their other senses come alive.
Wonder. Come on.
It's almost like their own little GPS system.
They've smelt something to the right,
they've heard something to the left and they remember that,
and as they go around, they're using them coordinates to guide their self
through the world.
There you go. There we go.
Cos Wonder's blind,
we have to change our training style a little bit.
With me. Come on. There you go. There you go.
Rather than using maybe his visual cues and trying to get eye contact
with the dog and movements, we're trying to use his senses.
I'm doing everything through touch and reward and talking to him.
This way. Good boy. Good boy.
Good boy!
You know that sausage is there, don't you?
What made you get a blind dog then?
I saw Wonder and it said, "Blind dog," and I was thinking,
"Let's get him. I want him. I want to look after him."
Throughout my life, I've always sort of being attracted to
problem...things.
And I've got a cat that we rescued as well.
I enjoy looking after people.
I enjoy looking after my wife because I love her and I also enjoy
looking after the dog.
It might be a thing where it's like maybe a fatherly thing.
That father, sort of alpha male sort of thing kicking in a little bit.
I don't really want kids.
I've never really sort of been interested in that sort of thing,
so he's sort of provided me with a sort of level of responsibility.
It sounds like that little dog, God love him,
he's given you purpose.
Yeah. He's just so, he's just innocent and just so pure,
and it's that sort of thing where he just makes me happy.
Do you know what I mean? Yeah.
I want him to have the best life ever, yeah.
And his fears are sort of stopping that.
How does this affect you on a daily basis then?
When I know what we're doing...
so let's say we're getting on the bus,
the thing that's going in me head is, "How long is it going
to be until I have to get off this bus?" When we're going to the pub,
it's, "How long is it going to be until we have to leave?" Mm-hm.
He's unpredictable.
He just can't seem to relax.
He gets stressed out and it's not, it's not good for him at all.
I get really frustrated and really sort of upset myself,
seeing him getting upset.
Being really honest, OK?
And I'm going to be transparent about this, that there's definitely
a lack of understanding about what he is and his needs.
To be truthful, you just haven't educated him.
He just doesn't know.
Right. He goes,
"What is it I'm supposed to do on a, on a train?"
Because you've never taught him.
You've expected him to go on a train and just know what to do.
Right. Right? So let's take it back to a parallel, which is ironic,
guide dogs. Yeah?
You ever watched a guide dog on a train or walk and navigate
a situation or go to a pub? You ever seen one? Hmm.
OK. What do they do?
Just know where to go. Sit, relax - perfect. Mm-hm.
And do you think that's happened by luck?
Well, no. Yeah, they've gone through extensive training, haven't they?
Yeah. So...
Yeah. We're not saying his blindness is not an issue.
It's not THE issue.
I need to be clearer with him because he doesn't know how to act
or how to, what to do.
At the moment, he's a kite.
He has no direction.
But what we need to do is just educate him a little bit, teach him
what to do in every scenario.
Yeah, yeah. And that's the bit that we're going to help you with. OK.
How does that all sound to you?
No-one likes to be told that sort of, like, what they're doing wrong,
but, yeah, I completely understand. Whatever helps,
yeah, I'm all for it, big time.
The bond that you have is amazing.
I'm very, very confident that you're going to turn this round.
Good.
Yes! Good girl!
Wahey! Clever!
Very nice.
All right. Do you want to head into the training area?
Come on, then. Good boy. Come on, then. Wow. Look at this.
It's now time to put Dexter's training to the test.
You guys will see that we've laid out blue circles.
These circles represent first base, second base,
until you get to the love seat, which is the bench at the end.
Yep.
Sean must approach Dexter using the crinkle bag technique
to see if his guarding of Charlotte has improved.
So, Charlotte, if you can stand on that first blue circle
with Dexter, please. Come on, then.
And I'd like you to turn and face Sean. Good.
Brilliant. Sean. Yep.
You're going to approach Charlotte at first base with the techniques
we showed you, so that Dexter doesn't guard.
OK. All right? Yeah.
So, Sean, what I'd like you to do is you're going to crinkle the bag,
take a couple of steps forward, drop the treat down on the ground,
and I'd like you to then try and just touch Charlotte's arm.
I also don't want your body language to be tentative. OK.
He'll know that you're doing something weird, so try
and be as normal as possible. OK. Yeah.
If Dexter shows any signs of guarding,
you stop your approach and you go back to the start. OK.
OK, so let's get started.
CHARLOTTE WHISTLES Look.
TREAT BAG RUSTLES
Oh! Good.
Good boy. Good boy, Dex. Here we go.
Let's see if they can overcome this. Come on.
TREAT BAG RUSTLES
Good boy. Good boy.
Rest your hand on Charlotte's arm.
Well done, guys. You've reached first base! OK. Well done. Yeah!
All right. Now, Charlotte, I want you to go to second base.
Sean, you stay where you are.
Come on. Good boy.
This time, when you reach Charlotte, you're going to put your arm
around her and, Charlotte, you're going to put your arm around Sean as well.
OK. Yep.
BAG RUSTLES
Good boy.
He's more into like, "Oh, Sean's got the good stuff.
"Oh, this is good."”
SEAN: Good boy, Dex.
CHARLOTTE: Good boy, Dexter!
You guys got to second base. Well done. You've reached second base.
Yay! Woohoo! Moving on.
All right. So, Charlotte, we're going to get to the love bench.
Come on, then.
Oh, I'm so nervous for this one.
There's a pillow over there. Do you want to just watch behind it?
Like, a scary movie. Argh!
And we're here. Come on.
Charlotte, this is where your hand target
is going to come in really handy.
Come on, then.
Oh, good boy!
If Dexter puts himself on your lap, use a hand target to move him
without any excess force.
Sean, you're just going to do the same thing.
Crinkle, approach, food down on the floor. Yeah.
If this was your sofa at home, what would you normally do?
He'd probably growl at Sean now. Hmm. OK.
Go for it. TREAT BAG RUSTLES
This is a bit of a test now.
Good boy. Nice. Good.
CHARLOTTE: Good boy! SEAN: Good boy, Dex.
Now, Charlotte, he's come over on your lap. Yeah.
This is a perfect chance to use your hand target.
Touch. Good boy!
Good work.
Well done.
Touch.
Good.
Yeah, now place the treat down by the side of the bench.
Perfect. There you go. Good.
Yeah. Well done.
Yes. All right. Keep him there.
Good boy.
Now, just sit and relax.
Good boy. Such a good boy.
Mm!
How are you both feeling?
It's amazing. Alright, this is it.
This is the test. OK, this is it.
Share a kiss.
Yes. Yes!
Get in! Good boy, Dex.
Good boy! We did it!
Good lad. Oh, my gosh. That's amazing. Well done.
Nice work!
I never thought we'd get to a point today
where we'd be sat like this holding hands,
and he's just there next to us, you know?
Like, oh, my gosh.
In your basket,
there's a little treat for Dexter as well.
Dexter. I just want you to pop that in his bed.
Huh! What's that?
Huh!
Go on, then.
Good boy. Good boy.
Quick, pour the champers.
LAUGHS
Awh.
Wow.
I just wanted to, like, bottle that moment up and take it away.
I feel a lot more optimistic about what the future may hold for us.
Let's go home.
They've given us hope, the trainers that, you know,
we can have a family and Dexter,
they can coexist.
Good boy.
You're a good boy.
Good lad. Well done.
I've been wondering what that smell was
and this is open.
I quite like that.
Like really meaty gravy.
I'm never going round to yours on Sunday, ever.
This way.
There he is. There he is.
There we go. Good boy.
Hey, there's my dad.
You alright?
Nice having him back.
Yeah, big time. Yeah. You alright, mate?
Excellent. Excellent.
Having been reunited...
...it's time for Ben to learn how to keep Wonder and himself
calm in unfamiliar environments.
What we've been looking at is,
when you go into them busy places - on the bus,
on the train, when you want to go to the pub for a pint,
how you manage it. WONDER CRIES
He's ready to go. That's OK. So this is the stuff that
he would normally do? Yeah. Yeah.
What we're going to look at now is what we call a collar yield.
OK. So this is going to really help you master
those challenging environments.
Right.
Noisy, unpredictable environments can be quite stressful
for blind dogs.
A collar yield is essentially taking the dog's hand
and guiding them through them situations.
Sit.
I'll do one rep and I'll show you. OK? Yeah.
Give us your collar, first thing. OK?
So I'm going to guide.
Good. Yes.
OK. As soon as he goes with me, I feed him.
OK. OK. Good boy.
When you have his collar, he's like,
"Oh, my dad's got us here,
"so I don't have to worry about anything else.”
OK. All right. Are you ready to give it a go?
Yeah, go on, then. All right. OK.
You try it on your own. So, when you're ready, give him the word.
Say give us your collar,
you take his collar,
and then we're going to try and move him.
Hey, you're alright. Give me your collar.
And the collar. Good. You're going to just guide him in the direction,
as soon as he moves with you, you're going to feed him.
So, now, see how he's resisting,
try not to drag him.
BARKS
Down.
Come here. Come on.
Come on. You're OK.
When somebody puts their hand on a dog's collar,
it's very natural for that dog
to want to move away from that pressure.
What we have to teach them
is to actually come with that pressure and to move towards us.
Take your time, Ben. Don't rush.
Come on. Guide him. Guide him.
Guide him. He's going in a circle.
You look a little bit worried about the pressure on the collar.
Yeah. This is teaching them to go with the pressure.
Yeah.
Calmly show him what you want.
Teach him. Guide him forward
and use your treat if you need to.
Hey, come on. Come on.
Good. That's it. Nice. And feed him.
Beautiful.
OK. Come on. Come on.
Nice.
This one now, I just want you to keep walking. OK.
All right? Come on. Come on.
Keep going.
Good. Nice.
Then go back the other way.
Good boy. Good.
Does this make sense to you?
Do you think it's achievable with what we're doing?
Yeah. It's just, you've got to think about everything at all times.
Should we move on? Yes.
One of the exercises that we're going to use
is what we call a duration stay,
a little down stay where he can just hang out with you. OK?
When you go on a bus, when you go to the pub,
when you just want him to chill out, yeah,
you have a means of which to do that.
Everything's just trying to calm the heart rate down.
OK. Rather than him thinking,
"Oh, there's all this stuff going on,"
he's thinking, "Oh, I'll lie down here,
"This is the best thing ever.”
When you put them in a down stay,
what you're saying to a blind dog
is that you're safe here with me in this area.
So, no matter what's going on in the world,
this is our own little safe space.
So, it's down. OK?
I count my seconds off.
Three, two, one.
Good.
OK? OK. So his job is to stay on the floor.
Do you want to try? OK.
So just encourage him to move.
Come on then, mate.
Sit, please.
So hang on... Wonder, sit. Don't keep repeating.
Down. OK. Wonder, down.
This is the stuff you're going to get, so don't panic.
Tell her down. Down. Down.
Don't get too worried if it gets a little bit messy.
Down, down.
Down.
You're in control. Be confident.
It's just... It's just a lot to take in, ain't it, really? Yeah.
Hey, Wonder, come here. Sit. Sit.
When you're handing him,
think, soothe him.
You're a bit like... Ooh!
Just think, you've got to also be calm in yourself.
Hey, lie down. Come here.
Come here, Wonder.
Lie down.
Are you alright?
Yeah, yeah. Be alright, yeah.
DOGS BARK
KAMAL: Good. Show him. Teach him.
BEN: Down. Down.
Good. Pause.
Three, two, one.
Reward him. Good. Good.
On the lawn, Ben is trying to perfect his down stay,
a technique to keep Wonder calm in new situations.
We want this to become almost his default position.
Yeah. So he's like, every time I lie down,
I just get so much chicken, all right?
And then if we just do it a little bit less and less,
and eventually we just phase it out.
Good.
All right, Ben. Good boy. So, now we're going to put those
to the test with a bit of a challenge.
Fine. Come on, let's do it.
THEY LAUGH
Sean and Kamal have set up a makeshift pub
to put Ben's new skills into action.
Whenever you're ready, just head into the arena.
OK, Wonder, this way. Hey, this way.
Ben must guide Wonder past the cones
which represent other customers,
and settle him at the table using the "down, stay" technique.
WONDER WHIMPERS OK, mate. You're all right.
You're all right. You're OK. You're OK. Think about your collar grab.
Wonder, hey, give us your collar.
Give us your collar. Will he touch the cone is the question.
Yeah.
All right, let's go. Excuse me. Excuse me. Come on.
Come on. Excuse me. Come on. Come on, come on.
Good boy. Nice! Good! Nicely done!
So think that's that busy place, and he's came through it
thinking it thinking it was no big deal there. Yeah.
OK. Down here.
Good boy.
OK. OK. Lie. Down.
Good.
Remember, stay calm, you're confident.
Good.
As more distractions are introduced to the pub...
Hello, mate, how are you doing?
Good.
...Ben's challenge is to keep himself and Wonder calm.
Wonder. Wonder.
Ben, you're doing good. So you've got the skills.
WONDER WHIMPERS Down. Down.
Move a little bit further away if you need to, Ben.
You're doing good. Come on. This way. This way.
OK. You've also got your licky mat on the table.
Down. Down.
We've put cheese on it.
What we're aiming to do is desensitise the noise
whilst good stuff's happening.
What's this? Excellent.
So you've got another challenge coming your way.
Two beers for the lads, lads, lads!
Wonder. Amazing! Wonder. Well jel.
Hey, Wonder. Enjoy!
Come here, mate. Hey, Wonder.
Wonder. Wonder.
He got himself a little bit panicky there when Nancy approached. Yeah.
OK, Wonder. Wonder.
Wonder's getting up, and he's, like, wondering what's going on.
You're getting sort of pulled in a lot of directions.
Hey, give us your collar. Give us your collar.
Down.
You could absolutely see how this could just go... Yeah.
wonder. Down.
Down.
Don't panic, Ben. Don't panic.
Good boy.
The dog's deciding that, "You know what?
"Yeah, I'm inquisitive, but I'm going to stay focused with Dad."
Ben's doing an incredible job.
MAN: Is this an improvement? Yeah! Is it really?
Yeah. Yeah.
Now we're going to up the ante some more. Why not, eh?
All right, let's do it!
ENGINE REVS
OK. So a definite reaction there. Definitely picking up on that.
Come on, Ben. Stay in the zone.
Stay connected with your dog.
Don't lose focus.
So what would he normally be doing now?
Running after that. Oh, really? Yeah.
Good. Good.
Good. It's like Piccadilly Circus!
Wonder.
Don't panic, Ben. You're doing good. Don't panic. Good.
He was looking to see what the noise was, and there were moments
when he wanted to get up, but then he sort of remembered
that he was there with me and he didn't do that,
which was exactly what we were looking for.
HORN BEEPS
Good. HORN BEEPS
Good.
BEEPING Good.
When was the last time you had a dog this close and you were sinking
a pint with your bestie? Yeah, I know, yeah!
MAN: It's fantastic cos he can have a good time, and so could you.
I can have a good time as well, yeah. Yeah.
Today I am the most proud that anyone could be.
He's been such a trouper.
He's, like, blown it out of the water.
He's absolutely smashed it.
Who could have thought that that would have been the outcome? Yeah.
That dog did not stop moving when it was in reception.
It's sat at a pub, it's had traffic going around, beeping
horns, another dog.
And it's been like... I mean, that's going to change that dog's life
and change HIS life, isn't it?
Get him home, get him some nice treats, look after him.
Maybe a bit of roast chicken, a bit of gravy.
He can sit down because it's job well done today.
Best of luck. Well done, mate. You did excellent. Amazing job.
Lovely. Thank you.
Put it up there. Nice, mate. Nice one.
This is the new Wonder.
Looking forward to being able to show him off.
You know, take him to places and show everybody how beautiful
he is and how cool he is and how fun he is
and how he's the best dog in the world.
You're pretty much a dog trainer now!
Yeah, dog whisperer. Smashed it.
We can turn a new page and not worry about the blindness.
Come on, then, Wonder.
I haven't got a blind dog any more.
He's just.. just a dog.
It's just a dog called Wonder.
Good lad!
Good boy! You can definitely see that he's a lot more
calm, relaxed.
There's a lot more times that we can actually spend time
together, not feel that Dexter's interfering with our relationship.
Since the Dog Academy, we got engaged.
We're committed to making it work,
having a baby and keeping Dexter
and hopefully, you know, watch this space,
we'll be a family of four rather than a family of three.
Fingers crossed.
Good lad. The sort of difference is massive.
And it was massive sort of straight away, really.
Out and about, he is much calmer.
There are times when he isn't, you know, he IS still a teenager...
Careful. ..but in situations that we were struggling with
and he was struggling with, you know, enclosed areas, things
like that, he is much, much better.
It's really helped him.
Yeah.
Next time...
Dexter has a little bit of a urinating problem.
There he goes. One out of the chamber.
Yeah, exactly!
Just call him in. Milo.
Milo, come! Come on! Come!
Mm. Oh! No, no, no. Runaway dog.
LOUD BARKING Ooh!
How can something so cute and so innocent looking
be so dangerous?
Subtitles by Red Bee Media