This once peaceful country house...
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 going to kill him.
He has pulled my arm out 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 skiers.
.Take on...
Stop it!
...some of Britain's worst-behaved dogs...
whoa! 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'll give you those skills. Yeah.
...unlike any other.
We need to get that muzzle off you.
Oh, I love your face!
Good boy.
That has never happened before.
Yes!
Can you believe that?
Ba-ba-ba-ba!
SHE GASPS
HE CHUCKLES
It's like he's a different dog.
Good morning, the Dog Academy.
0K, let me see if I can squeeze you in.
We're really busy at the moment.
OK, what's the problem?
Ooh, that does sound bad.
Lie down. Lie down.
As another day of training begins at the Dog Academy...
Good lad.
...the latest students -
canine and human - are arriving.
Oh, look, Milo.
Melissa, and her Labrador cross, Milo.
Oh! He's marking his territory already.
Thank you so much.
He is a big dog, isn't he?
Watching on - trainers Kamal and Sean.
Wait, wait, wait. Milo.
He's taking her for a nice little walk there.
There you go. Oh, wow!
Hello! He's pulling you round the room, isn't he?
Yeah. He walks me rather, than me walking him.
THEY LAUGH
Milo, come on. Up here.
Milo.
Milo doesn't really listen to me.
Milo.
I'll call Milo, like, 100 times, going, "Milo, Milo, get down.
"Milo, stop. Milo, don't eat that, Milo,
“I'm sorry about your clothes."
You know? It's the Milo show, basically.
Milo!
SHE WHISTLES Ah-ah-ah.
Stop.
Are you all right to call him? Milo! Yeah, I don't know where he's gone.
Milo! Here we go.
Make sure that door's shut.
Milo. Milo.
She needs a bit of help.
Yeah, let's take a look.
Milo, come here.
Milo, come here!
Sorry!
He's very, very friendly. Sorry about that.
So, you're looking at that recall there. Milo!
There's a lot of talking... Yeah. ..and zero response.
Milo, come here. Come here.
He has no recall. That's a big one, isn't it?
She might as well speak French.
Yeah. There's a lot of repeating of cues, isn't there?
Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah. Down. Milo.
MILO WHINES
SHE CHUCKLES
He's like that little tornado, isn't he? Yeah, yeah.
Down. Ah-ah-ah. Not up on the table. Down. Milo.
Do you know what? I think he'll be quite a handful, isn't he? Yeah.
Is it just the two of you at home? Yeah, yeah. It's just us.
Is he a good wing man?
Oh, absolutely not. No? Milo's the worst.
Whenever someone comes to my house, he's all over them,
he wants to sniff them, lick them, hump their leg.
A lot of guys will say, "Oh, yeah, I love dogs."
I mean, I'm not sure if they're really fully ready for Milo
and his energy levels.
He'll jump up beside them on the sofa.
He'll like to, like, park his little bum up beside them, as well.
Very close and intimate for just having met the dog.
And maybe even just having met me.
Anyone that I meet has to be ready to take on Milo.
He's pretty full-on. You come as a pair.
Yeah, we're a package deal. THEY LAUGH
I like that.
The trainers will be out in a bit to have a chat, is that all right?
OK, perfect. Let me know if you need anything.
Thank you so much. See you in a bit. Thank you.
Milo.
Milo. Come here.
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
Hello. Hey. Oh, hi.
Hi, are you all right? How are you? Hiya, big man.
Hey, Milo, settle down. Hi. Hi!
He's a big, big dog, isn't he? Where did you get him from?
So, I got him from a breeder.
Actually, they said to me at the time that he was going to be
a cross between a Labrador and a cooker spaniel.
Yeah, cooker spaniel cross with a great Dane maybe, but not quite...
Yeah, yeah. He's a great dog. I mean, you can see that.
It just seems to me like he's a bit of a loose cannon?
Yeah, that's it. So far, what have you done to try and deal
with some of the issues then?
With recall, just trying to bring him back with treats.
He's got so clever now that if I hold out a piece of ham for him,
he'll actually jump up and try and snatch it out of my hand,
and then, run away. If he gets away,
it's a bit of a nightmare to try and get him back, unfortunately.
So, I think what we'll be looking to do is work on your recall,
because a recall is a huge thing.
It's a game-change, it's a life-saving skill.
You know, you want to be able to have that confidence that,
if you let him off, he won't just make a beeline for Mrs Smith
and her two kids, and then, just like a ten-pin bowling ball,
just take them all out.
My biggest fear is that Milo gets knocked over in the road.
If I lost him, I do not know what I would do.
See you later. Come on, big man.
OK, we'll see you shortly. Thank you.
That would be awful, and I can't even think about that.
I'd literally do anything for that dog.
Milo.
Milo, come.
Milo.
HE WHISTLES Milo, come.
Not the fastest of recalls there.
Milo, come!
Oh.
Give him the benefit of the doubt there.
In your day-to-day interaction with Milo,
being really truthful, how consistent are you with him?
I am probably consistent in the sense of I'm reacting in
the same way every time,
but that's maybe not the right way to get him to do it.
So, how is that? What do you do?
If he's pulling and pulling, and pulling,
I'LL try and pull him back, to remind him, "I'm here,
"stop pulling," that sort of thing.
Mm-hm, so you say, "Don't pull?”
Yeah. Right, what else?
Don't jump up on people, don't jump up. "Don't jump up,” OK.
"Stop doing that, Milo."
How do you think that comes across to him, then?
I guess it's negative, right?
You normally call him back, and you either put him on the lead
because he's been naughty,
or you put him on the lead and you take him home.
Yeah, usually, yeah.
Yeah, so what has he learnt that coming back means?
It's not fun.
"Not only do you get me an earful,
"you now take me out of the fun place,
"and you put me on a dog lead. I'm off!"
So, you want to turn this round.
"When I call him, he's going to come tearing back to me,
"so I can put him on a lead for two seconds,
"give him some great food, or have a game with him,
"and then, he can go off again.” Yeah, that makes so much sense,
and I've never really thought of it like that.
He's got his own personality,
and I don't want to take away from that 100%. Exactly.
I'd love it if I can get him to that stage where he can have
some sort of general obedience.
The bond that I have with that dog is so intense,
like, I love that dog.
Milo, come.
On the lawn, Sean's making progress.
Yes, ba-ba-ba-ba!
Milo's this young dog, big, full of energy,
and he just can't get rid of it.
And Melissa just doesn't feel confident at the moment
to let him off the lead.
Bu-bu! Milo, come. Come on, then.
So, what we're going to do is we're going to teach a recall,
and he can get off the lead, run around,
and expend all of that energy.
It'll help him be calmer in the home environment.
Come! Yes, yes, yes, yes! Good boy!
A lot of it's the energy.
We've gotta be a bit more exciting.
So, if you think about it as, like, an ice cream van,
when you hear that bell going, everybody's like,
"I want that Mr Whippy.”
When we're doing this recall, we want him flying in, thinking,
"I've heard the call. Get me there as soon as I can."”
Milo...Milo, come.
Come on, then! Come on!
Yeah!
You might sound a bit of a nutcase at your park, though,
but it does work.
Come on then! Wah-wah-wah!
While Sean works with canine cannonball, Milo...
Get it.
...classes are in full swing.
Down.
And the next pupils are on their way.
Archie! Archie. Come on. Come here.
Good boy, come on.
This is mum, Kirsty,
and her children, Kieran and Katie.
This is Archie.
Making the journey today are Kirsty and Katie.
Have you always wanted a dog?
Katie had been saving since she was about -
well, since I adopted you at three-and-a-half -
been saving her money, and she paid £1,000 towards Archie.
She wanted a dog, right from the beginning,
"I want a dog, I want a dog."”
I was not a dog person, and I wasn't even a pet person,
but I relented and we got a tortoise...
...thinking that might appease you.
That didn't really, did it?
Your spreadsheets came out, your pros and cons lists.
I didn't really have any arguments left.
Was it worth it, saving all that money for Archie?
Yeah. It was really worth it,
because he is part of the family now.
So, Katie, with you being such a good saver,
I actually need petrol for the car.
Can I borrow a tenner?
It's all been spent on the dog. THEY LAUGH
Right guys, we're here. Are you ready? Yeah.
Here comes Archie.
Keeping a close eye on the new arrivals,
trainers Nanci and Jo.
I like how calm he is coming in.
He is, and he does look really, really relaxed.
Come on, Archie. Oh, there we go.
Hello! Welcome to the Dog Academy. I'm Grace.
Hello, I'm Kirsty. Kirsty, lovely to meet you.
You must be... I'm Katie. ..Katie.
And this is... And this is Archie.
Take a seat. Thank you. What a beautiful place.
Isn't it just?
Ooh, hello, hello, hello.
I'm guessing this is what we're here for.
This is what we're here for. I see. OK.
So, not as relaxed as we thought, maybe? No.
Let's have a look.
Oh, look, there's somebody walking past.
OK, he sees them and he goes.
Poor little boy, he's so stressed.
BARKING CONTINUES
Oh, he really wants people to go - oh.
Archie! Archie!
Archie!
How can something so cute and so innocent-looking be so dangerous?
BARKING
Archie, no!
GROWLING No, no, no. Ooh, OK.
That was extreme.
BARKING CONTINUES I see, OK.
Ooh, don't do that, please, Katie.
There is a real risk that she's going to get bitten there.
Any water for Archie? I can just leave a bowl there,
if you want, in case he wants any. Yeah, please, yeah.
I won't be a sec, I'll just grab some. OK.
I thought he was going to be, you know,
a perfect little dog, we could take him where we wanted,
and he would just instantly settle somewhere new.
That's not been the reality at all.
LOUD BARKING
No, it's all right. It was to be expected. There we go.
There we go. Right, trainers will be in shortly.
OK, brilliant. Thank you.
See you in a bit!
Sometimes it makes me feel like it's just tipping me over the edge.
I just, I don't know what to do.
BARKING CONTINUES
LOUD SMOOCHING This way!
TOYS SQUEAK Good boy!
It's exciting, isn't it? I know. I can't wait to see him.
Hopefully he'll remember you. THEY LAUGH
After two hours of intensive training with Sean...
who's that? Go see.
...Milo is reunited with Melissa.
He does recognise you. Hello! How are you, buddy?
How did that go? So, he's done really well.
It's all about his energy and how we're going to redirect it.
The more off-lead he's getting, the better he'll get for you,
the more energy you'll get rid of, the more stimulation he'll get.
The recall stuff that we're doing, almost think about this as, like,
the first building block of everything. OK, OK.
I want you to be able to safely take him out,
and it'll ease that, sort of, pulling on the lead,
jumping on people in the house, the naughty stuff that Milo does.
So, what I found with Milo is, a nice, steady Milo call,
really quiet and, "Milo, Milo,"
it's been used quite a bit, hasn't it? Yeah!
I think we've assessed that it doesn't quite work.
Dogs understand much more than just words.
They pick up on everything we're doing.
Dogs interpret what we're saying through the tone of
our voice, our body language, our energy.
The way that we say something is way more effective than
what we're actually saying.
So, we're using a Milo, the next cue on it is a "come."
So, it's, "Milo, come." OK.
When you do that, it's energy, I want you to really buzz with him.
I'll do a little demonstration, just to start off. Yeah.
Now, I go a bit crackers, but...
Milo, come, here, here, here! Pow!
And he's in. Amazing!
You are so good.
I've never seen him recall to anybody before.
And that movement sort of taps in what he's about. Yeah.
You know, he's a playful, big dog.
Yeah. And, yeah, we don't want him jumping at people,
but if we guide it, we get the right energy,
but it makes you more fun.
After you've said, "Milo, come,” pretty much just go,
"Yes, yes, yes, yes." OK, OK.
I want your hands going bananas, come on.
We're at the party. We're at the party, all right?
OK. I just want you to have a little go with it.
OK. Al right?
There we go, OK. Call him in.
Milo? Milo, come! come, come! Milo!
Milo, Milo! come on! Oh...
Oh, no.
Runaway dog.
That's all right. It's so embarrassing.
Come on, good lad.
Oh, look, do you think they're the dog trainers? Look.
In reception, Kirsty and Katie are about to introduce the trainers
to barking bichon, Archie.
Good boy.
LOUD BARKING
We're just going to give him a minute.
I was going to say, "So, tell us why Archie's here."
THEY LAUGH He's told you himself.
Kirsty, how many paracetamol have you got through
in the last two years? A lot.
What do you do when he barks at home?
We've had two trainers round,
and one of them gave us a few techniques.
One of them was, if he was barking,
a gentle spray of misty water in his face.
That would work instantaneously,
but then, the minute you stopped spraying, he's barking again.
I've tried every single,
every single technique on the Internet.
I've seen every single YouTube video on how
to stop your dog barking.
We've tried everything, because we don't want to give up on him.
We just love him so much.
How do you think Archie's behaviour is impacting your lives?
Massively. Obviously it's really not nice for me,
but for him, it's not nice either,
because he's not happy when he's barking.
You can't have your friends round, can you? Kieran, Katie's brother,
he can't have his friends round.
Kieran finds the barking very difficult,
because he's autistic and has sensory issues,
so the noise just drives him mad,
and he'll have his hands over his ears, he's like,
"I can't stand that barking!"
So, he gets very distressed by it.
It's like having, you know,
something like a dentist's drill constantly by your ears,
and he will not stop.
What would you say, Kieran?
And you can hear him over your noise-cancelling, yeah?
How long has it been since you've been able to have people over?
Well, nearly two years.
So, all of Archie's life? Yeah, all of Archie's life. Wow.
The worst-case scenario is... if we did have somebody round,
he then bit them.
Has that happened?
He has bitten Katie.
And did he leave a mark? Yes. It went through the skin.
And I'm worried that he'll either have to be taken off us,
or put down, which of course we do not want to happen,
because he is a member of our family.
I couldn't give him up, I... just wouldn't be able to.
This really is...
...our last hope.
Milo! Milo!
Milo!
Come, Milo...Milo.
Stop now. No, no, no.
Back in the courtyard, Melissa is attempting to recall Milo.
Let's try again. You are very quick on,
"Milo, Milo, Milo, Milo, Milo." I know. That's the panic.
Yeah, absolutely, it's that little bit of anxiety steps in. Yeah!
All I want is, then, energy. We don't want that,
"Milo, come. Milo, come. Milo, come."” Yeah, yeah, yeah.
OK, Melissa, are you ready?
Milo, you're going to have to work with me here, bud.
Call him in. OK
Milo, come!
Well done! Well done.
Good boy!
You've never done that before.
You're so good. Good boy.
Nice job, excellent. SHE GIGGLES
That might seem like a small thing,
but that's never happened before.
So, you did really well on that.
If you just want to do a few more of them.
Milo, come on, boy.
Milo, come, come. Good boy. Energy, energy, good, good. Nice.
Nice energy. Yeah. Same again, perfect.
Milo! Milo, come on, buddy! Come on! Over here!
Well done! Well done! THEY CHEER
There we go! Good boy! Well done, buddy!
Wow. OK. Honestly, to see him do that and respond and actually,
like, look at me and come towards me, like,
that has never happened before. Yeah. So, this is amazing.
Yay! This is the relationship you want.
You want you calling him, and he's coming blasting back to you.
Yeah. I could cry, I'm so happy,
just the fact that he's coming, like, running back towards me,
and then, it takes away the anxiety of,
"Oh, he's running away and something'll happen to him,"
so it's great.
This is the start. You know, his recall isn't 100%,
there's so much more work to be done. Absolutely.
And, as you can see, there's moments where he'll lapse
and you've got to persevere. No, awesome. Thank you so much.
I think he's ready to go now. I think so. He's saying goodbye.
He wants to go with Sean. He's got a buddy for life.
Come on, buddy. Let's go. Nice. Let's go.
Thank you so much. Take care! Thank you. Buh-bye!
TOY SQUEAKS
Good. LOUD BARKING
TOY SQUEAKING In the training room,
Jo is working one-to-one with the vocal Archie.
Archie might look like a cute, fluffy little dog
who's just making a lot of noise -
but in actual fact, he has bitten Katie,
so this is very serious.
Can I sit down with you? Is that OK?
My goal today is to help Archie feel safe,
and not feel threatened.
OK, we're friends now.
My job today is to help you understand Archie
a little bit better, OK?
What convinced you to get the dog?
Well, I couldn't even say I wasn't a dog lover, I was a dog hater.
Oh, wow, OK. Katie had always wanted a dog, and I thought,
"Well, what's the worst that can happen?" Here we are.
And here we are. Here we are.
So, Katie got you. She got you in a moment of weakness.
Yes, definitely. Yeah.
So, it is a lot. And, I mean, you're a single mum,
you've got two kids that need a lot of attention,
you now have a dog that's almost a problem child,
and it all seems to rest on your shoulders. Mm.
Well, let's just say I go to work
as a secondary school teacher for a rest.
Being an adoptive parent is... a roller-coaster.
Kieran was classed as being very difficult to place,
but that just made me more determined,
and as soon as I saw that little face in a photo,
I knew he was the son for me.
I've always been able to find a solution to deal with, you know,
tricky children in the classroom,
and Katie and Kieran have been tricky.
Whereas with Archie, I seem to have tried everything,
and nothing's making him happier.
Oh, you're so brave.
Sometimes, in the worst moments, I think,
"I didn't even want a dog."
And eventually, you know, Katie will leave home,
and then, I will be really trapped.
Yeah.
This is going to sound awful, because I love Archie,
but the thought of being totally responsible for Archie...
...without having Katie there to help me,
I don't know whether I could do it.
In the heart of the English countryside,
the Dog Academy's doors are open...
DOG WHINES Are you excited?
You are, aren't you?
...schooling both dogs and their humans.
TOY SQUEAKS Go on. Get it!
Get it, get it, get it!
In the training room, with a baseline of trust established...
Good boy.
...Jo is addressing Archie's barking problem.
The technique I'm using today with Archie is called
"squeak, run away, and treat.”
Treat parties are all about lots of treats.
TOY SQUEAKS
Yay! Good man!
The idea with the squeaky toy is
to interrupt Archie when he's barking...
SQUEAKING CONTINUES Yay! good boy. Well done!
...and bring him away from the thing that he's barking at.
Squeaky toys mean play and good fun.
SQUEAKING CONTINUES
So, we're changing Archie's underlying emotional response
to scary things outside.
SQUEAKING CONTINUES Yay, good boy! Well done!
When Archie kicks off in the household,
how do you guys respond?
It can be really stressful.
You know, Kieran's getting cross because Archie's barking.
Yeah, Katie's then getting cross with Kieran,
because he's shouting at Archie.
So, we're just in this vicious circle.
Do you see how, with Archie,
when his stress levels are getting high and he's not able to cope,
and he gets overwhelmed, he ends up shouting?
Mm-hm. Yeah.
How would you feel if someone came along and sprayed
a water bottle in your face? Yeah...yeah.
What do you think that would do to your emotions?
It wouldn't help.
One person's cuddling him, one person's spraying something
in his face, Kieran's shouting,
and poor Archie doesn't know whether he's coming or going. No.
Every single time Archie kicks off,
he's also getting flooded with stress hormones.
And he's doing it every day.
Multiple times a day. Multiple times a day.
So, he's never recovering, really. No.
And that's not good for him. No.
I think it's important to remember that what's
going on isn't bad behaviour.
No, OK. So, all of Archie's barking,
all of his behaviour, is because he's frightened. Yeah.
SHE GASPS Mm.
Because there's so much built-up tension in that little body,
and he's worried and he's worried, and he's worried. Oh, bless him.
He needs to let that out. OK.
Does that make sense? Yeah.
We're here to help you, OK?
And we're here to take a lot of your stresses off your shoulders.
Today, Archie's not going to be a different dog.
In six weeks, he will.
Wow,
How does that sound? That sounds amazing.
Let's go.
Here we go. Beautiful.
THEY LAUGH
Come on then, Dex. Where we going? Where we going?
It's mid-afternoon,
and here for some expert help is June,
with her Jack Russell cross, Dexter.
There he is. Little guy.
Hi, you all right? I'm fine, thank you.
Welcome to the Dog Academy. Thank you. I'm Grace.
Hi. June and Dexter.
Do you want to grab a seat, June? Absolutely, thank you. Get comfy.
Not you, Dexter.
Where did the name come from?
One of these Facebook polls,
"What should I call this new pup of mine?
"Should it be Dexter, should it be Cola,
"should it be Pepsi?” Just, in the end, I just went,
"Oh, he's sexy Dexy"
Dexter. You can let him off the lead if you want. Oh, perfect.
Yeah, let him have a roam.
I have got Dettol, so don't worry, just in case.
Why? He might decide he wants
to mark his territory.
He's a constant pee-er. Oh.
Big deal. Oh, yeah, it's a big one. Let's see if we can help them, yeah.
There he is.
Oh, he's definitely sizing up that joint, isn't he?
Yeah, there he goes.
And in the house.
Wow. It's pretty extreme, isn't it? You know?
Oh.
Wow, he's in the bath, and he's going, well -
he could've aimed for the toilet, it probably would've been better.
I'll tell you what, I'lWL take the bath, to be fair. Yeah!
At least you can wash it.
What's this?
Dex, what's that?
OK, so she's punishing him.
Have you weed? What have you done?
Classic thing people do - retrospectively punish their dogs.
He doesn't know what he's getting chastised for.
GROWLING Don't you growl at me.
Ears back, lip-licking. Lip-licking.
What have you done?
It's confrontational, you know? She's kind of damaging the bond.
Yeah, absolutely.
Which then means that he's going out of her sight
to actually then do it. Yep, yep, yeah.
It makes me cringe. Oh.
It makes me feel anxious, like, now. Yeah.
He's not doing it now, is he? Dexter! I don't think so.
Dexter, come on.
So, you've gotta keep an eye on him. Constantly.
You just never know where he's going to go.
Really worried. I am.
Well, I'll let Dexter get comfy,
and you, June, and the trainers will be out shortly.
Fabulous, thank you very much. Is that all right? Yeah, absolutely.
Lovely. See you in a little bit. See you later.
Are you happy?
One for yes, two for no.
SQUEAKS TWICE
Hello, hello, hello. Hi. Hi, June, I'm Kamal,
nice to meet you. Hi, Kamal, nice to meet you.
Hi, you all right? Hiya. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.
Good, thank you. Hey, rascal.
So, let's just go over a little bit of what's been going on with Dexter
and what's brought you to the Dog Academy.
Dexter has a little bit of a urinating problem. OK.
I let him out, comes back in, and pees.
What's he actually urinating on?
Everything. On the woodwork, the door frames,
tumble dryer, washer,
fridge-freezer, cupboards, cooker, stairs.
When I'm not looking,
he'll do it on my pillows and my duvet.
He'll pee on the cat, if it stays there long enough.
And on my daughter. She's only just turned 12.
So, yeah, that was a fun time.
TOY SQUEAKING
I daren't leave the house for too long,
because I know what I'm going to come back to.
I don't have people round. I'm at my wits' end.
What have you tried to do to stop him from doing it?
I've tried everything. I've tried being the disciplinarian,
I'm tapped him on the nose. I've tried telling him off.
But he just growls at me.
Well, we're certainly going to try and help.
He's going to go off with Sean,
and Sean's going to do some work and see if we can start to unravel
the issues that are going on.
Loading the chamber.
My house smells of his wee.
I would like to have a nice carpet, or even any carpet -
I'm not really bothered if it's nice or not -
for him not to urinate on.
Good boy. Here we go.
When I tell people, you know,
that my dog decides to cock his leg,
in my house, they think it's hilarious.
But it's a living nightmare, it really is.
Good lad. Come on, then. Let's go. Come on, then.
Get it then.
"This is what I gotta do, pee on things."
Yeah!
And then, scrape it up.
TOY SQUEAKS
Treat party.
In the courtyard, Kirsty and Katie are learning Jo's squeak,
run away, and treats technique.
Well done.
Designed to redirect Archie when he's barking.
You're so clever.
Once you've managed to get Archie away from the thing
that's making him anxious,
we want you to take him to a calm place.
This is a safe zone, like a zen zone, to be in,
that hopefully is going to help you to start to bring visitors
back into your home. Brilliant.
So, we're going to use a mat.
This is a lot like having your own bedroom.
He can just come away from anything that's overwhelming him,
and no-one is going to bother him.
No.
When you're dealing with an anxious dog,
running away from danger is very different to running to safety,
and it's our job to give them something that they
associate with safety,
so they can start to feel calmer, relaxed, and less anxious.
The word I've used is, "You're safe."
You're safe.
A mat may seem like a very small thing,
but in reality, to that dog, it's massive.
It's their safe haven. It's the place that they can go to
and they know nothing bad will happen,
and that's critical if you want to change the dog's behaviour.
What I want you to be thinking, when you're telling him he's safe,
I want you to feel calm and relaxed. OK.
Down.
Thank you.
He's safe. And then, you're going to have a go.
Archie. Perfect.
You're safe.
We're training him to be quiet,
because we're rewarding an absence of barking.
You're safe.
Do you see how this will reduce Archie's stress? Mm. Definitely.
Do you see how it'll reduce your stress?
Yes.
You gradually fade your food until you can just tell him,
"You're safe," and he'll know exactly what that means.
You're safe. Well done.
So, Jo's given you the tools of what you need to do
in different situations.
But now, it's time to put it to the test. OK.
We're not always going to be here.
No. So, we need you guys to know what to do on your own. OK.
To simulate the home environment where Archie's barking
is most extreme...
...Archie.
...Jo and Nancy have created a mock-up kitchen in the pen.
Welcome to home sweet home.
THEY LAUGH Nice.
So, if you guys want to go stand behind the island.
Archie is about to be exposed to his biggest fear -
a total stranger.
Kirsty, you're looking a little bit worried.
Yes, I am. Are you feeling like it's the first day of school?
I...yeah, worse.
We're going to keep it simple to start with.
So, as someone walks past the window,
you're going to squeak, retreat,
and then, have your treat party,
and that's as far as we're going to go for now.
It's up to Kirsty and Katie to keep Archie calm.
Are you going to do it first, then, or me? Yeah, I'll do it first,
cos I've got the stuff in my hand, haven't 1?7 OK.
If he reacts to the stranger at the window,
they must distract him using the squeaky toy,
shifting his focus from fear to fun.
Good luck, guys. Oh, God, I hope this goes well.
OK, let's see,
He's seen her.
Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak.
TOY SQUEAKS
Retreat. Archie! Come on, guys.
SQUEAKING CONTINUES
Have a treat party.
Treat party. Good boy.
Well done!
Well done. There we go.
Was your heart rate going up then? Yes, yeah.
I didn't breathe for about 30 seconds.
I remembered it all. Yeah.
And it worked, and it paid off. I can't believe it!
And now he's lying down!
Good boy, Archie.
OK, you've been doing really well,
so we're going to make the challenge a little bit harder.
Uh-oh.
So, now that you've done your squeak and retreat,
we're going to bring some friends over. Oh, God.
It's been a while. Two years.
You deserve some friends over.
With one small victory under their belt,
it's Kirsty's turn to take the reins.
You're in charge of this one.
Using the squeak technique,
she must guide Archie away from the stranger
to his safe space, the zen zone.
You're being a good boy, Archie.
But this will only work if she keeps zen herself.
You both look quite nervous.
I'm terrified, but you know, if he barks,
just squeak, and go to the mat.
Exactly. Remember, just take a nice deep breath.
You know what to do. And remember, the calmer that you guys stay,
the calmer that Archie will stay, too.
OK, let's give it a go.
We can get a knock whenever we're ready.
KNOCKING
GROWLING
Let the visitor wait until they're invited in. Yes.
Come in!
BARKING
SQUEAKING Archie! Archie!
Archie.
BARKING CONTINUES Archie!
Archie. Archie. Archie.
SQUEAKING AND BARKING Archie! Archie!
They need to calm down.
And as their stress levels go up
and Archie can hear that as well in their voices...
Run with him. Run with him. Archie!
They're both getting themselves a bit wound up now. Yeah.
SQUEAKING CONTINUES Archie. Archie!
In the Dog Academy pen,
Kirsty and Katie are about to have another attempt at
introducing Archie to a complete stranger.
Did you find that, as your stress levels started to go up,
Archie's went up, too? Probably.
I think we were both trying to do it at the same time, and, yeah.
OK, so you would use squeak-and-retreat
to come away from the door, until you can get your visitor in.
Once he's had time to calm down
and he's had his treat party,
at that point, you can start to think about going back to
your zen zone and chilling out, OK? Right, OK.
So, just take a moment, all right?
And then, we can have another go.
OK, so hopefully this time, everything will be fine.
OK, whenever you're ready.
KNOCKING ON DOOR
GROWLING
I heard a growl.
We need to see if she can distract him, and then, calm him down.
Wait.
Yeah. You can come in.
BARKING AND SQUEAKING
Come here.
Come here! Archie, come here, what's this?
There we go, he's having his treat party. OK.
Archie. Good boy.
OK. If you feel ready,
you can start to move him to your zen zone.
Come on.
Good boy. On here.
That's lovely. That's more calm.
Lie down, on here.
Just relax your lead.
Lie down. This is brilliant.
Good boy! There we go.
You're safe. Wow.
"You're safe."
You're safe. Oh, wow. Good boy.
You're safe.
That's your fantastic work. Well done.
Ooh! How are you guys feeling after that?
Well, Katie has done amazingly well.
Would you imagine you could've got this, this morning,
having friends over to the house?
No. Do you see how much calmer he is now, in his zen den? Yeah.
That was absolutely incredible. Well done. High five.
That was a tough one. That was really hard.
I just think you've done so well.
You've taken everything on board,
you've done exactly what you're supposed to do, and, you know,
I couldn't be prouder of you. Well done.
When we get Archie home,
I'm really looking forward to carry on with the training,
so then, we can invite people over
and just live as a normal, happy family.
What's the strangest thing that a dog has done in here?
Oh, how long have you got?
We had the Newfador recently,
that weed, and it was like a lake.
Well, I would imagine the bladder is the size of a bagpipe.
I hope you've dried the carpet.
Right there, where you're stood.
Cheers, Grace, thanks very much. SHE LAUGHS
Oh, thank you.
In the courtyard,
June is about to learn how to deal
with Dexter's secret indoor weeing habit.
All right, wait.
At the moment, what happens is you get corrective.
What he currently knows is, you know, he might get in trouble.
We want to flip that. So, rather than it being something negative,
and he then gets all apprehensive and concerned,
it's something positive.
We need to get Dexter to understand that
he should only be weeing outdoors.
We're not telling him stop doing something,
we're just giving him direction, we're building that trust back up,
so that he's comfortable weeing in front of you.
So, what we'll do is we'll going to guide him to where we do want him
to go to the loo, by using a pee post.
Any object can be a pee post.
All we need is that object,
and then, to cover that object in some dog scents.
For example, their wee.
Dog wee is packed full of pheromones that attract other dogs.
When a dog smells urine,
its natural instinct is to cover that smell with its own scent.
What we'll do with him is we've got a golden toilet for him.
We've rubbed different scents onto the toilet.
We've had dogs wee onto it.
You'll see him go to wee.
When he wees on it, you'll then reward him with a jackpot,
like a load of treats after he's done it. Right, yeah.
Think about it like this.
If I put a golden toilet into your house
and every time you went on it, I gave you 50 quid,
I think you'd very quickly use that toilet. Yeah, exactly.
Oh, yeah, without a doubt.
I could chuck it outside in a blizzard. That's the same for him.
June is left alone with Dexter.
The challenge - for him to pee outdoors,
against or near the golden toilet.
You go into the gate, on the lead.
We're just going to let him do his thing and just sniff around.
But most importantly, he must do it in front of June -
something he hasn't done for years.
Go on, then. Fail to do so, and the cycle will continue.
See, he's sizing up that flowerpot.
So, just say, "Go wee," and then, after it
I just want you to reward him.
Reward him, don't forget that. It's a big one.
Dexter, wee-wees. Go wee-wees.
Go on, son. And now, we wait. Yeah, exactly.
He's thinking about it.
He's sniffing. This is looking promising.
Oh, come on.
Oh!
Typical. Come on, Dexter.
He's building to it, isn't he? Yeah, yeah. You can tell.
Just don't know where it's going to be. Yeah.
I think he's going to wee. He's going to wee.
Come on, son. It's getting closer.
Oh.
He's like, "Just wait until I get back home."
Yeah. What is going on with you?
Normally you pee on everything in sight.
So, this is actually a really good lesson for you in perseverance,
because the easiest thing would be to just go,
"OK, I'll quit and go home," then he'd pee in your living room.
You see where he was just sniffing?
Just move it over there and see what happens. Yeah.
That's it, perfect. OK. Can you also get him a drink?
And June, don't forget, this is a long-term habit he's had,
so don't panic, don't feel deflated
because he hasn't done it instantaneously.
There's a good boy. There you go, fill up.
When he pees, you're going to tell him he's fantastic
and what a good boy he is.
That looks promising. Go wee-wees.
Go on.
Come on. Yeah.
Yeah.
Come on, boy.
Ahh. He's - ah. Ah!
So close, but yet so far!
This is worse than a World Cup final, isn't it? This is. Yeah.
Classic England, as well. So hopeful. Yeah!
Just absolutely fluff it.
It's definitely not coming home today, is it?
With a history of being told off for peeing,
Dexter is reluctant to cooperate with June.
What is going on with you?
Jack Russells, mate, they cock their leg at everything. Yeah, yeah.
June, you could try just taking a little casual stroll
around the area. Just as if you're on a little walk.
No worries.
He's just so used to weeing inside,
and he's done it for so long that he just,
he doesn't even know what it is now to go outside.
I'm absolutely gutted, like. Come on, Dexter.
I think we'll have to call it and just accept that won't happen.
It's something that she'll have to work on at home. Yeah.
Come on, Dex.
Oh, we're going this way?
Good boy!
Oh, he's done it. Oh, my God, he's done it.
Last second, last roll of the dice, and he's banged it. Dude, dude!
Put it up there, son. Oh, my God.
Who's a good boy?
And she rewarded him! That was it!
Yes, you are. Who's a good lad?
He may not have weed on the golden toilet,
but he's done it outside, and he's done it in front of her.
Do you know what? I reckon she's going to be all right.
I mean, I didn't think he'd pee,
I didn't think she'd remember to reward him, and she's done both.
Good boy! I can't believe he's done it.
How can any one person be so happy watching a dog wee?
To anybody else, it's just a dog weeing, but to me it's like, yes!
Good boy. Come on.
This time next year,
I will have a new carpet on my stairs.
Happy days.
Milo's doing great.
I can let him off his lead.
Milo, come.
Milo isn't going to run away and, like, run straight into the road.
Good boy.
He is a lot more manageable.
Like, I can actually have him around other people now.
I am dating someone at the moment,
and whenever he walks through the door, he's not attacked.
When I look back on it now, he's a completely different dog.
TOY SQUEAKS
Things are calmer and quieter at home,
because Archie's barking less.
He still does sometimes bark,
but by using his mat,
we can break the cycle of barking.
TOY SQUEAKS
He's made quite a lot of progress. Certainly much less anxious.
Go wee-wees.
There's a good boy!
Seeing him wee outside, on command,
it's like a halleluiah moment.
It's like, yes!
It's a little win.
And I'm still on track for that hall carpet next year.
Next time, at the Dog Academy...
What's her personality like? Feisty.
GROWLING Hey. Daisy.
Ooh. Wow.
I really am frightened of her.
GROWLING
HIGH-PITCHED BARKING Molly...Molly.
That's pretty extreme, isn't it?
He literally has to come everywhere with me.
There's only so much a person can take.
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