Dogs on Knees Who Let the Dogs Out?

This is the Dog House -

home to the most amazing dog training competition in the UK.

It's here that champion dog trainer Zak George is on a mission

to find the best young dog trainer in the country.

Welcome to Who Let The Dogs Out?

Hundreds applied,

27 made it to The Dog House,

but there can only be one winner.

Ooh, yeah!

Today, three young trainers will go head to head

for a place in the next round.

Yes, look at that!

-Who will hold their nerve?

-Reward big there!

And who will tip the balance in their favour?

It's time to find out who's got the canine credentials

down at Dog House.

Today, on Who Let The Dogs Out?

We've got spy dogs with a licence to chase.

In Zak's Quick Trick, Nelly learns how to tidy up the Dog House,

and three new teams rise to the challenge

in the hope of a place in the next round.

Today, three trainers and their dogs are going to be put to the test

in an incredibly difficult balancing challenge that involves height.

Now, hundreds applied to contact the Dog House,

but only 27 young trainers and their dogs were invited.

Let's find out why Louise and Rosie,

Genevieve and Monty Zoom,

and Millie and Tickle impressed me so much.

At the Try-outs, dozens of dogs and their trainers

were hoping to get to the Dog House for a crack at the ultimate prize

of the Top Dog Trainer trophy.

The competition was fierce and only the very best would get there.

Louise is a very experienced dog trainer

and has brought her dog Rosie along to see if they can impress Zak.

The best thing about Rosie

is she's lovely.

-Oooh, wow!

-Yeah!

I'd like to go into the Dog House

cos I'd like to show people what we can do.

I can tell you're a very hard worker.

I'm proud of Rosie cos she worked so hard today

and I couldn't be more pleased with her.

That was really, really impressive.

I'm Genevieve

and this is my dog Monty,

'and he is a Papillon.' Spin!

Monty has quite a lot of potential.

He's got quite a big mind.

Yeah! Back stall. Check it out!

'Monty is amazing.' Come on, through!

-First time on the tunnel, great.

-He's very clever.

Over!

A bit naughty.

Come!

And barks a lot.

MONTY BARKS

You've done really good with him.

-My name is Millie, my dog's name is Tickle.

-Very nice.

I want you to just do your thing and show me what you got, OK?

Oh, so pretty on the lovely cushion.

Good stability too.

Tickle was really good.

She did was she was told.

-I like that.

-Tick! Back!

-Very good.

That mutual trust between dog and trainer, something I look for,

and nothing says trust like balancing.

-I was really proud of Tickle.

-Very nice.

-Thanks.

I'm impressed with you, good job.

Three great balancing dogs have made it to the Dog House.

But will they be able

to handle Zak's stunt?

Hey, hey, guys! How is it going?

ALL: Fine.

I'm so excited about today's trick.

Today, you're going to be teaching your dogs how to balance

with their back paws on your knees and their front paws on your hands.

Now, we call this a knee stall.

This requires a lot of dedication between you and your dog.

For this trick, the dogs will need

to jump onto their trainer's knees

and balance there.

Once they're stable,

the dogs will put their front paws

onto their trainer's hand.

At Showtime, the dog that balances there the longest will be the winner.

I'm going to start with Millie and Tickle over here.

Now, you see we've got these boxes out here

because we want to kind of teach our dogs to jump onto a smaller area.

Come on over here with her.

I want you to encourage Tickle to get up here.

Look how distracted Tickle is right now.

It's hard when you have all these distractions, but let's try it.

Looks like she's more interested in the grass

and what's under the blanket than the trick.

Hey, Tickle. Come here, girl.

Come on, up here, come on! Yes, good!

Very good. And look how close we are.

It's not all about the treat, it's a connection process too.

You can use both. Come here. Do you see this? Come on, let's go.

Come on. Oh, yes! Very good. You're doing wonderful, Tickle.

Now that she's up here, I'm going to move this around a little bit.

See that? Now, I'm going to lift it up a little bit...

Very good, very good!

I'm just assessing she's comfortable up here.

-Do you feel like you know what to do right now?

-Yeah.

If Millie can keep Tickle's attention, they could do well.

Genevieve and Monty Zoom now. All right. How are we doing?

-Um...good.

-OK. So...

Can I try without the lead,

cos he doesn't like doing things with the lead on.

Sure, that's fine.

-Up! Up! Good.

-Very good.

-Now, show me some connection, show me some sincerity.

-Up! Come on!

I always look for that when I see people training their dogs.

Good boy! Yeah, go!

-Very good!

-Good!

It's a good start for Genevieve and Monty Zoom.

He has no problem getting on the box,

but he's not staying up there very long.

-No.

-No.

And every time we say "No" to our dogs,

it should always be in a very calm tone, so it's, "No."

All "No" means is, "No, that's not what I was looking for."

It's not, "You're in trouble." It's, "That's not quite it."

You need to stay a little bit longer. Almost! Come on!

Say yes, good, very nice.

I want you to keep working on that right now, OK?

-Everything OK?

-Yeah.

-What's happening over there?

Looks like Millie is still having trouble holding Tickle's attention.

Louise and Rosie. Show me what you got.

Move, Rosie.

Feet, feet.

-Come on. Good, sit, good.

-Very nice. You know what?

I think, with you, we can just go on to the next step right now

based on the training that you've already done.

Right, so what we want to do here

is we want to encourage Rosie to get up here.

You'll have to brace, you might have to use your hands.

It requires a lot of talent on the human's part to do this.

Rosie. Sit, stay.

Louise really impressed Zak at the Try-outs

with her dog training expertise

and it looks like she is about to do it again.

-Good.

-I want you to really celebrate when she makes it up here.

-Come on!

-You've got to hold this steady there.

-Get up!

-Yes! Good, good job!

-Yeah!

-All right, wonderful job!

See, right there, see that genuine energy?

That's what we're looking for, how we communicate with dogs.

Good girl!

Louise and Rosie are well on their way to completing the knee stall,

but Zak thinks the other teams need a little bit more practice

before they can move onto having boxes on their knees.

While these guys are training hard, I'm going to put my feet up

and watch some dogs who would make amazing undercover spy dogs.

This is strictly classified,

but some dogs lead a double life.

The life of a spy.

To be a spy requires nerves of steel...

..technical expertise...

..high levels of fitness

and a fast car.

Spies never lose their cool,

even when battling their archenemies.

But you can't be called a real spy

until you've come face to face

with an evil mastermind.

Still to come on Who Let the Dogs Out?

We've got a podgy pooch who needs to cut out the calories.

Zak's Quick Trick is literally rubbish.

And which of our three young trainers

can tip the balance in their favour

to continue their journey to become Top Dog Trainer?

Back at training, it looks like Genevieve and Monty

have decided to move on to the next step with the boxes on their knees.

See what happened just there, cos it wasn't very stable.

Now, he's a little more reluctant to get up there.

That's OK, you just need to be patient

-and understand that, you know what I mean?

-Yeah.

Why don't you put him back on the ground to rebuild up his confidence?

That's what dog training is about.

Sometimes, you have to return to the former step and work on the next one.

Oh, dear, looks like Genevieve and Monty are back to square one.

Once he's up there, you can move it around a little bit.

If you can be successful in getting it off the ground, like this...

-I think you're strong enough to lift it, aren't you?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Come here.

-Good boy.

-Very good. And let's try and lift it.

Yes! Good, almost. I want you to keep working on that right now, OK?

I wonder if Louise and Rosie are doing any better.

-Rosie, Rosie!

-Yes, good!

Louise is doing really well, even with a big dog like Rosie.

Louise and Rosie are looking very good.

And let me come over here, Millie and Tickle. What's new?

-Any progress?

-Um... Yes, she's standing on it.

-OK, go ahead and put her on your knees.

-Tick! Go on, up!

-Good girl!

-Stay.

-Stay.

-Good!

-Stay.

-Make sure you're very clear.

When she's up there, "Yes, I like that!"

And if you want to reward her while she's up there, great.

Good girl!

I think me and Tickle are going to do really well,

because she's concentrating and doing everything

that I'm telling her to do.

The progress that I made this morning was really good.

I got more than half way there,

cos I got her to balance on the box.

Monty should probably do it,

but you can't really tell with him,

he's just this kind of dog which does what he wants.

By next time, I'd really, really like your dogs balancing on that box,

on your knees with at least one paw on your hand.

OK.

-Keep up the good work and we'll see you in a week.

-OK.

-OK.

ALL: Bye!

Rosie, Tickle and Monty Zoom all look pretty different,

but let's take a look at their mutt measurements

and see what they're all about.

Rosie is a one-year-and-ten-month-old

Border Collie.

Collies are often clever and daring

and Rosie is no exception.

She's not afraid of stunts -

she once tried to get

into a fish tank!

But will Rosie apply the same daredevil approach to knee stall?

Tickle is a four-year-old Jack Russell.

She can't live

without her pink tuggy toy

and is a big fan of sausages.

Now, Jack Russells

are usually very energetic,

which explains why Tickle loves chasing birds in the garden.

But will Tickle the terrier manage to chase off the opposition?

Monty Zoom is a two-year-old Papillon.

He gets his breed name from the French word for butterfly

because of the shape of his ears.

He likes nothing more

than hiding under the rug

and pretending no-one can see him.

Let's hope Monty Zoom doesn't try and hide

when it comes to Showtime.

One week later, and the teams have returned to the Dog House.

It looks like all the dogs have progressed well with their training.

I wonder if Zak will be impressed.

Look at you, guys, looking fantastic over here!

Wonderful work!

So, today, what we're going to do, guys, is

we'll focus on going onto the next level with this trick.

What we want to do is to phase that box out completely

till our dogs have their hind legs on just our knees.

Does that make sense?

-Yeah.

-Fantastic.

Let's go ahead and lose the box, hold on the leash there. Good.

Let's go ahead and encourage Monty Zoom to now get on to your knees.

And this, this requires a lot of skill on our part as humans as well.

Not so easy now that Monty Zooms only got knee pads to balance on.

Look at this.

I want you to really focus on going on your knees completely.

-Reward big there.

-Good boy!

-Is that the first time Monty Zoom has done this just on your knees?

-Yeah.

-Give him a jackpot reward, a mega reward.

-Good boy!

Keep working on that for today. One paw on your hand would be bonus,

but I'm not going to hold my breath on that. Just keep on working...

Zak doesn't sound very optimistic, but Genevieve looks determined.

Millie, let's see if we can get Tickle on your knees,

just on your knees without the box now.

Up! Come on, up, up!

Just focus on keeping your knees very stable. You know what?

I'm going to actually pick her up and encourage her to do this.

If Tickle can do a knee stall without the box,

it'd be a massive improvement.

Put your hand over here now.

Try to put her paw over here.

Yes!

Wow! Incredible!

Look at that! Fantastic!

Really good work!

She's done it! Only for a few seconds, but good job, Tickle!

I wonder how expert dog trainer Louise is getting on.

-Hey, Louise!

-Hiya!

-How are you?

-Fine, thanks.

-Very good.

You've already skipped and got rid of the box?

-I've been doing it in a different way.

-You have.

-Show me what you've done.

-Rosie!

Why are you putting a treat in your mouth?

I'll show you.

Walk on!

Looks like Louise has taken the training into her own hands.

Good, good. Rosie, Rosie, Rosie.

-I see now, you're having her walk back.

-Uh-huh.

Good, good! Walk back. Good!

What was that?!

-Are you serious?

-Rosie, come!

That's a traditional dog training technique.

To teach our dogs to look at our face.

A lot of trainers would do that, they'll put a treat in their mouth.

Be careful not to choke on the treat, though.

Yes, kids - don't try that at home.

Walk on, walk on.

Good, good. Walk back! Walk back.

-Back! Walk back!

-It's OK.

And right there, I mean, let her know that she did the right thing.

-You've done this.

-Good girl!

-Cos she took one step back. Know what I mean?

This is a very strange training technique, but it might just work.

You have about a week to practise here,

so I want you to keep working with your dogs.

All of you have a fairly long way to go,

but I'm very encouraged by where you are now in the trick.

It is a really tough trick.

I will see you right here at the Dog House for Showtime.

Keep up the good work. Bye, guys!

ALL: Bye!

Knee stall is one of the most difficult dog stunts to master,

but if you're willing to put in the hours,

the rewards are well worth it.

Here are Zak's five steps to mastering the knee stall.

One. Encourage your dog to jump onto a small stable box.

Two. Once your dog is happy jumping onto the box,

try moving the box around or even lifting it.

Three. Once your dog is comfortable with this,

try lying on the ground and place the box on your knees.

Four. Encourage your dog to place its back paws on the box

and its front paws on your hands.

Five. Gradually phase out the box

and encourage your dog to jump straight onto your knees

and see how long you can hold them up there for.

It's also a good idea to wear some kneepads and some gloves

so you don't get scratched.

I think Rosie will pull it together for the finale

because she would have learned what she's meant to do properly.

I think she's going to be really good at training this week,

because she knows what she's got to do.

I am a bit nervous, but I shouldn't really be worried.

He's a good dog and I think he'll be able to do that.

I'll show you how to teach your dog to put the litter in the bin today.

Come on, Nelly, look what I got!

I have treats, we're going to have fun! It's good! Sit. Nice!

So I put Nelly into a sit there,

just to let her know we're going to do a new trick.

And I've got this piece of paper.

Now, the key to this is making this paper fun.

Dogs don't know that paper isn't fun, so we'll show them it is. Come on!

Good! Get that! Very good! Now, she's bringing it to me.

Can I have it? Good!

And, in Nelly's case, she would actually fetch for food,

so I'm going to give her a little bit of food.

But if you make the paper the real toy, that's just as well.

Very good, here we go! Nelly, what's this?

Go and get it! All right.

And she might even destroy the paper.

And I'm going to try and catch it with the bin.

Very good, Nelly, fantastic job!

When she starts doing this really well, I'll say,

"Throw your litter away."

Go get that litter.

Bring the litter to me, come on.

I'm teaching her language here. Throw your litter away, good!

Giving her an extra big reward for that.

I think we're at the point where I can leave it here,

and she might throw it away on her own.

Let's see. Go get it!

Nelly, come here, angel, over here!

Throw your litter away.

And it is that simple!

Nel, you are just a superstar!

Dogs, like us, need to eat healthy food and have lots of exercise.

But you know what? Some pups can really pile on the pounds.

Meet Madison,

a dog who loves her food but doesn't watch her waistline.

Time to get Maddie back in shape

with the help of a team of experts from the Pet Fit Club.

She weighs about 52 kilos.

We're hoping that with the weight reduction plan,

she'll go down to about 42 kilos.

That's about a 20% drop in weight.

Maddie is placed on a strict diet and exercise programme

with regular weigh-ins to make sure she's sticking to the programme.

Six months on, and it's time for the grand weigh-in.

And it's great news!

Maddie has reached her target weight loss - ten kilos!

That is the same weight as all these cans of dog food.

She was very lethargic and listless.

She now enjoys playing with the other dogs,

chasing squirrels, playing with the ball.

She's a completely different dog.

Wow! Well done, Maddie!

What a transformation!

Two weeks of intensive training is over

and it's now time for our three trainers

to battle it out for a place in the quarterfinals.

The stakes are high and with just one place up for grabs,

nothing is guaranteed.

I'm really comfortable about going into the quarterfinals,

because she's been doing very well at getting onto my hands

and then reversing up onto my knees.

So, who will keep their focus?

I'm most worried about Monty getting bored,

cos he's the sort of dog that's so clever, and who thinks,

"Why do I want to do this?

"When I could just jump down, eat the treats..."

And who will jump straight into the quarterfinal?

My training at home has been going really well,

because she's doing what she's been told

and she's doing the trick right.

It's time to find out.

It's Showtime for our knee stall dogs and there's a LOT at stake.

Now, since the teams have been doing so well,

we've decided to award extra bonus points

if they can do the stunt on three paws.

Would any of them be brave enough to try it? We are about to find out.

So our teams will get one point

for every second of their knee stall

and if they manage

to balance on three paws

for more than three seconds,

they will double their points.

First to attempt the challenge are Millie and Tickle.

Millie struggled to get Tickle to focus during training day one,

but by day two, they soon got the hang of it.

The question is...

are they good enough to make it through to the next round?

I'm really confident. I think I can win it.

Oh, it's a beautiful jump up and Tickle's straight into position.

-Start!

-We have a knee stall,

but how long can they hold it?

Wow! They've done it on three paws.

That means their score will be doubled.

A minute later and they're still going, this is amazing!

BEEP

Oh, she's fallen off!

But it's a brilliant start for Millie and Tickle.

-Really, really nice work, Millie, very good.

-Good girl!

Next up are Louise and Rosie.

From the very beginning, Louise and Rosie were the ones to beat.

They progressed really quickly. Louise even started

training Rosie with a different technique to the others.

But will it have worked?

It will mean a lot to me if she gets through to the next round,

cos I've come all this way

and it'd be a disappointment not to, like, get through.

Louise's technique definitely looks complicated.

Walk back!

Rosie needs to put her paws in Louise's hands soon

or their turn will be over.

Oh, no! Her back legs have slipped off Louise's knees.

This is not going well.

BEEP

That is the end of your attempt.

Luckily, Louise and Rosie still have two more attempts.

Next up are Genevieve and Monty Zoom.

At the beginning of training, Monty managed to stay on top of the box,

but struggled to stay on Genevieve's knees.

Have they even managed to learn the stunt?

It'd mean quite a lot to me to get through to the next round,

because I love training Monty and he's my best boy.

-He's keen!

-Wait, wait!

This is a good sign for Genevieve and Monty.

Would you believe it!

-They're doing a knee stall!

-Good boy!

It looks like Monty's having a three-course lunch,

that's a great trick for keeping him up there.

They're at 50 seconds.

BEEP

Oh, no! His foot slipped.

That is the end of your first attempt. Very nice work, very good.

Monty, come!

So let's have a look at the Leader Board.

Millie and Tickle are in the lead with 144 points.

They got a point for each of their 72 seconds,

which was then doubled because of their three-paw knee stall.

But can they keep their lead in the competition?

It's time for the second round of attempts.

Start!

Again, they're straight into a perfect knee stall.

That won't count as a three-paw knee stall

because it didn't last three seconds.

Ooh, well recovered, Millie, that was a close one.

Millie is trying again

for a three-paw knee stall,

but it doesn't last three seconds and won't count.

BEEP

That's the end of your second attempt.

It was very good.

It's good, but it's not better than their first attempt.

Next are Louise and Rosie.

They didn't score any points in their first attempt,

let's hope they can do better now.

Rosie, this one!

Louise is trying really hard.

Start, please.

Yes, that's a knee stall! Good work.

-Stay.

-This is great.

Over a minute and a half later

and they're still going.

Stay, stay!

Stay.

I don't believe it! They're going for a three-paw knee stall.

Really impressive, considering Rosie is such a large dog.

Double points. Well done,

That's going to be a big score!

Yes, yes!

OK, so Genevieve and Monty are next up for their second attempt.

OK, start.

Looks like Monty is so interested in the treat,

he's forgotten he's even doing a knee stall.

Great! He's a good boy!

Yes, three paws!

That will double their score.

Good boy!

Well over a minute now

and they're still up there.

BEEP

Oh, he's off!

But another impressive attempt from Genevieve and Monty Zoom.

-Really, really good work. That was very impressive.

-Good boy!

So after everyone's second attempt,

the leaders have changed.

Louise and Rosie are now in front

with 234 points,

but the teams still have one more attempt and everything to play for.

On!

Start.

Can Millie and Tickle get back into the lead?

Another good start.

Whatever the treat in her hand is,

it's got Tickle's attention.

And they've managed another three-pawed knee stall,

they've doubled their points again.

They're up to 20 seconds now.

BEEP

Oh! Tickle's had enough, but I'm not sure that's enough to win.

Last attempt for Louise and Rosie.

Stay.

Good!

No problems getting into the knee stall position.

They made a fantastic comeback

-at their second attempt to take the lead.

-Stay!

Can they do even better?

Stay.

They're almost at two minutes,

but they haven't got any bonus points yet

cos they haven't done a three-pawed knee stall.

BEEP

He's come off your knee over here,

that's the end of your attempt.

-Really nice work, very good!

-Yeah!

So with just Genevieve and Monty left to go,

it's Louise and Rosie that are still

in the lead with 234 points,

but will that be enough to take them into the next round?

Remember - it's one point for every second of the knee stall

and double points for doing it on three paws.

-Here goes.

-Start!

It looks like Genevieve's

got an extra big treat

to keep Monty focussed,

and they've done a three-pawed knee stall!

Now, all their points will be doubled.

That's a great start!

Two minutes later and they're still going,

this is phenomenal!

It looks like he's had enough of the treat - he's off!

BEEP

-Good boy!

-Nice work. Very, very good work!

But have they done enough to win?

I am so proud of all of you.

You all broke through the knee stall with your dog.

You built up trust, your communication with them was awesome,

so you've all succeeded in that.

I just could not be more proud of each and every one of you.

But I can now reveal

that the winner of today's knee stall challenge

and the team that will move on

to the Who Let The Dogs Out? Quarterfinals is...

Genevieve and Monty Zoom!

Congratulations,

you did a fantastic job!

I couldn't be more proud of you!

I'm serious, you guys were incredible out there today!

-Tell me how you feel.

-Um...

I'm so proud of Monty and...

I think everyone else did really well and I'm...

-Speechless!

-Yeah!

-Yeah!

-But, seriously, guys, give your dogs some love.

Let them know they did a great job, honestly.

So Genevieve and Monty Zoom

are the last team to leap into the quarterfinals.

Next time, on Who Let the Dogs Out?

It's the very first quarterfinal.

So we'll see some familiar faces and even more difficult stunts.

Don't miss it!

Nice work, guys!

Next time, on Who Let the Dogs Out?

Katie and Twilight,

Jake and Ice, and Kimmie and Millie are back

to battle it out for a place in the semifinals!

You will be part of the elite three if you win tomorrow,

so there is a lot at stake.

So watch it, you!

I feel quite sad that we didn't make it through,

cos it's been really good. It was fun.

I feel really excited, cos Tickle did it really well.

I wish Genevieve luck for the next round.

I'm so proud of Monty, he's the best dog in the world.

He's so clever and everything a dog should be.

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