City of Dogs Louis Theroux's LA Stories

The tail is not looking good. Do you live in this neighbourhood?

Yeah, I live in, well, Watts.

-Watts.

-I make sure they eat first before I eat.

-Really?

-Well, they got just the right to live as we do.

Not exactly the same. I mean, it's humans first, then animals.

You'd find that a big problem here in this city, I'll tell you.

Yes. God says he put these animals on Earth for our enjoyment,

so please protect them and take care of them, don't abuse them.

HIS VOICE BREAKS

It's OK, it's OK. I know. Don't worry about it, it's OK, it's OK.

-A lot of people don't care!

-This is a...

-What just happened?

I think about all the animals I see tortured and hurt

and everything, and I rescue them.

They're living because of me.

This programme contains some strong language.

I was in South Los Angeles

on a journey through the outer edges of canine companionship.

Do you like dogs better than you like people?

I understand THEM more, you know? They love you

and they take that to their grave.

You know? Who doesn't want that?

LA is well known for its population of pampered pooches,

but its high-crime areas are home to a community of street dogs,

neglected and sometimes aggressive.

The streets is hard, we gangbanged and did all that.

So if four dudes run up on me,

you better come right, cos he's going to bite you.

'I was curious about the chaotic world these animals come from...'

-Can we talk to you?

-Talk to me?

Get your bitch ass back to London.

'..the rescuers and adopters trying

'to change them through rehabilitation

'and the limits of what they can do for LA's delinquent dogs.'

-Our capacity is 325.

-And you've got how many?

-419.

It's really hard to choose,

for lack of a better term, who gets to die today.

This is kind of a rough area.

Yeah, it's a rough area, man, almost Watts.

-Uh-oh.

-You ain't got nothing to worry about.

Everybody know me here, man.

-We're in the area of terror.

-Yeah. Welcome to terror.

Don't be scared, though. Please, don't be scared.

We're in the American nightmare.

I was on patrol with Cornelius Austin, a building caretaker

and pit bull enthusiast known to all as Dog Man.

I see another stray, we have strays all around here.

-Stray dog?

-Yes.

-You just saw one?

Yes. I see another stray. See?

So you just never know what you're going to get on these streets.

HE WHISTLES

They hungry.

You're going to give it away? Why?

I don't want it!

You don't want it any more. Why?

Because! It bark too much.

Man, you deal with this all day long.

Foreclosure is on a rise now, a lot of people lose their homes.

A lot of dogs been left behind.

There go a pit bull.

-Can you get him?

-There's no dog I can't get.

Dog Man has made it his personal mission

to care for the abandoned dogs of South LA.

Stay right there, he went this way.

Let's go, let's go.

Let's go. Come on, quick.

The dog won't defeat me, man.

'One of his pastimes is catching problem dogs

'with a view to finding them new homes.'

He's never going to get it.

That a stray?

Is that a stray?

-Come on, come on.

-Hello?

This not your dog, buddy?

You don't want your dog?

All right, boss. Thank you, man.

Hey, we're from the BBC, we're doing a documentary about dogs in, um,

in this area.

So are you sure you don't mind us taking the dog away?

It's not my dog. He just... These are neighbourhood dogs.

-Y'all take it easy.

-Thanks a lot.

Right. That's bull crap, that's their dog.

This dog lives there, the guys breed them,

they have the puppies and they throw them out.

These people are lying, they always talk about the dogs,

it's not their dogs, and the dog, if I let this dog go right now,

this dog's going right back to that door.

See, this dog wants to go back home. Watch.

It is your damn dog, don't you lie to me, man.

There's something special about dogs, isn't there, that...

that makes you feel worse when you see them mistreated.

Is that it?

I love animals, man, you know? I'm not just no dog trainer,

I love animals, man, and the dog can't help herself.

It's just like somebody getting mad and just throwing you out and

that's what they done, and the worst thing they could do is lie to me.

If the dog could talk they'd have a lot to say.

-What do you think it would say?

-"I need help.

"I can't help myself, I can't shelter myself,

"I can't feed myself. Plus, I got worms,

"I got worms, and I see a few fleas."

So that could be upsetting right there.

-"I'm in pain."

-Pain.

-"I'm suffering."

-Suffering. You know, and always heartbroken.

And it really hurts me.

South Los Angeles is notorious as one of America's most deprived areas.

Alongside its many neglected residents live its even more neglected dogs.

LA has six city-run dog pounds,

with around 35,000 dogs passing through their doors each year.

BARKING

One of the busiest is in South LA.

Want to bring your dog in? Need to see your ID.

How come you're going to turn him in?

Well, actually, it was my son's dog and he was incarcerated so...

-Oh, so he can't take care of it no more?

-No.

-What's your dog's name?

-KO.

-KO?

-Yeah. Here we go.

Get behind him with the door, get behind him with the door.

Get yo' ass in.

Give me one second.

Can't deal with that dog. Uh-uh.

I don't like those type of dogs

and I tried to beg my son not to bring it home, and I tried

to keep it as long as I could. He's causing me too many problems.

What's going to happen with KO, do you think?

If he keeps acting aggressively like that he'll probably be put to sleep.

-For real?

-Mm-hm.

-What's his window of opportunity for adoption?

Probably...a week.

-A week?

-Would you adopt that dog?

You know, I only just met him but probably not.

In charge of the shelter's inventory of discarded dogs

is kennel supervisor Leslie Coray.

Most of these dogs, can you generalise about their lives

and their backgrounds?

A lot of them are street dogs, a lot of them are people turning them in.

-Jersey is a female or male?

-Jersey is a female.

Why do you think Jersey hasn't been picked up yet?

-Cos she's not cute.

-She is cute.

-I think she's adorable.

Does it happen that a dog like Jersey, who is affectionate

and has no, you know, track record of bad behaviour,

could get euthanised?

Yes, for space.

When was the last time it happened?

-That we euthanised for space?

-Mm-hm.

-Last week.

-A healthy animal, a non-aggressive animal?

-Mm-hm.

This is a brand-new facility, it's huge,

but it's already full, as you can see.

-There's KO, my buddy.

-There's KO.

HE BARKS

KO... See, he really doesn't want to attack me.

He's more afraid of me than I am of him.

He's probably a fear biter - he would bite out of fear,

not out of true aggression, like some of the other dogs.

He was maybe never...never...

Never socialised, I don't think, never walked on the leash,

never made a part of the family.

See, now watch this, watch this. I'm going to be the alpha right now,

I'm going to be the aggressive person.

Get inside there! Now! Now!

Now! Get in there! Get in there!

All the way! All the way! Go!

I'm the boss because... But I'm just saying...

-That wasn't textbook training, was it?

-It is, kind of.

Did you enjoy that?

No. I feel sorry yelling at them, I don't even like to yell at my kids.

But, see, in a way, I don't want that dog to think he can punk me either.

Do you understand? Does that make any sense?

That's like... that's like prison slang.

DOGS BARK AND WHIMPER

You've been very open about the fact that animals do get

euthanised here fairly regularly and in quite high numbers.

We never do more than, like, 10 or 12 in one day.

Basically, the dog is standing there looking like this

and all of a sudden it just kind of goes...like that.

There's no screaming. It's almost like, all of a sudden, it's just now

really fast asleep. Um, so that's really hard for all of us.

I mean, we all have been on Xanax and antidepressants and, you know,

we all have, because it's not an easy job. Like, I can go a couple

of weeks and be like. "OK, I gotta do my job," and then I could just

maybe have a bad day or I know there's a dog that I like...

that's gotta go.

But, yeah, you don't get used to it, ever.

-Hi, guys.

-It's a boy and a girl.

-Are they trembling?

-Yeah, they're just a little nervous.

It's a natural reaction for them.

They seem almost too nervous to eat right now.

LOUD BARKING

BARKING ECHOES

I was going deeper into the world of South LA dogs and their owners.

Dog Man had offered to take me

to a training school in Compton that caters to people

concerned about crime and looking to weaponise their pets.

-How's it going, man?

-How do you do? I'm Louis.

-Malcolm, my pleasure.

-Malcolm? Nice to meet you.

Do you work with a particular kind of animal?

Any dog that you bring up, if it's your pet, you love him,

we love him too.

A pet did that, you know? We train all dogs.

Did what? Bit the tip of your finger off?

-Do you specialise in protection dogs?

-We put game in dogs.

Meaning?

Um, it's like... We just met each other.

You can be ready to

do me some kind of bodily harm but you're standing here smiling

and acting, you know, like everything is OK,

so I take it for that, but that dog, you not fooling him.

Do you really think a dog can do that?

I KNOW a dog can do it.

If I rode around every day with a gun,

I take the chance of going to jail if the police stop me. I can ride

around with my dog all day long and he's just like my pistol on my side.

I'm getting scared just thinking about it.

You shouldn't be. The streets is hard, we gangbanged

and did all that, that's what make me and Max so effective

in the street training that we do because we came up gangbanging.

Let me pull the truck out, I'm going to show you.

How are you feeling?

-I'm feeling good. How are you feeling today?

-Yeah, good. Are you nervous?

No, not at all.

I suspect a dog's about to bite your arm.

I'm suspecting he will too.

What if he goes for the wrong arm?

Hey, excuse me, man.

Let me talk to you for a second.

Hey, what's going on? Let me talk to you for a second.

MAN SHOUTS

DOG BARKS

MEN SHOUT

LOUD CRACKS

Jesus.

Good boy!

MAN GROANS

That's our boy!

Are you scared?

-Yeah, I think I am a bit.

-No, don't be, you're not going to feel it.

He's already picked me out.

'Before I knew what I was doing,

'I found myself padded up for a one-on-one session with Prowler.'

Just like that.

-How long is he going to do it for?

-I'll call him off.

Butch!

There you go.

Stand!

Move around! Move around! Move around! Stand up! Yes!

Stand up! Move around!

OK, I think that's enough.

Let loose! Let loose! Let loose!

LOUIS EXHALES

APPLAUSE

INDISTINCT COMMENTS

Good job, man! Good job!

-I thought...

-Did you feel anything? You felt nothing, right?

Did you see? He nearly knocked me over.

That was nothing, that was half of what the dog can actually do.

-How close do I have to get for him to start worrying?

-He don't worry, he has no problem.

-If I raise an arm to you now...

-He's going to get you.

-I was just going to pat you on the shoulder.

It's an aggressive move. You have to let me know, then I tell him it's OK.

Would you do that?

Prowler, lie! Now.

Don't pause, put your hand up.

Let's forget it, let's not even do it.

See, when you pause like that, you make him

think you're going to do something. What's going on, man?

Long time no see, dog. Long time.

-Long time, man, right on, right on.

-Two years. Good to see you, man.

Look at the dog while you're doing that, though.

He's intimidating you. Everything all right, man?

How you been doing?

Great. Terrific.

I've never been so scared to hug someone.

-All right, dog.

-All right, man.

Prowler, let loose!

Listen! This is your last lap! Make them legs work! Come on!

Work! Work! Don't get tired now! Work!

Work! Work! That's it, go!

Some lucky street dogs are adopted out of shelters

or off the streets and embark on new lives with new owners.

See you later, see you later, out the way.

Many of them gather on Sundays under Dog Man's tutelage for

boot-camp-style training designed to make them more sociable.

You got two! Ain't no lollygagging! Come on! Go!

A lot of these dogs come from the shelter, a lot of them

already got broken hearts so I'm just trying to make their life

easier for them to have fun, show them the brighter side of life.

Why have they got broken hearts?

A lot of them miss their owners, so I just want to make everything

more positive for them, make everything fun.

Hey, no, bad dog, no.

A lot of people don't know that pit bulls are bred to fight

but that don't mean they HAVE to fight.

You can train the fight out of them?

That's what I'm doing.

-That's what you can do?

-I'm trying.

-Can you do it?

-I have... Some dogs I did it with.

MAN TALKS QUIETLY TO DOG

-What's her name?

-Sunny.

-Sunny.

-But I'm changing it to Honey.

You were saying, "I will never leave you, I will never leave you."

Why were you saying that?

You know, because her last family left her.

After five years.

And you can see she's kind of hurting.

You can see she's kind of sad, you know, so...

-She looks a little sad, look.

-It's scary for me, you know,

cos I'm not a dog expert, you know, I just love dogs.

-Why is it scary for you?

-Because she's tried to bite me a couple of times.

-Really?

-You know, it's like, whoa, you know, scary.

-And so...

-She's friendly if you want to give her love.

-OK. Would that be OK?

-Go, "Hello."

-Hello.

-"Hello. I love you,"

and then give her a little push. A real gentle push.

-Hi. How are you doing?

-Don't over stimulate her.

OK, sorry, too much.

Now, what we do to solidify the relationship is

we would go for a walk together as a pack.

-We're in a pack now.

-Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

-What's your name?

-Greg.

-Greg.

-Retired fireman.

When you thought about her being sad and her being given up

by her old family, that upset you, didn't it?

Sure. You know, we all have personal issues in our lives that

we're dealing with, you know, from the past. This guy's digging, digging, digging!

Like, I got abandoned when I was a child,

my dad left when I was 13, gone, boom, for ever.

So there's abandonment issues.

So that's what you're thinking about when you think about her

being left, you're thinking about yourself?

I don't know, I have things lacking in my life that I need

and this dog fulfils that for me. Makes me happy.

That's it! That's it!

Tyler used to have real bad issues,

but he behaves a lot better.

He bit someone, a long time ago, before she got him.

He's got a slightly wild look about him, doesn't he?

Someone told me he ripped up your Jaguar - is that true?

Yes.

You've got a very expensive Jaguar car and he tore up the upholstery.

Yes, in five minutes. Like, even the seatbelt, everything was off, gone.

How much damage did it do?

Do you think I fixed the car?

I went and bought a new car.

You bought a new car?

That's life. What am I going to do? A car, you can change it.

The dog, you cannot change him, so I keep the dog, I throw the car.

You know, life, living, being -

way much more important than just stuff or money, you know?

This is the bottom line.

-Good for you.

-Vegan.

Go! Go!

Go! Move them legs, don't fall!

Push it, push it, push it, last lap, push it!

They say that pit bulls are naturally animal-aggressive.

-That's true.

-Is that true?

-Yes.

Put it like this. If you got a pit bull, that's a gang dog

and if he got into a fight already, I will never break him.

So what do you do, then?

I'm sorry, you've got to euthanise.

You've said to people, "You should think about euthanising that dog"?

-Have you said that to people?

-Certain dogs, I have to.

I've run into women that be in their 60s, 70s,

and they've got a pit bull, man, that they rescued from the shelter,

right? And it's like when you go to a shelter,

the dog is like an inmate, so he's happy,

he see a lady bringing him a treat,

"Oh, there she go."

But when you adopt him up out of there,

now you've got Charles Manson.

-Are you in a relationship?

-I'm not in a relationship.

I had a lady friend I talked to but I don't even talk to her no more

because she said I was crazy for working these dogs, like, I work.

She said, "Why you don't charge them people?

"Why you go do all that?" "It's none of your business."

"All you do is help people with their dogs, I'm tired of you, bye."

I don't want no woman that don't like dogs.

I'm a dog man, I'm going to be a dog man till I die

and if a woman can't accept that, I'm not the man for her.

I was curious to meet some owners who, in rescuing a dog,

had ended up at crisis point with a canine Charles Manson.

I heard about Max, an artist, and Nancy, a fashion designer,

five months into a relationship

with a two-year-old pit bull terrier mix they'd found at a city pound.

BARKING

-Hi.

-Hi.

-How are you doing?

-Good, thanks. How are you?

Can we come in? Wow. Louis.

-I'm Nancy.

-Nancy.

'They'd called him Casper.'

What about that?

That's not a good way to meet.

It's stressful.

Yeah. Sit. Casper.

Good boy, good boy.

That was good.

So you decided you'd like a dog in your life, is that what happened?

-Yes.

-We saw Casper, we instantly fell in love with him,

he was staring at us through the bars. He was beautiful, basically.

-Was he barking inside the cage?

-No.

-No, he was very calm.

I think that it was on our first walk that we obviously

realised that, um, he didn't get along with other animals.

When my first friend who came over, um, was, um,

nipped on the arm, later he actually drew blood from someone else.

Yeah, the most vicious was, he just charged my brother full on

and bit him really hard on the leg, and Nancy couldn't even get him off.

The cliche you hear about dogs is that they're pack animals

and they need a pack leader, you know,

because you seem like a nice guy but you're not an intimidating

kind of pack leader presence. Is that factored into your thinking?

Yeah, absolutely, and I've done everything I could to make it

clear to him, but he always finds a way to usurp my pack leadership.

I mean, literally, I would have to put my entire body weight on top

of him, but he, somehow, is like a little rat or squirrel or something,

he just squirms out underneath and gets back up again.

It's kind of amazing.

He's stronger than you are?

Yeah, maybe. I don't know.

We almost want someone to tell us that it's not possible for him

to live a normal life.

In a way, you want someone to give you permission to end the nightmare?

HE BARKS

Max and Nancy had enlisted the professional help

of Matt Bicener, who styles himself the Zen Dog Trainer.

I just want to make clear for the crew that the

three of you are aware that we're dealing with a dog that's dangerous.

You need us to make it clear that we understand there are certain

risks involved here?

You don't think we're really going to get bitten, though, do you?

Do I think you will? Um, no.

Is it possible? Yes.

HE BARKS LOUDLY

If you could translate what Casper is saying,

what would it be? In English?

Fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, right?

And all he wants to do...is smell me.

Right.

As a pack leader, I don't pretend, defend or explain,

cos you are genetically wired to follow me.

My job is to meet your needs, and I will.

Beyond that, I don't actually have to say anything to you,

I don't have to defend my decisions, I don't have to explain my decisions

and I don't have to pretend that I'm somebody that I'm not.

Kind of a bit ruthless, in a way.

I mean, if you behaved that way to a wife or a loved one,

you know, you would be acting like a dick.

I think I'm pretty low on the dick meter.

You'd have to ask around but I think at this stage, I'm past that.

BARKING

I just want you to just come close, OK?

We're just going to see what happens here with my friend.

HE BARKS

Don't look at him, just stand there. Stand up straight.

Feeling OK?

-Are you a little bit nervous?

-No.

-So this is...

-You haven't seen what this dog can do.

-No big deal.

So 10, 15 minutes ago, he was afraid of you

and now he realises, "Oh, these are three nice kids that

"live in my neighbourhood." You know? And that's how we do it.

Could this dog be turned and be a great social dog?

I absolutely believe that.

Is that reasonable or realistic?

Don't know about that, that really comes down to them.

They just wanted, you know, a dog that you would feed

and take care of, and they didn't sign on for this.

It's been my experience that when a dog shows up in my life,

whatever those dogs' needs are, that becomes a gift.

It's like the gift of having been in a car crash.

There's only so many gifts like that that a person can take.

That one can take? Yeah.

For what it's worth, I have no problem

if they decide not to keep this dog.

-Good boy.

-I wouldn't walk away from this

and say, you know, those people gave up on that dog.

I mean, we'd love to keep him around

and we want to be realistic at the same time.

Mm-hm Yeah.

-It's quite an emotional thing, isn't it?

-Yeah.

RAP MUSIC PLAYS

I was on patrol with animal control officer Shatana Bake.

City cutbacks have meant that in the entire area of South LA

there are only three officers working on any given shift.

With shelters so overcrowded, picking up strays can amount to

a death sentence for the animal.

So they focus on more pressing issues.

We were following up on a neglect case.

We've come here several times, and there was one dog, I don't know

if it got into a dog fight with one of the other dogs

but it was injured and swollen and things, and I told them

to take it to the vet. The next time I came back, he's saying

God will take care of him and his dogs,

and they didn't answer the door.

The guy, I think, is on drugs and stuff.

I'm here about the pre-seizure that we left for the medical treatment.

Did you ever take the dog to get medical treatment?

Man, I don't need this shit, man.

I already talked to somebody, man, I got a ticket, all that.

I know, I was the one who issued the citation.

-What's your name first of all? Marqis?

-Marqis, yes.

OK. But what is the issue with her taking the dog?

The issue is, I don't want...

HE MUMBLES

So the list of the veterinarians that I gave you, did you call any of them?

I ain't called none of them. I ain't called shit.

They can help you for free, a lot of them can.

I don't want to have... Here.

I'll get my dog.

-So you get the dog and we're gone.

-Here's a leash.

-You can put that around his neck.

-Motherfuckin' joke.

What's the situation in there?

A lot of faeces and stuff, they would keep the dogs in this room or some of the puppies and...

-Can you see?

-Yeah, you can see in there.

I don't like this situation, this is too tense for me.

Come on honey, good boy, good boy.

Fuckin' bitch.

DOG WAILS

Bitch!

-Marqis?

-What?

-Can we talk to you?

-Talk to me?

Take your bitch ass back to London, nigger.

You would guess that they were just pets that were not well cared for.

That's what I would assume, but I don't know exactly what,

what they have going on there.

There is a woman that lived here that was taken to

a convalescent home or a hospital or something,

I believe it's Marqis' grandmother or mother.

-Really?

-Yeah.

And so since she's been gone it's just, I don't know

if it was better before or if it's just gotten really bad.

-What does that vehicle do?

-Pick up dead animals.

Dead ones?

Yeah, they pick up all of the ones that we put to sleep here

and also the ones that are squished in the street.

Where does he take them to?

There's a rendering plant that they make them

into fertiliser or something.

I was keen to find out whether a dangerous dog could be made safe.

An owner had agreed to let me follow her through

the process of rehabilitation.

Her name was Angela Anselone.

She'd had her German shepherd, Burger, for around 5 years.

Hi, Angela? Louis, nice to meet you. How's it going?

-Good, come on in.

-Thank you. Maybe we should, I think...

BARKING

Is that him?

What's he saying?

I have no idea, "Get the heck out of my house."

I'm nervous for you guys, cos he is pretty...

Why are you nervous for us?

Cos I like you.

Hey! Knock it off, stop it.

Burger!

What is he doing?

Hi, hello.

Talking to him won't work. Stop it!

You know, he'll shoot his anal glands all over the place

and he just, he goes crazy.

BARKING

I'm just going to be a little bit over here.

Stop.

BARKING

Hey, stop. Knock it off. No.

-Has it affected your life in any way?

-My whole life.

-In what way?

BARKING

Stop it!

-One of my girlfriends is a vet, she said I should put him down.

-Why?

Because she doesn't think this is solvable.

-You think he maybe genetically bad?

-Yeah.

But I don't know, I mean whose to say for sure?

I feel almost as though Burger's on my side now and it's me

and you and Burger against the crew.

Maybe. Oh you spoke too soon.

His anal glands didn't go at least.

-Oh, yes they did, they went in here.

-Oh did they?

No!

When I see Burger in that mode, clearly he's, he's stressed out and I,

and I can see why some people might think about having him put down.

Yes. And they think I'm crazy for keeping a dog like that.

Burger and Angela were putting their fate in the hands

of a maverick dog specialist called Brandon Fushay.

-Hi.

-Hi, are you Angela? Hey, how's it going? Come on in.

Brandon is utterly opposed to obedience training of the type

offered by most other experts.

I haven't met a dog yet that could not be worked with,

but I have met many people who are not willing to do the work,

you see,

and, and that's why I always ask people, and I'm

going to ask you too, uh, how much do you love your dog?

I'm not going to give him up.

And I'll do whatever it takes I, I have, I mean I've structured

my whole world around him, my house, I'm not going to give him up.

I would never kill my dog.

This is what I want to do.

I want to go to the car.

Can I, should I put the muzzle on him?

Er, yeah you can put it on and I'll take it off.

So we'll, maybe we'll film this a little, from a little way back.

Angie. Shut the door on the leash.

He looks pretty big in there. OK.

Just be careful, OK.

The key is moving forward, moving forward, moving forward.

That's the energy that we want to see.

BARKING

Perfect, perfect. Fear aggression.

He's looking very confused.

Yeah, that's fear, he doesn't know what I'm doing.

This is the part where no-one has ever touched him.

OK, what I'm doing now, I'm just being assertive,

I'm not being, I'm not making him fight for his life.

I'm not trying to dominate him,

I'm just doing what I want to do as a leader.

This, this dog is so sensitive, see him

trying to go after the flies even though I'm on him?

He doesn't like flies.

-Yeah.

-I've never seen his tail under like that before.

-Is your heart beating very fast?

-Of course it is. Yeah.

It is beating fast

because I'm going to take the muzzle off to prove what I'm saying.

-Where is it safe for me to be?

-Anywhere you want to sit.

Anywhere you want to sit, just sit down.

Just sit down, you guys can just relax.

I see a lot of dogs like this, because we created it but then

that's not what we want when we go to Starbucks and we want to sit

out and have a cup of coffee or go where other dogs are or people are.

-It's not what we want.

-Was that nice to see that?

-Yes.

-With the muzzle off and, and...

-Yes, yes, I'm very impressed.

Why should we have to deal with aggressive dogs?

I mean there's some humans whose crimes are so severe and extreme

that we say we cannot reach that person, he is beyond help.

-OK.

-And don't you,

would you not think that there are dogs for whom that's also true?

Well, you know that, that's an interesting question

because, you know, I've been doing this for over 25 years

and personally, I have not met that dog.

When trainers work with a dog like this and say,

"This dog needs to be destroyed"

then you've overstepped your professional boundary.

I would take this dog and never tell him to sit, to down, to heel,

to stay or to come or any other training word

and just exist with him emotionally, hormonally within the moment

and make a change with that dog, just hanging with him.

You know, let's say I'm a busy 21st century person with kids

and a job and a car and all the million annoyances of the

modern life and I don't want to live in a way that's going to make sense

to a primitive animal, I just want to live a normal suburban life and I

want a dog that's going to go along

with that and not give me any hassles.

Well I, I don't think that that's how most people think, I think

that's how most people have been taught to think.

-That's what I believe.

-Right.

You know, the house and the car and the picket fence and all of that,

you know and then you meet someone that can tell you that

material objects are not that important, that that is not where

you're going to find your happiness

and suddenly all the stress of having

all those things that you wanted are no longer stressful because

they're not that important, that's beautiful, that's beautiful man.

Sit down, don't say anything just sit down.

This is how you exist within the moment.

It's not about, it's just about being, you know.

-OK.

-That's great.

-Is this good?

-That's fine,

he's not feeling afraid.

It's as though that moment when you took him out and you, you

sort of stood over him that rebooted his, his computer in some way and...

Isn't that how life is?

And since then he's been a different dog.

Isn't that how life is though? When, when someone can reach out

and touch you and change the way you think?

If I could thank my dogs a thousand times a day it would not be

enough for everything that they have taught me.

It would not be enough.

You've got a tattoo of a human brain

and a dog brain in a kind of feedback loop.

That's what it means, that's,

that's the whole scenario here that I'm talking about.

Well, come here, let's sit down, let's talk really quick.

I'm amazed at what I've seen.

Are you ready?

On your marks, get set,

go!

-I was back at Dog Man's training class.

-Heads up! Heads up!

Put your dog in the shade!

One of the dogs was the stray pit-bull we'd

found on our first morning together, now newly renamed.

-Nice looking dog, isn't it?

-Yeah, very nice.

-Giselle, they're calling her.

-Excuse me?

-Giselle.

-That's her name? Yeah, very nice.

Can you tell the difference, that's for sure.

Come on, Lee!

Gimme two, come on!

Come on, don't give up now, come on!

What I like about Giselle is she's very attentive, you know

I imagine any future owner would feel very loved and, and

you know, especially if they don't get a lot of human attention, to

have Giselle hanging on your every word would be hugely encouraging.

Also even though she really looks up to you, Royce, I know you're

fostering her but she's, it's not as though if I come over here,

she's not, she doesn't mind,

she's, that's not worrying her at all, is it?

-No.

-And I can go like that.

That's part of training as well though.

-You know, some dogs if you, if you...

-Yes.

She's not, she's not a guard dog.

I'm just going to take the lead, is that all right?

And then we'll just say, well, look, I'm your leader now.

I'm your leader.

She's pulling quite a lot on the lead and this way

and round this way. This way, Giselle.

If these dogs are with you for a lifetime, raise your hand!

Cos some people don't know!

Thank you, thank you.

Let's go here. Knock it off.

And then disaster struck.

What happened?

A melee broke out between several dogs, one of them belonging

to Greg, the retired fire-fighter I'd met the previous week.

Mini-Pinny, where are you, baby? Speak.

She's about this big, 10 pounds.

-Yeah. What's her name?

-Lexi.

Lexi.

Throw out on your radio I've got a 100 bill for anyone who

-finds my Mini-Pinny.

-OK.

-She's on a leash, her name's Lexi.

-Lexi?

Yeah, and if you want her to come to you just go down like this

and say come and she'll come to you.

This is America, you know, people respond to cash.

Well, I'm over there just chit chatting with Angie

and then er, I got snuck up behind by two uh, 90 pound pits.

And, uh, so the Pin took off.

So what's your plan now?

You know, I just hope she didn't get killed and you know,

all I can do is just, all I can do

is just try and stay positive and carry on.

Hi, how you doing?

HIS VOICE BREAKS

Anyways. It's been tough, but I feel so bad.

You must feel pretty upset about it.

Yeah, I'm pretty sad right now. Pretty sad.

-Somebody'll bring her in. Is she friendly, your dog?

-Yeah, yeah.

It's always you know, you always have to look at yourself to find

out where I was responsible for this thing, you know, and uh, you know,

part of my responsibility was, is that..

I didn't hold onto the leash.

That's all right.

Lexi was off among the street dogs of South LA.

What colour was it again?

Black and tan, Mini-Pinny. Thank, you sir.

Oh, man, I'm so stressed out right now, I want to cry.

Once a member of Greg's family, now a little different than

the thousands of other strays, another dog with a broken heart.

I decided to pay another visit to Malcolm,

he was working with a client on home security.

Alvin, have you been a victim of a home invasion?

-Oh absolutely, absolutely.

-In this house?

-Absolutely.

-Really?

-Yes.

My kids and my parents were home at the time of the invasion

and they went in the back yard and to the back house and had

they been coming, they broke into the house and stole a lot of stuff.

What would Atticus have done if that situation were repeated?

-How would it be different?

-I think he would have protected the home.

How are you feeling, Big Lee?

Oh, yeah, this is home invasion right here.

SHOUTING

That's my boy! That's my boy!

That's my boy! Atticus!

That's my boy! That's my boy!

-That's my boy!

-What you doing in my truck?

Don't make me send my dog down there.

That's my boy!

I think Big Lee's got a future in acting.

Back at Malcolm's house and with Big Lee standing guard,

I was introduced to another dog family member in the back yard.

That's why she's like that, she's dangerous.

Is she not trained yet?

-No. I didn't want her socialised.

-Why?

That's what she's supposed to do,

it's fenced in all the way around, you have no business over here,

it's just with me, a security for my family.

-Is Brownie allowed around your kids?

-Oh, yeah.

So how would she be around us then?

-She would bite you automatically.

-Why?

Because you're not part of the pack, you know,

she's going to bite you, she's not getting out, you're not coming in.

It seems to me that you have a, you have a very developed sense of,

of there being danger, that, that you have maybe even a paranoia

about risk being at you at all sides.

No, no, no, if I was projecting that image to you, um, it's wrong.

It's wrong. I'm not paranoid.

Secret service is watching the President,

would you call them paranoid?

They have a job to do, my job is to watch my family,

to watch over my family.

The President is one of the most threatened, one of the most

endangered people on the planet probably, daily death threats.

But do you think his security are paranoid?

I think they have a justifiable sense of what the dangers are.

Same thing with me.

My wife, my daughter, my granddaughters, my sisters,

my nieces, they don't know what's happening

out in the streets, they're innocent.

The more eyes you have watching, the better it is, you're not

really anticipating something's going to happen, but by all of us

being together and think the same way, eyes are always roamin'.

It's survival. To me it's part of being a man,

that's just the way life is to me.

Across town, I'd heard there had been a development with Nancy

and Max and their volatile rescue dog, Casper.

Hi.

-Hi, how you doing?

-How are you?

This is our new dog.

Unlike Casper, he will not bite your face off.

A new dog? So much to talk about.

-Yeah, how you doing?

-Good. So where is Casper?

He is no longer with us in, uh, in the world rather, we should say.

-He's dead?

-Yeah.

He attacked me, but I'm not taking it personally,

because of what we've learned that you know, about his aggression

and his fear and it's uh, just a way of him releasing this fear.

I don't think he even knew what he was doing or how intensely hard

he was biting her, um, but he did

and we had to go to urgent care and get her ankle fixed up and patched

up and he bit her almost down to the bone on that, on that ankle.

-Really?

-Yeah it was really painful.

-It was really bad.

-Bleeding?

-Oh yeah, there was like...

-There was, there was tissue coming out.

-Dangling.

-Yeah.

It was very, an emotional experience because I knew what it meant,

that we could no longer keep him, he was a dangerous animal

and he was very, you know, he was capable of doing this to anyone.

So how did you go about having Casper euthanized?

Well, we took him to a nearby pet hospital,

they sedate him a little bit first and we noticed that as he was

being sedated, even then he could not relax.

You sat with him and how, how did that go?

How did it feel to be there watching that?

He's an innocent animal in a way,

I mean I, I still feel like he was screwed up by, um,

the circumstances in which he was born and it's not his fault.

-Are you OK?

-Yeah.

It's just, it's just, it still makes you feel sad.

I guess I'm not really sure if it can ever be fully rehabilitated,

I think we would always have to be kind of on guard and it's a really

stressful state of mind to be in if you're just having a pet, you know.

Hi. Hi.

How are you doing?

Belvedere just seems so relaxed, you know,

maybe it's a bit like having an animated throw rug.

That's my concern.

I don't want to say anything rude in front of him, but a bit what?

-A bit blah?

-Well, you know...

Casper was a big personality,

Belvedere has proved himself to be a very subtle one, I think.

So how are we doing today?

Unfortunately not so good, we had to do some euthanasias yesterday

and um, I ended up doing about 17.

17 non-medical or including medical?

Um, there was three behaviours and the rest were just for space.

So now you have 17 spaces here?

No, I don't, animals here are able to be turned in 24 hours a day.

We got so many animals in overnight, I only have six empty kennels.

I'll get 25 dogs in easy today, so my kennels will fill up today.

Does that mean you'll be euthanizing today?

Yes. Um, because we'll be getting more animals in.

I'll have to look through the list, um,

starting from this section here I have to go through this page,

this page, this page, this page, this page.

It's really hard to choose, for lack of a better term,

who gets to die today.

She's been here since 6/12.

-She's going?

-Yes.

Come here. Come here.

At the South LA shelter, the city authorities had permitted me

to watch one animal go on its last walk to the euthanasia room.

A two-year-old stray, he'd been in the shelter for six weeks

but never been named.

Another potential pet or even family member would soon be dead,

good only for fertiliser.

Sit down. Good dog, stay.

OK, no problem.

Come on baby, come on baby.

In dogs, we've created over centuries a dependant class

of creatures among us, but not truly of us.

Watch out Momma, I'm sorry sweetheart. No.

They are a colonised species whose chief flaw is to understand us

too little and love us a little too much.

-All over.

-Yeah.

We only have so much space, I only have so much I can do,

but you know, a lot of people, um,

would think anything's better than death, anything's better

if you're shoved in a cage with 15 dogs, that's better than death.

We, as animal care givers

and animal care takers and... it's not a life,

it really isn't, the whole thing is running out of room and if,

if people were just more responsible with their animals then we

wouldn't have probably the shelters, I wouldn't have a job, you know.

Every day I walk through the shelter to see what they have up here,

I feel sorry about some of these animals, man.

It's like somebody being on death row knowing their date,

when they're going to be euthanized.

You have quite a deep connection with, with dogs in general

-and pit-bulls especially, don't you?

-Yes.

-How do you explain that?

-Well, I've been,

I've been dealing with pit-bulls practically all my life,

I could have been a drug dealer, I could have been a gangster,

you know, here's what the streets have got to offer you here, this

is South Central, the city don't even come and pick up their junk.

Look, it's all around you.

Is there something you can get from a relationship with your dog

that you don't get from humans?

Yes, cause people change on you, you know,

your dog will forgive you for everything that you do,

humans do so much, I had humans beings do so much to me, man, in my life.

-Like what kind of things?

-You know, it's like I lost my mother

to a doctor, a doctor killed my mother, seven months later my dad

had prostate cancer and I was helping my dad,

you know, when he was sick, you know, he couldn't move, just like

having a dog. A lot of these dogs, we're in the same position,

you know, I know, I know how you feel,

you know, and they know how I feel.

Here come a poodle trying to find his way, come on, buddy,

come on, buddy, hey, baby, come on.

See? Somebody went and let him loose.

-Right by the shelter.

-You think so?

I know so, that's what they do, they probably went down there to the

other end of the corner down there in the car just dropped him off.

So you see that dog there? That dog'll get hit by a car too, probably.

Where'd that dog go?

I thought I was finished with the dogs of South LA,

but then I got a call from my friend Greg.

Easy!

It's not the welcome I was hoping for.

Are you OK, Greg? Greg, are you OK?

I just put my body between the two of them.

Lexi was biting her and she was biting her.

You look like you've been in an accident.

This is the love right here, that's all she needs.

That's all she needs.

Virginia, how do you feel about having Lexi back?

It's like finding a needle in a haystack,

I walked all the way around the Coliseum and asked all the workers and stuff

and, and finally found someone who said, yes, I saw your little dog.

Did you see recognition in her eyes when you, when you saw her, Greg?

I saw, uh, relief.

-Did she come to you?

-No she stayed next to Virginia's side.

-She stayed next to me.

-She stayed by you. Could you pick her up?

Yes, I picked her right up.

-Put her in her bed, we're going home.

-OK.