Police Dog and Suspected Illegal Boxer Breeding Animal Saints and Sinners

Nearly half of Britain owns a pet...

Nice one, mate.

It's the council and the police, can you open the door, please?

..but man and beast don't always live together in harmony.

I have reason to believe it is your dog

and you've had it for a fair few weeks and not two weeks.

When things go wrong, animal wardens are there to protect our pets...

..and keep their owners in check.

Why am I having it taken from me?

I love you too!

But for some of us, our animals are more than just pets...

I wouldn't know what to do without him.

..they can change and even save lives.

I owe my life to these horses.

This is Animal Saints And Sinners.

DOG BARKS

Coming up...

The animal warden in Winchester who's been called to a house

where two pets don't get on...

I've seen it on telly, two Staffies having a scrap,

but to see it in person was heartbreaking.

..an abandoned dog in Yorkshire who's suffered horrific injuries.

There was a big hole over his elbow.

This piece of skin is dead though,

so this will have to be cut away.

..and we meet an ex-Battersea dog,

who's now a crucial member of the police force.

He's a working dog through and through

and I think that's one of the reasons why he ended up in Battersea.

In Winchester in Hampshire, Emily Bowen is always busy.

This little chap was found in Wycombe.

As the area's only animal warden, it's up to her to

single-handedly deal with up to 150 stray dogs a year,

and take essential steps to curb aggressive or dangerous dogs.

He's absolutely fine, we had him castrated yesterday.

DOG GROWLS AND BARKS

She covers a 250-mile square patch

and tries to re-home as many animals as she can.

It is challenging, definitely,

but really rewarding when you can find the dogs a new home

and see them have a second chance at life,

cos some of them have come from pretty sad starts.

He is nocturnal.

Emily also deals with unusual animals and licences for zoos...

You've got all the signs up to warn people,

so carry on as you are and we'll see him again.

..as well as coping with the everyday complaints

about dog fouling or barking.

This little rascal...

She's the one that is the issue, definitely.

Today, Emily's got to confront someone

she suspects is illegally breeding and selling Boxer dogs.

Anyone breeding five or more litters in one year is

viewed as breeding professionally, and for that, you must be licensed.

Once you have one, you're bound by age-restrictions

and regulations as to the amount of litters you can produce.

Breeding illegally can result in fines of up to £2,500

and up to three months in prison.

We've been many times before and we're just trying to establish

how many puppies are for sale.

So we're just going to go up and have a look, see what we can see

and have a chat with the owners.

Emily's brought a colleague from the local council for support.

Hello.

It's miserable, isn't it, today?

-Can we have a quick chat? Is that all right?

-Yes.

-OK.

-Do you want to come in?

-Yep.

Emily needs to see how many dogs are on the site.

The owners are allowed to have up to 30 as pets,

but she believes they have at least 40 dogs here.

So is that in the mobile home with you?

Yeah.

So that's six in there, is it, now?

Yeah.

We'll have a look at the dogs - there are some puppies inside,

so we'll be able to have a look at them in a minute.

There's a number of dogs in this pen and further down there.

They're normally kept in pairs with breeding pairs,

make and female together,

so that when the female comes into season they can have puppies.

So we'll see how far we're able to have a look in with

the owner's permission.

Hi, guys.

So...

Hello.

Yeah.

OK, don't worry.

They've all got water and everything - that's fab.

Hello, so this is male/female in here?

-Two males.

-Two males.

OK. Is the number still the same as last time?

How many have you got at the moment?

We've got the old ones still...

And we've still got, er, a couple of pups back

because unfortunately is...

they've come to 12/13, no doubt we'll lose those

cos that's the maximum.

So you've got two elderly ones, so you're keeping the puppies?

-Yeah, two puppies.

-OK.

-To replace them.

-OK.

And we had the breeder report from The Kennel Club cos

we get the update of the ones there,

so are we all right to have a look at the puppies?

-Yeah.

-Yeah? Fab. Thank you.

OK.

Hello, I can see you're a bit grotty -

it's a bit of a mess up here.

Last time Emily visited, the man and his wife were warned that

if they wanted to breed dogs legally,

they must clean up the site and get the animals better

shelter before they would be granted a licence.

-WOMAN:

-These are temporary, we need to really sort these out.

-Yeah.

So, you know, it is the weather.

It's the weather that's stopping us at the moment.

Like I said, there's cement under there and we can't get a digger

up here at the moment, and it's like everyone across the country.

Yeah, I think...

No, we have the reports that come through from The Kennel Club,

to show how many litters you're having,

and we've had the conversation before regarding licensing

and what we need to do to get set up here and

hopefully the planning with go through

and something will be sorted out with that.

Again, it's looking at timescales, cos theoretically, as you're running

a business from the breeding, it should be that you're licensed.

So that's obviously the goal that we want to get to.

We can't do anything at the moment with the weather, can we?

No. You've got some puppies at the moment - Alan said it's all right

-if I take a look and see them?

-Yeah.

-OK. Thank you.

-It is - sort of.

-OK.

DOGS BARK

Yeah.

Hi, guys.

Hello. Hello.

DOGS BARK

That's not good.

Faeces.

OK.

Emily is worried that the dogs that are being bred here without

a licence are also being kept in unsanitary conditions.

Yeah, OK. Are you washing up in this area?

Wash up and everything else till we get it sorted

and they'll go undercover again, and that's what we plan on again.

OK, yep.

MAN SHOUTS

Although the man is making improvements,

Emily isn't happy that he's keeping the dogs' food outside

and washing up dirty bowls in the same area.

DOGS BARK

-Thank you. Bit quieter in here, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Hello, fellas.

OK.

So these two are permanently in here

but you're not breeding from them any more?

They're too old. They're 13 and 12.

So these are five weeks old,

and have you got homes for them set up already?

-Pardon?

-Have you got homes for them?

-Yeah.

-Most have gone already.

-Right, OK.

There are increasing concerns about the amount of unlicensed

breeding in the UK,

where selling dogs for a huge profit can outweigh

the importance of keeping them healthy.

In England, you need a licence to breed five or more litters

during any one year.

Bitches cannot be mated before they are a year old,

and each must have no more than six litters in their lifetime.

Do you know how many litters you've had here in the last 12 months?

Erm... No. This is the first litter this year.

-First litter this year.

-Yeah... Boxing Day I did one.

Yeah.

First litter on Boxing Day. OK.

OK.

Do you move them out of here, or do they stay in here?

They go to the...

No, they stay in there cos there's heat.

And when they're eight weeks old, she's had enough then,

then she comes out.

Yeah, OK.

-DOG BARKS

-All right, girl, don't be worried.

All right, darling.

We won't stress them out any more.

Have they got some water? That's fine?

Yeah, I come in now to do that.

You can see the conditions...

Yeah, that's fine.

It's typical of pups, they just turn over,

but I always check them anyway.

-Well, I'm here every day anyway.

-Yeah.

Good girl.

Can I have a quick look at numbers if that's OK?

I won't walk down there.

-I was going to say cos...

-I know, I know.

I'm not going to walk down there.

Good girl.

Should we have a chat out round this side?

Emily has seen enough to know that there are more than

the allowed 30 dogs on this site,

and there's evidence to suggest they are breeding illegally.

DOGS BARK

MAN SHOUTS

Obviously I know you've got a lot on your plate with what's

going on up here...

Same kind of issues of last time - the amount of faeces

and stuff in the enclosures,

I think that's something that, number-wise, got to get on top of,

cos if it's too much look at reducing the numbers.

I'm going to do another form that we did last time to say it needs

to be cleared up, and then I'll come back again and have a catch up.

Give us a ring and everything else, and maybe it'll be a bit better.

Yeah.

The worst thing about the job is trying to educate

members of the public to get them to understand

about the importance of animal welfare

and coming up against barriers with that and seeing

animals in circumstances that I don't feel are suitable for them,

but I'm limited with regards to the legislation as to what

I can do to resolve those issues. So that can be frustrating.

And obviously coming across animals that have been mistreated

through lack of finance or ignorance and seeing the trauma

and suffering the animal's gone through.

That's also very upsetting.

Obviously I know you find our visits stressful,

but we want to find a resolution...

I ain't taking no more in. I've had enough!

We want to make sure we can come back and say,

"This premises is now here to stay, it's got the permission,

"it's got the licence."

That's what we want to work towards.

The couple feel strongly that they haven't had the right weather

conditions to make the changes that Emily has asked for.

But if on her next visit, if things haven't changed,

they could be facing legal action.

It's very frustrating when we visit this site,

cos it's always the same issues and it's what we're trying to resolve.

I think there's just too many dogs here for the couple to manage,

so there's always a lot of faeces in the runs,

the water provision isn't great,

the outdoor food preparation area is not

suitable cos that will attract rats.

There's also issues with hygiene and washing up the bowls properly.

It's not good, it is frustrating,

but hopefully we can decide on a good way forward.

But I think that's going to be a bit of a long way ahead really.

In Northamptonshire, Emma Reid lives with

her 16-month-old Springer Spaniel Herbie.

I've always grown up with animals, always been a big part of my life.

Never had any brothers and sisters,

but I've had plenty in the animal world.

Come on, sit.

My relationship with Herb is great.

I think we've got a strong bond and it's getting stronger

and stronger as time's going on.

Emma's had Herbie for just over a year now,

but he's not just any ordinary dog.

Emma's been a police constable for 20 years

and has spent the last three of them working as a dog handler,

and Herbie is her specialist search dog.

Herbie, come here. Nutter!

Herb!

Police dog handlers not only spend their days at work

with their animals, that have to bring them home as well.

Emma had to find the right dog to fit in with her and her

long-standing work partner Willis, a four-year-old German Shepherd.

Normally, the police find work dogs form expert breeding programmes.

I was looking for a specialist search dog

and I was phoning around a lot of people, checking the internet, asking

if they had any English Springer Spaniels that needed re-homing.

Emma didn't have much luck with her usual contacts and made

the snap decision to try Battersea Dogs & Cats Home for the first time.

Now spread over three sites around the UK,

each year the charity takes in around 6,000 grateful dogs.

But it also has a much less publicised task -

to spot dogs who might suit working with the police and other services.

Here, at their Windsor site,

it's Keith Payne's job to be a talent scout.

He assesses the animals and watches how they respond to instructions.

Quiet.

Herbie came to Keith's attention when the family who owned him

handed him in to Battersea when he was six months old.

They couldn't cope when the lively puppy nipped one of their children

and felt they could no longer offer him a home.

Keith spotted Herbie's potential and brought him here to the

training hose at Windsor to see if

he could be trained as a working dog.

And after 15 years as an RAF police dog handler,

he knows a good search dog when he sees one.

Good girl - hold.

Come.

When I'm looking for a dog, I'm generally looking for one

that's outgoing in its character, not nervous or timid at all.

Out of Battersea's 6,000 homeless dogs,

Keith will select just 30 to 40 every year to work in the services.

When I'm looking for a potential police dog, I'm looking

for a German Shepherd, Labrador or Springer or Cocker Spaniel,

that is in the age range of about nine months to two years.

We're looking for a dog that's extremely

confident in its character, it's got a high drive,

whether that's to play tug games or tennis balls for search,

a dog that always want to go and keep going till it's found whatever

it happens to be looking for.

Hold.

This is the house where we did Herbie's evaluation to become

a police dog.

We took a tennis ball, bounce it like so and drop it in the drawer there.

And just close the drawer slightly,

and let him come forward and search for it.

Then we start to hide it and make it a bit more difficult for him -

some balls will be up high, other we'll put low -

just to get him thinking about areas he'd need to search.

We then start to close those drawers up,

so he's no longer allowed to use his eyes, he's got to use his nose

and demonstrate to us he's capable of picking up a scent.

We were extremely impressed with Herbie,

he did sail through his search dog course.

After seeing how well Herbie responded to training, Keith

felt convinced he'd be accepted as a search dog for the police,

but he had to find him the right handler.

And Emma's timely call to Battersea made all the difference.

He was very young - a lot younger than what we were looking for,

but we decided to go and have a look and really glad we did.

Stay. Ah-ah-ah.

Although he was just a puppy, Emma saw something in Herbie

and decided to give him a go,

bringing him back home to live with her and Willis.

He was very unsettled to start off with -

he'd had a lot going on, to be fair.

For a six-month-old puppy, he'd gone from a family home to

Battersea, stayed there for the best part of two months

and then obviously the change again to here.

So he'd had a lot to contend with in these early stages of is life really.

But it wasn't long before Herbie's natural drive pulled him through.

Herbie's got a desire to work - he's a working dog

through and through and I think that's one of the reasons

why he ended up in Battersea - he needed a working life.

He's full of energy, full of drive, he's so intelligent.

After settling in, Herbie was ready to begin a four-week

intensive training course with his new owner.

There are thought to be around 1,200 police dogs in the UK

and each one has been rigorously tested and trained.

Most are general-purpose animals who track down criminals,

detain and attack on command.

But one in five, like Herbie, are highly prized, specialist search dogs.

They have done a huge amount to help fight UK drug crime -

a trade believed to be worth about £8 billion a year.

At the age of just eight and a half months,

Herbie was a fully-fledged police dog.

Herbie's trained to detect class A drugs and B -

amphetamines, crack cocaine, heroin and MDMA.

This year, we've introduced him to cash

and also firearms and ammunition.

So, he's now trained on all three of those elements

and he has done ever so well in such a short space of time, really.

Herbie's now one of only seven specialist search dogs

in a force that covers over 900 square miles.

Herbie's a vital part of the dog section team.

We go out and support our colleagues at various incidents - burglaries,

car crime, missing persons,

property recovery, firearms incidents.

And today, Emma and her colleagues at Northamptonshire Police,

will be taking Herbie on a drugs raid.

I don't care if we only do two warrants,

as long as we can walk away,

safe in the knowledge that every stone has been turned over.

The officers have intelligence that class A drugs are being used

and it's Herbie's job to search them out.

It's a large-scale operation, with over 20 officers on the ground

and others in the air.

Police! Stay where you are! Stay where you are!

Herbie's told to sniff in every possible space.

We are looking for drugs, in particular class A drugs.

They are quite small quantities and so can be quite easily hidden.

The search will be systematic and quite thorough,

hence the reason the drugs dogs go through first

because that will give maximum opportunity to identify any areas

that then need to be fingertip searched.

The time it takes to search even just one room is massive,

for a couple of officers on their own

but with Herbie there,

he can speed that process along and he can cover a lot of ground quicker.

He will also detect the substances perhaps in places that

we sometimes we wouldn't think to look in.

Herbie's indicated to Emma that there might be drugs in both

the kitchen and lounge, so while the officers search those areas,

he makes himself busy checking the bathroom.

And following Herbie's tip-off, the officers have found something

very interesting in one of the cupboards, needles.

What this does is give us intelligence to suggest that yes,

drug use is definitely occurring at these premises.

And in the lounge,

Herbie also leads the team straight to an interesting find.

The drugs dog has indicated in this area. That could just mean

it has found a trace of drugs. The officers have searched

and they have found this piece of plastic just here, which,

to all intents and purposes, could have been a wrap for class A drugs.

It's a piece of plastic but to a drugs dog,

that might be covered in a set of class A drugs.

In the six months that Herbie has been going out to work with Emma,

he's had huge success.

We've found a crack pipe, needles, bags, foil

and the paraphernalia that goes with drug use, certainly.

Unfortunately, we haven't found any substances there but there is no

doubt that the occupier is linked with drugs, for sure.

At the end of a long day, Herbie and Emma head home.

As a reward for working so hard,

Emma makes sure he gets lots of attention and playtime, too.

Herbie means everything to me.

I spend as much time with him as I do anybody else.

He comes to work with me. He comes home with me.

He is special. Not just a working tool, for sure. He means a lot to me.

I want him to be happy. I want him to be fulfilled.

I want to give him the best life he possibly can have

and working is a part of that.

In Kirklees, West Yorkshire, the animal welfare department is

so busy, they need five dog wardens.

It's Kirklees dog warden service.

Right and where was the dog found?

Hiya, dog!

Every dog in the district falls under their protection

if it has been neglected, abandoned or abused.

Run!

A problem they have to deal with on a weekly basis

are dog-on-dog attacks.

Recently, an Alsatian attacked a Cavalier King Charles spaniel

who died shortly after.

The owner of the Alsatian obviously wasn't in control of his dog.

We will go to magistrates' court and ask for a control order on the dog.

New recruit, Liz, has been with the team for just three months.

Beautiful, aren't you, eh?

It is very much a throwaway society

and it is quite heartbreaking, really, the amount of dogs

that we pick up and the amount of people that are not bothered

that have lost their dog.

She has had information about a black lurcher that has

suffered horrific injuries

and is currently having emergency treatment at the vet.

Yeah, it was found on Smithies Lane at Heckmondwike in Kirklees.

He was found on Sunday tea-time, in a collapsed state.

He is quite dirty. He's got puncture wounds on the side of his rib cage.

He has got a big laceration to one of his front legs.

Possibly, he has been in a dogfight or has been

used for baiting. He has got quite a few scars on his head, old scars.

Illegal dog fighting is a problem that is on the increase

throughout the UK and can often result in death

for the dog used as bait.

By law, the council must keep all animals for seven days.

If they are not claimed or re-homed in that time,

-the council can destroy them.

-Thanks, bye.

That was the Dogs' Trust. I'm just asking them

if we can follow the progress of the black lurcher, who I am going

to call George because I'm fed up of calling him black lurcher boy.

In this case,

the dog isn't well enough to be kept in the council kennels, so a charity

have agreed to pay for his treatment and an extended stay at the vet's.

-We are going to go and see George and then we've got...

-Who's George?

The lurcher. I'm fed up of calling him the black lurcher

so he's called George. I'm going to go and see George

before his operation and then we are going to go to Cleckheaton

for these two strays.

-It's our dog. We are responsible for seven days.

-Yeah.

Because the dog was found as a stray,

Liz will use photographs to help track down the owner.

Whoever was last in control of the dog could face charges of neglect.

-Hello, darling. Good boy.

-Hello, gorgeous boy.

I'll just show you his wound, he's got.

This is his main injury here,

so there's a big hole over the back of his elbow.

This piece of skin is dead though, so this will have to be cut away

and we are going to have to get a flap of skin from his chest and fix

it down over his leg just to cover this big hole, to allow it to heal.

He has got a lot of bruising to his chest

and some little puncture marks here. The same on the other side.

We do suspect that it's bite wounds and something has grabbed him

around his chest.

Lurchers are often stolen from unsuspecting dog owners

and then used by dog fighters as bait because of their naturally

placid character traits, making them easy targets.

He is really bruised.

It is worse today than it was when he first came in.

The bruising is all coming out now.

-These puncture wounds, will they nick together?

-Yeah, they will do.

We'll leave this alone. It's just bite wounds.

They are generally quite dirty, so if you try and close them

-too much, sometimes you can stitch infection in.

-Yeah.

This one, we probably will leave.

It's just we need to have a look underneath this

because there's so much bruising around the rest of his chest,

you don't know what injury has been done under this.

So, that's something else that we'll have to look at

when he's asleep.

Georgie! Let's have a look at your lovely face,

instead of looking at them horrible wounds.

Go on!

Good boy.

George will be operated on later in the day but with such severe

injuries, finding a home for him might be easier said than done.

200 miles north of Kirklees, in Scotland,

animal welfare is a priority for one charity,

the Scottish Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals.

Hello, it's the Scottish SPCA. Could you come to the door, please?

They investigate over 20,000 reports of animal cruelty a year

and they're quick to the scene, responding to allegations

about animal welfare issues that come in through their helpline.

We've had a complaint about the dogs.

They have the power to seize animals if they are being neglected

and take them to one of their rescue centres.

You're great!

Senior inspector, Billy Linton, has been

with the SSPCA for eight years and covers a large area around Glasgow.

You do not know until you arrive exactly what you are going to see

when you get there.

A large part of Billy's job is monitoring the welfare

of animals and giving people advice about how best to look after them.

Today has brought him to an unusual place...

..a park in Paisley, that has an impressive farm enclosure.

-Hello, how are you?

-Great.

I'll tell you what it is. Someone's phoned in...

They think that one of your Kunekune pigs may be lame.

They may have foot problems or issues with mobility.

The animal keeper is happy letting Billy inspect the animals,

two seven-year-old Kunekunes,

a breed of domestic pig from New Zealand.

That one has turned up...

Yeah. It's OK.

On inspection, it looks like the pigs have overgrown hooves

which can affect their mobility.

We will not disturb them any further. That's great.

I mean, although they are disfigured, they are overgrown

and it's obvious but they are not going into the foot.

Although Billy is happy that the pigs aren't in pain,

his concerns about their overgrown hooves have worsened

when he notices what they have to walk on.

I mean, what I am seeing is an irregular walking surface.

It's not going to be good if their feet are like that.

You know, it's not going to be good.

Billy decides the best course of action is to give

the keeper some strong advice.

I think the most important thing right now is to get

the OK from the vet, that they are not immobile.

They certainly need their feet looked at again.

They've got overgrown hooves, purely because of the size of them

and the weight they are carrying on that surface.

Thanks for your time.

Billy will keep a close eye on the pigs' welfare

-to ensure his recommendations are carried out.

-Good stuff.

-Thanks again. Thanks for your time.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

On one Wiltshire farm,

a member of the livestock has turned from farmyard animal to friend.

Alfie the sheep was the runt of the litter and an orphan,

until he was adopted by Emma Turner and her husband, Fozz,

and brought to live with their flock in Wootton Bassett.

The farm mainly concentrates on British white cows.

We also have pigs and horses.

Eight years ago, they decided they'd also buy some sheep and one

animal in particular soon stood out from the rest of the flock.

Alfie was born in March 2006.

We knew that there was something very wrong

with his mum in the run-up to him being born.

Alfie's mum sadly died when he was just a week old

and the sickly lamb had to be taken in and bottle fed.

He was a really, really fragile lamb.

It took a terrific amount of work to actually keep him alive really.

But Emma's efforts paid off and as Alfie and physically stronger,

his personality began to shine through.

Alfie was...unique actually.

He had had a lot of contact with humans as a lamb

and I often wonder whether he really knew he was a sheep or not.

Because Alfie had been hand reared and was so close to his owners,

he started to become more of a pet than a farm animal.

He was always on the edge of the flock.

He got on well with the sheep but he really got on best with people.

Alfie and Emma soon became inseparable.

But one day, three and a half years ago, he started behaving strangely.

So it was October 2010 and we got all the sheep in to give them

a bit of foot care attention.

And Alfie was normally fine about that as long as he had a wall

to lean against. He was OK.

I had the head end and he was sort of resting against my body,

and he really was not a happy bunny.

He was crashing his head backwards against my chest.

And I was really worried

because I thought, you know, "What's the matter with him?"

Alfie was used to being handled and had enjoyed being close to Emma

since he was a lamb.

This is the first time he had ever intentionally hurt her.

I was really badly bruised and after about two days,

in the middle of the bruise,

I noticed a lump and it was on my right breast.

I thought to myself, "That's not OK."

That's very definitely a sinister thing.

So I went to my doctor and I had a biopsy and a mammogram

and an ultrasound, and it came back that it was actually breast cancer.

Emma's husband, Fozz, was with her

when she received the devastating news.

It's an awful thing for her to go through.

You don't know what's going to happen. It's really scary.

But also, to some extent, from a farmer's point of view,

from having dealt with livestock, you can't go into hysterics.

You have to sort of say to the surgeon, "OK, that's what it is.

"What do we do now?"

Emma was convinced that Alfie had sensed something was wrong with her

and this was why he was behaving oddly.

But whatever the reason, his actions had made Emma aware of her lump

and forced her to get it checked out.

My surgeon explained that if Alfie hadn't done this when he did,

I was actually just on the cusp of the cancer spreading.

If he had left it a couple of months later,

it would have been a completely different thing.

At the hospital they are convinced that he knew what he was doing.

Emma had chemotherapy and surgery.

Although it was an incredibly tough time,

when she came home, Alfie helped her through her recovery.

Alfie was always there. He was always...

He was an incredibly comforting presence

and he would leave whatever it was he was doing

and come and spend some time with me.

So, yeah, I think it would have been a lot harder without him being there.

With Emma in remission,

she and Alfie had a happy couple of years together on the farm

but two and a half years after the cancer was first discovered,

Alfie himself became unwell.

He saw the vet and had a variety of treatments but in July 2013,

he went downhill very quickly and sadly died.

It was just awful. It was like...

I was going to say it was like losing your best friend. It was.

I lost my best friend.

It's a big thing to owe somebody your life and that was what I did.

You know, I owed him my life.

I am incredibly grateful to Alfie for being around,

for having him, but also because he was so much fun.

I'm just really grateful because he really genuinely did save my life,

which is an amazing thing to say about a sheep, isn't it?

But there we are.

Back in Winchester,

animal warden Emily Bowen has been called to a house

where there is a dispute between two Staffordshire bull terriers.

An unneutered male dog has been introduced to a house

with an existing female Staffie.

They don't get on and the owner can't cope.

The fifth most common breed in the UK, Staffies, have been massively

overbred and make up a third of all unwanted dogs in kennels nationwide.

Hello. Hiya. Is this the little fella?

-HE BARKS

-Yeah.

-OK.

So you've got an upstairs and downstairs scenario? Oh, dear. OK.

Fiona has been struggling to keep her first dog, Taz,

away from the new dog, Reagan, after they had a fight.

Basically what it was, I think someone left an empty crisp packet down there

and two minutes later there was literally a big, massive scrap.

It was awful because, obviously, I've seen it on telly,

two Staffies having a scrap, but to see it in person and to try

and figure out what to do, it was heartbreaking.

Absolutely devastating. I'm absolutely devastated.

But he's a good boy and he deserves a good home.

But I think he should be on his own.

Fiona has made the tough decision to ask Emily to take Reagan away.

-Yeah.

-But he's just...

-They don't get on.

-No.

-They always got on and I really don't want to get rid of him.

-Yeah.

But I don't know what else to do.

I think you need to be safe and need to make sure...

Because, obviously, if Taz is here, you don't want her to get injured.

-Was there any injuries caused between them?

-He grabbed hold of her.

-I checked and it's fine.

-OK. No injuries there at all. OK.

That's fine. I mean, what we'll do is get him neutered.

We've got other dogs down at the kennels so we'll take him

down there and see how he gets on with them.

When he's out and about generally, how is he with other dogs

-when he's out and about?

-He's not too bad.

He's more... He's not a male dog, he don't like other males.

It's important to know everything

if she is to stand a good chance of finding a new home for the dog.

I honestly think you're doing the best thing.

The last thing you want is for them to have a major scrap

and injuries because, because then you won't be able to re-home him.

-He'll be all right now, won't he?

-It will be fine. No more Staffies.

-All right?

-I've got a thing about Staffies.

-I know.

It's probably best to leave...

because Taz will get stressed if you bring another one in.

Honestly, I've never seen a dog like it.

He just plays dead and he just speaks and he sings.

-He's just absolutely amazing. He's just captured my heart.

-Yeah.

Hard as it is, the woman decides she has to sign Reagan

-over into Emily's care.

-Are the kennels warm?

-Oh, yeah.

They've got heating and everything in there.

He'll have a nice, comfy bed.

We've got another Staff, actually, down there at the moment

so we'll see how they get on. OK?

I'll pop him on a lead. Come on then, mister.

Reags, come here. Can I give him a cuddle, quick?

-OK. Of course you can.

-Come here.

Be a good boy. He's excited now, he don't care.

-Good boy.

-All right. I'll just pop this on.

-OK.

-Come on, darling, good boy.

'A lot of the time people would take the first impression that

'that dog is aggressive or it's not suitable to be re-homed'

but actually, if you spend a bit of time with the dog

you can get its personality to come out. There we go.

It's always upsetting because you have that bond with an animal

and you don't want to lose them. But she's made the right decision.

It's definitely in the best interest of the dog.

You can't live with the dogs in two separate areas of the house

when they don't get on with each other so I think it's a really

good result for her, really good result for her dog

and a good result for this guy

so hopefully it will have a happy ending.

But because Reagan is a Staffie, Emily knows that she won't have

a huge choice about where to place him.

I'm very tempted all the time to take the dogs home.

I have three of my own and it's very tempting

because you're responsible for the animal,

you want to do your best for the animal

and to find it a new home where it's going to receive the attention

and love that it deserves

but there are so few homes out there that are willing

to take on this breed of dog that it is always very upsetting when

they are homeless and you can't really do too much

to try and turn them into the wonderful dog

that people want to walk down the street with.

They instantly have an impression of what Staffordshire bull terriers

are like and a lot of the time it's not the case.

He's lovely with people. You can clearly see there's no issues.

He deserves to be given a chance

'but it will all depend on how he is with other dogs.'

Good boy. Come on them.

If a dog is maybe aggressive and just through being nervous

it's not able to be re-homed, that is always a sad outcome

because you can have a dog that's great with people

but you can't risk putting it out to the community with other dogs so

if we had to put anything to sleep, that's always a really sad outcome.

In the UK, six to eight Staffies are put down every single day.

Hoping it will never come to that, Emily's first test for Reagan

is to see how he is with other dogs in the kennel.

Didn't react at all to the other dogs out there, so that's good.

Let's see how you get on with this one down here.

Hello. Good boys!

Good boys. There we go. Good boys.

Very good sign. HE BARKS

Good boy.

Happy that Reagan's showing no signs of aggression,

Emily's going to settle him in for the night

and try to find him a new home.

In kennels it's a very artificial environment

so you can't always see how the dog

is going to behave in a home environment.

Obviously you have to be very, very careful that you're not putting dogs into the community

that may be aggressive or that are likely to cause harm to anybody else

but I feel I have a good knowledge of dogs

that deserve a second chance

so I certainly go the extra mile to try to find that new life for them, really.

He went up to the other dog with no problems at all.

He was wagging his tail. No growling, no barking. He seemed quite happy.

And he's fine with people

so I think he's got a good future ahead of him, hopefully.

We'll get him neutered and then try to find him

a new home but he's a lovely dog from what I can see so far,

so the incident in the property may have been over food

or just over territory but out of that environment,

I haven't got worries about him at all.

I'd love to have my own rescue centre

and be able to, you know, be able to re-home animals privately.

I would absolutely love it.

I think I'd need to win the lottery first, to be able to do that!

Come on then. Come on then. Good boy. Good boy.

In Winchester, the couple who breed boxer dogs still haven't been granted a licence.

Although they feel they are breeding responsibly,

the council continues to monitor the welfare of the dogs.

The Kunekune pigs have had a visit from the vet

and the park are improving the surface they have to walk on.

Reagan the Staffie has been moved to a rescue centre

in the hope he will be re-homed soon.

And the injured lurcher from Kirklees had a long recovery

process but he has been re-homed.

He is back to full health, is enjoying life with his new family

and he's still called George.