A Dog Love Story and Unlicensed Dog Boarding Animal Saints and Sinners

Good boy! 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've reason to believe it is your dog

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

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

and keep their owners in check.

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

Oh, there's dog faeces...and there.

Coming up, Animal Welfare lay down the law

when it comes to illegal practices in Newham.

From now on, this can not ever

happen again or you will face prosecution.

A dog for disabled people that went beyond her duties.

She changed my life,

she saved my life and she was my life!

And a horse that's helping a young girl with cerebral palsy.

For me to watch Ellie riding Pepsi is overwhelming,

it's making such a huge difference to her future.

In the UK, there are certain laws

and regulations that every responsible dog owner should be

aware of, especially when it comes to keeping your dog under control.

In Newham, East London, Animal Welfare Manager Tina Delaney

and her colleague, Sue Heathcote,

investigate any complaints about dogs in their borough.

We're going to a premises now where we've received

a complaint that the people on the premises have a large

number of dogs that are dangerously out of control.

There's also a possibility that they're boarding other

dogs for people.

When a maintenance man went to the property he was he was unable to

gain access, cos the person at the premises couldn't control the dogs.

So, we're just going to around there and have a talk to them

and see what's actually happening.

A dog is considered dangerously out of control

if it injures someone or makes them worried that it may.

If you break this law you could face a £5,000 fine and a prison sentence.

There's no dog faeces.

Tina checks for signs of large numbers of dogs being kept in

and around the communal areas.

There's dog faeces...and there.

It's weird, at the top here there's a board,

as if someone puts it across for small dogs.

Could be...we've got 12 dog leads down there and three dog bowls

and no sign of dogs.

Look at this bit of wood.

What's unusual is there's signs of a dog,

if you look at the front door there's lots of scratching,

erm...and the front of the door is quite damaged.

They've also got a baby gate that goes over

and usually people have a baby gate that goes over to keep

the dogs in but it looks like the baby gate,

cos it's quite high up, goes over the stairs.

Then, if you go to the top of the stairs there's another board.

So, it looks like somebody's using the stairs to have a dog

exercising up and down there, so it's quite strange.

Even though there's clear signs of dogs being at the first

property, there aren't actually any dogs there.

So, it's a bit unusual,

so we've left a card to ask them to contact us.

Later, we'll see what Tina and Sue find when they revisit the premises.

OK...yes, yes.

Yes, yes, yes. Good, a nice, big voice.

So, we're going through the green,

we're going to put your left, oh, very good, turning left.

I can not believe how horse riding has had such

a massive impact on my daughter's life.

New mum Natalie Cain had to hand over her twins Ellie

and Jake to the hospital's special care baby unit

when they were born ten weeks premature.

They were so tiny, I could hold them both in my arms.

In fact, when I used to visit Ellie in the neo-natal unit

I used to have two little egg cosies as little hats to keep them

warm, as they were so, so tiny!

After seven weeks in hospital the twins were strong enough to go home.

Life was very difficult once they were brought home,

as Ellie seemed to be such in distress all the time.

Always crying,

she would sleep in her cot very curled up tight in a ball.

Where Jake seemed to be much more relaxed

and if I was picking up the children at all Jake would

snuggle into you where Ellie seemed very, very stiff.

Then the extreme breath holding came,

where she would hold her breath and go blue and floppy.

Being a first time mum I wasn't aware of this extreme breath

holding and that's where my concerns really started.

When the twins were a year old,

Ellie was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

I was traumatised!

I felt my world was ending

and I couldn't see how we were going to get through it.

My world was turned upside down.

Cerebral palsy is caused by a problem in the part of the brain

controlling muscles.

In the majority of cases, it happens before the child is born.

One in 400 children in the UK are born with this condition.

For Ellie, it meant she couldn't sit or stand, let alone walk.

Ellie didn't have good balance at all, as though her legs would

just seize, she was so tight inside, so that her legs would cross over.

And she didn't have very good head control either.

There's no cure for cerebral palsy

but there some treatments that can help improve some of the symptoms.

Over the next few months it was emphasised how physio would be

vital for Ellie's development

and for her future.

So, we had a physio assigned to us

but Ellie put up a major struggle and resisted.

She wouldn't let the physio do any stretches at all,

she would just curl into a ball and scream and scream.

Baby's coat off...because it's very warm today, isn't it?

Shall we take her coat off?

Can I take her to horse riding?

You can if you want to.

Yay-yay-yay!

One form of treatment that was suggested might help Ellie

was one involving horses, called Hippotherapy.

I've always done horse riding as a child

and I just thought horse riding

would be a fun hobby or interest that

can work like a physio programme

but without Ellie realising it was work, it would be fun.

Ellie had her first session with a pony called Pepsi.

Ellie's first riding lesson, Ellie was very anxious.

Though, as soon as we walked in and she saw the horse,

Ellie being a real animal lover all those anxieties disappeared.

It was quite overwhelming for myself because we'd found something

Ellie was actually going to enjoy and love!

Oh, look, Ellie, reach up...stretch.

Look, so gentle.

She's so gentle.

She likes her nose tickled best.

Pepsi has worked with children for about 20 years, from about 1994.

So, she is getting on in years now

but she is very tolerant to all of their individual movements.

Sometimes they get very excited and

make quite a lot of noise and Pepsi

will just keep doing what she does in a brilliant way, without fail.

Pepsi!

Oh...so, nice big steps and

we're going to have a look.

Nice wide steps.

Good girl.

Pepsi's my favourite horse

because I think she's the slowest horse I've ever seen!

And I like slow horses.

Hippotherapy uses the horse as our therapy tool.

The horse has wonderful movement

and it simulates the movement that we get when we walk.

So, it gives those children that have balance problems

and difficulties with walking the experience of that type of movement

and hopefully there will be carry over after the sessions on a horse.

So, we're going through the green, we're going to put your left,

oh, very good, turning left.

Good, put that hand back, cos Pepsi went left.

Now we're going to go turning right, very good.

Ellie, when she first came, she had on top of tight muscles,

she was also very weak in her trunk.

I think it would be fair to say she could probably only sit

up for about five minutes.

Now, although walking is still quite difficult for her,

her sitting balance has improved hugely.

You know what we're going to do next?

Do you want to hold your reins?

Or do you want to give Pepsi a big stroke?

Oh, she deserves it!

She does. Do you know Pepsi's worked very, very hard today.

She's beautiful!

Pepsi loves that, look at Pepsi's ears.

When Pepsi's ears are like that it means she's happy.

-Does it?

-Mmmm.

For me to watch Ellie riding Pepsi, it's overwhelming.

I'm so proud and it's so nice for me to see

that my daughter's actually enjoying something but at the

same time it's making such a huge difference to her future.

She's cute...look at her eyes!

She's watching you, she's blinking and say, "Is that Ellie?"

Go and give her a cuddle.

I love you more than the world, best thing in the world!

ANTHEA LAUGHS

She's cute!

The horses are great because I think they help her a lot.

They sort of help her get more muscles to get stronger

and also her legs are and then one day she can walk.

I'm going to give you a big clap, cos that was lovely, lovely riding!

Did you say thank you to Pepsi?

-Thank you, little one.

-Good girl.

Good girl.

My dream is for Ellie to walk.

Her brother's dream is that she walks,

so it would be totally amazing and our wishes would come true!

There you go, fella.

Iain Newby has been running a sanctuary for dangerous

and wild animals in Southend, Essex, for the past 22 years.

I didn't ever set up to run a reptile rescue or any rescue.

It's just that the exotic pet trade was hitting off

and there were no rescues for these kind of guys.

There are now thought to be over a million exotic pets in the UK.

These animals, although they are being kept as pets, you've

got to really be set up to be able to look after one of these guys.

And look at their needs.

A lot of them are still wild animals, you know, potentially.

Since the centre started in 1992, Ian has rescued

and re-homed thousands of exotic animals.

Today, he's responding to a call to pick up

a tortoise from a woman who took it in when its owner emigrated.

Do you think it's definitely a Leopard Tortoise?

It's definitely a Leopard, yes.

It's an African Leopard Tortoise and it's definitely a male.

My friend, she's had him for a number of years

but I don't think he's been kept

in the correct conditions really.

He's been in a conservatory on a heat mat.

You know, we were quiet keen to keep him

but after doing dome research on the internet,

they don't hibernate, obviously they grow to a large proportion...

So, we feel we can't give him the home that he needs.

-Do you know how old he is?

-12.

-12 years old.

They initially bought him from a pet shop

and they said he wouldn't grow terribly big.

I've seen some in Africa that wouldn't fit in this tub...

the size of this tub, so he's got a bit of growing to go.

He's not that big for his age either

and he's got some irregularities on his scales as well.

They're not formed that well.

Do you think it's because he's not been kept in the correct...

It's UV light and calcium that obviously they need.

Cos you need the UV for then the supplement to get in the body.

-Right, great.

-OK.

-Yeah, thank you.

-Bye-bye, Timmy.

-Is that his name, Timmy?

-Yes.

-Timmy Tortoise.

Thank you very much, Angela.

-Thank you.

-OK, no problem.

-Good luck with your quest.

-No problem.

-Thank you very much.

-Bye, now.

-Bye-bye.

A leopard tortoise can get quite large

and they need a lot of care and this is what they need,

they need the area to move around and obviously the constant heat.

If somebody was to do this in a normal house properly,

the cost of heating the room can exceed £50 a week.

You've got to think about this when you take on one of these big guys.

A lot of people do end up buying these types of animals, maybe

it would be impulse, they see the baby, it's lovely, it's cute.

But a lot of the species now that are in the hobbyist trade,

are not a garden tortoise.

They are actually leopard tortoises,

sulcatas...

And maybe education is key here.

You need to look at what you're actually taking on -

not every animal is the same and needs the same kind of care.

It'll be here until we find him a new home.

He's in with two young sulcatas at the moment.

These are only a year old

and these guys are going to get to about this size.

It's just... They just grow.

They have the ability to dig a metre hole down in your garden,

but people buy them when they're this size and they look very cute.

Many exotic animals like this tortoise can live for a long time.

A tarantula like this one could live for 20 years or more.

This one was found with two other tarantulas

abandoned in a flat in Essex.

When we have animals that have been abandoned,

it can be quite distressing seeing

the state they're in,

because obviously people have left them for weeks,

they haven't had any food or water

or lighting or heating, anything.

They can be in really bad conditions when they could have just

brought it to a rescue like this if they really needed to.

But there are some people who do consider their pet's welfare

when they realise they can no longer give them the attention they need.

Looks like a female.

We always called you boy!

She's known as Fangs to us.

This couple have driven almost 200 miles to drop off their

boa constrictor, which they've had since it was a baby.

It's recently become aggressive.

She goes into that defensive mode and then it goes for you.

Did it ever actually attack you, ever bite you at all?

-It's actually bitten my son.

-And a friend.

A friend came for a sleepover and it bit him.

-When she's aggressive, is it when you just go to get her out?

-Yes.

-Ah.

If you were to use something like a towel just to put down on her or

touch her with something

and calm her down so she knows then actually, this isn't feeding time,

-this is handling time, you'd get over all that.

-Oh...

A lot of these snakes can be defensive.

It just needs a little bit of work getting the snake out,

calming the snake so it knows it's handling time and not feed time

and spending some time with it and getting back into that routine.

How would you know when she needs feeding?

Her, we'll probably feed once a week.

What we'll do is mark off what she ate that week,

and if she ate it properly.

If she missed it and didn't eat it...

Sometimes they'll turn it down and they just don't want it.

We'll mark it as not eaten.

She might go two weeks, three weeks without eating,

but we keep a record and know exactly what she's had.

She's never turned down food so far.

Doesn't look like it, she's got some weight there.

She comes up to the glass and says, "I want my dinner"

and we have to go and get her something.

-I don't see any problems with finding her a good home.

-Lovely.

She's been well looked after. As far as we are aware.

She's just a little bit defensive and that's it.

He seemed to be behave fine when we brought him here...

-It's a girl!

-As if she knew...

-She was safe with Ian.

-She didn't bite him, so that was a good thing.

It's going to be better for the snake in the long run.

I'm sure Ian is going to find him a nice home to go to,

-somebody who's going to look after him.

-Her!

There's always a risk of getting bitten by a snake,

they've got the potential to bite.

In fact, if anyone asks me how many times I've been

bitten by a snake, I could probably say only probably about 15 times.

In 22 years. One of those was I was bitten eight times by one snake.

If it was a venomous snake, I would be very worried about handling it.

It stings a bit, but it's not life-threatening,

it's not anything that is going to kill you, not that dangerous,

but it's not something you WANT to happen all the time.

But it does, and it can. All right. He's a bit hissy.

A bit of a grumpy hiss.

No, I don't... A bit of handling, I think we'll be all right.

At least we've got staff here that can actually get these snakes out,

handle them and make sure they're kept calm for their new homes.

Back in Newham, Tina and Sue

are on the case of a report where large numbers

of dogs are thought to be dangerously out of control.

BARKING

But when they visited the property, there were no dogs present,

only evidence to suggest that some had been there.

They got 12 dog leads down there and three dog bowls, no signs of dogs.

Since her last visit,

Tina has received more reports of numerous dogs at the property.

What's come to light is, the dogs run out from the block

into the common area

so some people along the block have put boards up to prevent the dogs

going up or down the stairs where they live

and people shouldn't have to do that.

Then you've got delivery people coming into the block having

to climb over the boards or anybody coming in and out of the premises and

it's a common area, people should not have to do that and it needs to stop.

Hello! Got a lead?

-Hello. Do you own that dog?

-Huh?

-Do you own that dog?

-It's, um... BLEEP.

No, it's not, he must have left him out.

Right, OK, cheers.

A dog that is allowed to roam in a communal area or public place

is regarded as a stray, so Tina and Sue take it away.

DOG BARKS

Excellent.

Hello, sweetheart.

Once again, Tina has found no evidence of a large

amount of dangerous dogs.

But the complaint had also suggested that the resident was dog boarding,

which requires a licence

and there isn't one registered to this address.

Come on.

Since Tina's earlier visit,

the resident has called the office in response to the card she left.

He was advised not to board dogs without a licence.

-He denied boarding other people's dogs.

-Good lad.

Previously, we'd gone there because it was alleged he was dog boarding.

He absolutely denies that and said he hasn't and told us that he

had some greyhounds on the premises.

This isn't the breed of dog he says he owns.

This dog does have a tag on that's registered to a different address

and if we can prove that he is boarding

when he's already been advised, then we may take legal action against him.

In addition, it's really irresponsible.

He's gone out and if he is dog boarding for people,

then what he's done is gone out,

left a dog that people would want to steal in a common area where

you can open the door, gain access to the block and walk out with the dog.

Tina calls the telephone number on the dog's collar to

speak to the owner.

If I can just ask you a couple of questions.

My name is Tina Delaney

and I work for the London Borough of Newham Animal Welfare Service.

I'm the animal welfare manager.

The owner tells Tina that for the past six months, he's paid

£15 a day for a dog walker to look after his dog while he goes to work.

Um, he's trying to make an appointment

to come and collect his dog.

Obviously, he's quite distressed at the moment because he is at work.

He's quite dumbfounded, really,

that his dog has been impounded

because as far as he was concerned, it was in a person's house

being well cared for whilst he was at work and he's been paying for that.

So it seems that he is running a business from these premises,

he did know that that was illegal

and if this person is willing to give us a statement

stating that, there is a possibility we will be able to take this further.

We'll find out what happens later when the dog is collected.

Come on, boy. Take that to Mummy.

Thank you! Good lad!

'I don't even know how you can

'describe what you feel for these dogs.'

They give so much and want so little in return.

It was dogs that brought Byron

and Sue Harvey from Oxfordshire together.

But their dogs are much more than just pets.

I was born in 1952, contracted polio in 1954.

The only one of seven children to get polio, which was a bit of

a shame, but pleased that my older brothers and sisters didn't get it.

So I've been in a wheelchair most of my life. This, to me, is normal.

I don't know any different.

After contracting bacterial meningitis in 1972,

Sue had to undergo spinal surgery.

Years later, she was diagnosed with breast cancer,

which resulted in a double mastectomy.

Yes, it's almost like a battle against Sue, really,

which is a great shame.

Please don't take that as, "I feel sorry for myself",

because I certainly don't, I'm an incredibly lucky lady.

But it is hard because it's a bit like wading through treacle, really,

and somebody coming up and giving you a stop every so often and you've

got to get on and deal with it, but it's made life very difficult.

18 years ago, Sue started to use a wheelchair.

For Byron,

life was made a lot easier with the companionship of his first

wife Jill, who had spina bifida and also became wheelchair-bound.

I was finding life quite difficult, quite painful, quite difficult

to pick things up, retrieve things on a continuous basis, so...

We thought well, we'd get a guide dog,

a retired guide dog to see if that could help us in some way.

Byron and Jill were put in touch with a charity that matches

specially trained dogs with people who have disabilities.

We're a charity as much about our knowledge of dogs as about what

we can offer people.

It's about the actual dogs giving a quality-of-life boost

to people.

Not completely life-changing - it CAN be -

but it's more about dogs providing physical assistance in many ways

but also giving the opportunity to develop people's life skills,

act as a bridge back into their community,

because dogs in this country in particular are great conversational

pieces and help people in actually

finding their true potential, really.

Pull! Thank you. Come along.

In 2001, Byron and Jill became the first couple in the country

to have a dog work for both of them.

The dog's name was Isis.

She loved the very ground that Jill walked on

and she was an instant success.

She would do whatever you asked her, so much so that after...

We noticed after 12 or 14 months, you didn't even have to ask.

If she heard you drop something, she was instantly there

and would retrieve it for you.

You didn't have to point to it, you didn't have to ask,

she would just do it.

All of a sudden, we'd both got something to focus on rather

than pain, so that took away that, particularly for Jill.

Jill started to come back to the Jill that I knew and loved.

The benefits that that dog gave us

right from day one will always be here.

Sue had married earlier in life and had a son.

But she'd been divorced for ten years, lived on her own

and was becoming more and more reliant on her wheelchair.

I can remember one particular day thinking, "What's it all about?

"Did I really have to fight that hard, for THIS?"

And at that point, I didn't want to get back out of bed,

I wanted to just get into bed and go to sleep.

I mean, I'm ashamed to say I really didn't want to wake up.

I just hoped that I would go to sleep and that would be it.

And then my son appeared in my bedroom doorway

and we just got talking - what was difficult about life?

Just everything, I said.

Loading the washing machine is difficult, just...everything.

Switching that light switch on is difficult. Everything is difficult.

He said, "Why don't you think about a dog for the disabled, Mum?"

I said, "Oh, I'm not disabled enough to have one of those". And hence...

Dogs for the Disabled seed was sown.

Within a few months,

Sue got a phone call to say that they had found her the perfect dog.

My dream, my big dream

if I was going to have a big dog would be a golden retriever.

Later that week, Sue was introduced to Inca,

a two-year-old golden retriever.

She sat at my front door with the most enormous brown eyes

and just stared at me.

And I thought, wow. Wow.

And I can remember vividly that first evening of that dog where

I just moved my collar to take this collar off to put a night collar on

that she was here and I'm thinking, "Oh, my gosh, what does she want?"

You know? And all she wanted was to give me a hand.

And from where I'd always struggled to get undressed and get into bed,

that night she got me undressed, I just couldn't believe it.

Just absolutely amazing.

It just went from strength to strength.

And the fact that something loved me for who I was

and I think that was probably the biggest thing.

I always had a little saying that Inca, she changed my life,

she saved my life and she WAS my life.

It turned out that there was a link between Sue's dog Inca

and Byron and Jill's dog, Isis.

Both dogs came from the same litter.

When their owners found out, they decided to meet up.

For most birthdays, we tried to get the dogs together

so the sisters still remembered each other, which they certainly did.

Life was going along really lovely.

Then, in 2004, life completely changed for Byron

when his wife Jill suddenly died.

My world completely collapsed.

And so did Isis's world collapse.

She wouldn't leave the bedroom.

If you took her out anywhere, she would instantly come back to

the bedroom and lay in the bedroom where Jill died.

She didn't want to eat, drink,

she didn't want to react to anything.

The vet had made it quite clear to me that if she didn't start to eat

and start to drink, then she was going to starve herself to death.

And that worried me, because if I'd have lost Isis as well,

I don't know what I'd have done, to be honest.

Sue suggested that Byron should bring Isis to visit Inca.

Within half an hour, Isis had her first meal.

Inca was a lot bigger than Isis, but almost like the big sister who

used to look after her and I think that's probably what she did do.

Within three or four hours, she was playing with Inca

and you would think she was an entirely different dog. Amazing.

Byron would come down for a weekend and we'd have the dogs together

and get them free running and that was lovely. Absolutely gorgeous.

But this sisterly support for Isis was sadly short-lived.

One evening, I was sitting in my lounge

and Inca always took herself off to bed.

It was about seven o'clock, she went to bed until I was ready

and needing her.

She came through at about 10 o'clock ready to go out in the garden and

I just tickled under her tummy and I found this huge lump.

Although Inca was only six years old,

test results showed that her body was riddled with cancer.

You could almost sit there and watch the tumours popping up

and it was decided then that we'd have her put to sleep.

She still wanted to work, she was still doing jobs for me

up to that fateful two o'clock in the afternoon, when the vet came in.

As much as she put a light on in my life, she turned it off.

And I have to say, that was probably the worst day of my life.

It still is.

She was six years old.

She had done so much - she'd saved her sister, she saved my life.

But we couldn't save her.

Desperately sad. Very, very sad.

Sue was lost without Inca,

but Byron continued to visit so she could still see Isis.

Over the next few years,

Sue and Byron's friendship grew into something stronger.

Byron would come down for lovely long weekends

and I really didn't want him to go home.

Only then did I find out that he didn't want to go home, either.

I thought, gosh.

Wow, it was strange because Byron, you were washing up, weren't you?

I was, yes.

I just said to him, "Do you mind me asking you a personal question?"

You said no. I asked you, "Would you get married again?" What did you say?

-My answer was, "I'd marry you".

-You did.

And I don't know where that came from, to be honest, I just said it.

And I remember that little flutter.

Sue and Byron were married in 2008 and they now share their home

with Isis, who has now retired,

Byron's new dog Ziggy and Sue's dog, Max.

It's quite funny because Max is your working dog

and he's fantastic at helping Sue to get ready for bed, undress her,

get her sling, all those type of things

and Sue has got carers coming in to put her to bed and it's a

battle to see who's going to win, because Max wants to do it as well!

There would be a lot more stress

-and strain in our relationship without our dogs.

-Definitely.

And there are days when we get fed up, where we

don't cope that well, but that's life in general.

That's...everybody don't cope every day.

You've just got to get on with it.

-But life could not get better, could it?

-Life is amazing.

-We're extremely happy.

-Life is worth living...

-Absolutely.

And to be honest, the amount of people that say about,

"Oh, what if they found something that would help you

"and make you walk again?"

And I say, "No, thank you".

If you're going to change any of my life, no thank you.

I have to be, I think, one of the happiest women alive,

and one of the luckiest.

This, hold. Hold.

Hold it. Try again.

Good lad.

We often look back, don't we? Think about all those years ago

we met just as friends, through the dogs.

Life's mapped.

It is mapped. We often smile about it, don't we?

Good boy.

I wouldn't have met you otherwise, would I?

I just wouldn't have met him. I don't know.

No, life could have been a lot different.

-Brilliant. So life is fantastic.

-Fantastic.

Back in the borough of Newham, Tina Delaney took away a dog that

was found roaming in a communal area of a block of flats.

She'd been following up a complaint about dogs that were

dangerously out of control

and although she's found no evidence of that, there's a strong

possibility the dogs are being boarded there without a licence.

Tina called the number on the dog's collar

and spoke to the owner who told her that he pays someone to look

after his dog while he's at work.

The dog has been taken to the council kennels.

From the response of the man on the phone, the owner,

that's obviously an animal that he loves enough to pay

somebody £15 a day to look after and yet, it is being

kept in a block

with the door propped open

where anybody that is allowed access into there

can just put his dog on a lead and walk out with it.

It wasn't difficult to catch his dog.

It was a little bit frightened, but it wasn't difficult to catch his dog.

Because his dog was a bit nervous to begin with,

if there had been two people there or even someone who held the door open,

his dog could have been killed on this main road.

Yet he is paying for his dog to be looked after and be secure

while he's at work all day.

The owner of the dog calls Tina to arrange the dog's collection.

So he's given his dog boarder permission to come

and claim the dog for him

and then he'll be able to get it from him after he's finished work,

which I'm astounded by, because if it was my dog,

there's no way that dog would ever be returning to that premises.

Hello, my name is Tina Delaney from the London Borough of Newham.

-Can you confirm your address for me, please?

-Tina calls the dog boarder.

OK. And you've been boarding a dog for payment?

You HAVEN'T been boarding a dog for payment?

You have been boarding it for payment.

But you've been advised that you can't board from your premises

because you don't have a licence.

My concern is that you're boarding dogs from your premises

when you've been advised you can't do that, OK,

and that you're allowing dogs to run freely in the common areas

and the door is propped open and they're going into the building.

You have been advised of that.

Other residents do live in that block and they have a right to be

able to come down the stairs and be able to enter the building,

especially delivery people, should they need to.

OK. You will get a formal caution, OK?

If you board any more dogs from today,

or if you allow your dogs, any dog,

to run freely in the common law area, then the London Borough of Newham

will take legal action against you, do you understand that? OK.

So from now on, this cannot ever happen again.

I understand you don't want to let your current dog walkers down,

but you're going to have to or you will face prosecution.

OK, then.

Thank you very much, bye-bye.

He's coming to claim the dog from us.

He is going to be fined for that, which he knows he has to pay.

He has to pay a fine of £45 for his dog being

unattended in an area where the public have access to.

And he is aware that from now on,

he cannot board any animals.

A dog boarding licence can be obtained through the local council

and the premises may be inspected before one is granted to make sure

the animals will be well cared for.

They should be renewed annually.

Hi. Tina. Got your ID?

-And your money, please?

-There you go.

-Brilliant.

I'll just get the paperwork.

You can be fined up to £500 and face up to three months in prison

if you run a boarding kennel or cattery without a licence.

I explained to you on the phone,

we will be in touch for the offences that have occurred.

I've taken into consideration what you've told me

and as I've already said, if you don't accept a simple caution,

which basically means you're aware that you're not allowed to

board dogs at your premises,

or have the common door open and dogs left out,

if you don't accept that caution, we will take legal action against you.

The dog boarder has admitted he'd committed an offence

and has accepted Tina's caution.

As a result, legal action won't be taken against him this time.

But he would need to obtain a licence before attempting to

run a dog boarding business again.

In 22 years of working with Newham,

I've only come across about two or three premises that have had dogs

boarding there which haven't had a licence.

It's not common for people generally to want to board

dogs in their council premises or premises generally.

You usually get quite big kennel facilities that do dog boarding,

where dog walking is very common.

People will employ somebody to go into their house in the day

and take their dog for a walk so it's not left unattended for long

periods of time, which is a good thing,

because most behavioural problems occur because dogs are bored.

If you can break up the monotony of the day

of being on your own all day, that's a positive thing.

If I was going to board my dog,

I'd make sure the person was licensed

because you want to know that that person has conditions

they adhere to, that your dog will be secure, will be

well looked after and when you're at work, there's nothing untoward

going to happen to your dog because it's with a responsible dog border.

Thank you much, bye-bye.

Timmy the leopard tortoise is now in a new home in Hertfordshire.

The Chilean Rose tarantula has been adopted by new owners in Essex.

And the female boa constrictor called Fangs is

now in her forever home.

The dog boarder is no longer boarding dogs at his premises

and has not applied for a licence to do so.