Dogs Saving Lives and Suspected Pit Bulls Next Door Animal Saints and Sinners

-Good boy.

-Nearly half of Britain owns a pet.

-It's all right, mate.

-KNOCKING

It's the Council and 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 years and not two weeks.

When things go wrong

animal wardens are there to protect our pets...

..and keep their owners in check.

I'm not having my dog taken off me, mate.

-I love you too.

-WHISPERS:

-Yes, I do.

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, two dogs are frightening the neighbours.

If they do not allow me to assess their dogs,

then I'm going to obtain a warrant to seize them.

A dog is left out in the cold...

You need to give the dog a better bed

so that he can get out of the rain.

..and we meet two animals whose unique skills are changing lives.

Now I understand how dogs are man's best friend.

Newman, in East London is one of the city's most deprived areas,

and Tina Delaney is the Borough's animal welfare manager.

Every day, Tina deals with a different range of animal issues,

from strays, dangerous pit bulls, even to exotic pets.

But dogs are her main concern.

Today, Tina and senior animal welfare officer Sue Heathcote

are following up a complaint about two dogs running loose.

A neighbour with a young child is afraid they could be dangerous.

We're going to a premises now where the person on the premises

alleges that there's two pit bulls that have broken into his garden

and they've broken through the fence, so we're just going to sort of

go round and investigate that and see what's occurring

and what we can do about it.

Regardless of the breed, if an unknown dog

is getting into your garden,

that can be frightening for some people.

And if you've got two, that's even more frightening.

Before she tackles the owner,

Tina needs to hear what the neighbour's got to say.

Hi, I'm from animal welfare.

Hello. Hiya.

So, you have a problem with your neighbour's dogs?

-Yes.

-OK.

And do you have photographic evidence, do you?

Look. That's the hole they've done.

OK. Can I just have a look at it?

Right. OK. So, is this your fence or their fence?

That's his fence.

-And both the dogs here are his?

-Yes.

-Have you spoken to them?

-She doesn't want to talk to us, madam.

Right. OK.

That's his garden. Have a look.

All over this is BLEEP.

You can't even open the doors.

See, now, I open the doors, my child goes out, you know?

And I'm so scared from the dogs.

OK.

And when the dogs come into your garden,

if you go to go out, what happens? Thank you very much.

-The dog is running after us.

-The dogs chase after you. OK.

-So, do you think that they're aggressive towards you?

-Yes.

-Right, OK. Is it OK if we go out into your garden?

-Yeah, sure.

-OK. What I suggest is, you just stay there for a moment...

-Yeah.

..in case they come out. So, you wait there for a moment.

-Where the bike is, there's a whole down there.

-OK.

You just wait there for a moment.

The dogs don't seem to be loose

but Tina can definitely sense they're nearby.

You can really smell a really strong smell of dog faeces.

Um...

Whoa! Yes.

As you can see, there's dog faeces.

The dogs are trying to come over...

..um, so we will go round and have a chat to the owner.

There were running around.

They're quite boisterous. I imagine they're quite young.

When I went to obviously look over the fence,

one of them did jump up and try to bite me,

but, having said that, it is their garden and you would expect that.

That doesn't necessarily mean that they're aggressive.

They do have these pieces of wood that are kind of leaning up

but they're not very secure.

What you've got to remember is, this is a family garden.

They don't have dogs.

It doesn't sound like they particularly like dogs,

and therefore... You know, they have a choice.

The dogs shouldn't be coming into their garden. It needs to be stopped.

At the same time, that garden absolutely stinks,

and it's a pleasant day today but it's not a hot day.

And if it smells like that now,

then in the summer, the smell's going to be even more overwhelming.

Hiya. So, what I'm going to do is, I'm going to talk to them today,

I'm going to look at who owns the premises as well

and I'm also going to look at obtaining a warrant.

If they do not allow me to assess their dogs,

then I'm going to obtain a warrant to seize them

and have them assessed because they may be pit bull-types.

We can't even open these doors. We can't go in the garden.

She's just washing the laundry, putting it on the heaters.

-She can't go out.

-I'm going to go around and talked them now.

I don't imagine it's going to change anything.

Unless he should do something.

Put something in front of there and block it.

Well, we are going to do something about it.

I do want to assess the dogs.

If I do assess them and they're not pit types, they will come back.

If that fence comes down again, then give us another call

-and we will come back and seize them.

-OK.

-All right then.

-Thank you very much for your help.

-Thanks a lot.

-CHILD:

-Bye.

-Bye. See you.

Evidence suggests that young children are the most likely target

for a dog attack. And, as there's a toddler in the house,

Tina needs to find out quickly what breed the dogs are.

But, unfortunately, the owner isn't at home.

What we're going to do is leave a card for the tenant to contact us.

He states it's the Council premises.

If that is, that's quite good cos that gives us more power.

Under a tenancy agreement, she needs to make sure

that she has permission for the dogs

and that the garden is cleared up on a regular basis.

So, we're leaving her a card to contact us

and to look at taking the matter further.

Pit bull-type dogs are one of four breeds that are banned.

But assessing a dog is never simple.

It's very difficult to tell the kind of breed of dog

because we were sort of standing up, looking down on them.

My other concerns are, the garden is covered in dog faeces,

and even standing in the complainant's garden,

you can smell the faeces.

If they're not pits, then they'll be brought back again.

If they are, then we'll be looking at making the dogs legal

or prosecuting them.

If you've got young or boisterous animals,

some people perceive them as being dangerous

because they don't understand dogs' behaviour.

If I walk into the garden and I'm quite confident

and the dog's a sort of young dog, it may just come up and greet me.

All they see is a dog running towards them

when it might just be running towards them and saying, "Oh, hello.

"It's people! Stroke me or have contact with me."

And some people may just see that as a dog trying to attack them.

Tina will file a report on the complaint

and send a letter inviting the tenant to come in for an interview.

Several days later,

there's been no response from the owner of the two dogs,

so Tina now has a warrant

to seize and assess the suspected pit bulls...

..but she's not going alone.

A team of police officers will be backing her up.

This address, there's believed to be two Section 1 dogs,

basically pit bull terriers.

Animal welfare have attended the address

due to complaints from neighbours where the dogs have been

breaking through the fence into neighbours' gardens.

The intention is to attend the address with a warrant

I've obtained from Thames Magistrates' Court

under Section 5 (2), the Dangerous Dogs Act.

Going to enter the address initially by knocking,

serve the warrant and remove the dogs.

Again, police will deal with the humans,

LBN to deal with the dogs.

There's two dogs at the premises. They've been living in the garden.

We believe the tenant works during the day, so we don't expect her to

be in but her boyfriend is often at the premises.

If there's no-one at the premises, as the dogs both live in the

back garden, we have access through the neighbour's garden.

We'll just lift them over the wall. Hopefully, nobody will be in

and we'll just take them over the back fence.

Having them vehicles RVP - out the front in five minutes.

As Tina's not sure whether the dogs are dangerous,

she's not taking any chances.

We're just putting some arm protectors on

just to make sure that, you know,

if it does manage to kind of get hold of one us,

that we limit those injuries.

They go underneath our jumper, so you can't see them.

They don't look intimidating and they're quite comfortable to wear.

So, it's just in case one of the dogs does jump up

and try to bite one of us, or manages to get out.

Good to go.

Hello, it's the police.

Got a warrant to come in. Please, open the door.

Find out later if the dog seizure goes according to plan.

In Devon, another dog owner has a very different relationship

with her pet.

We got Charlie as a puppy, and he was such a lovable little dog.

The benefits at the moment are, I think, immense.

Liam is focusing on Charlie, so he sort of forgets his own problems.

Rachael Landymore has three children...

..one daughter and two sons.

The youngest is Liam.

Until the age of seven, Liam was a happy, healthy boy -

enjoying the outdoors, playing football,

cycling and being with his friends.

Liam was my most confident out of my three children.

He was fearless, he was competitive,

he loved animals.

He had a real love for life really,

and he was really good fun.

He had a wicked sense of humour.

So, yeah, just a normal, average lad, really.

At the age of seven, Liam's behaviour suddenly changed.

We couldn't make sense of why we had a child that was very withdrawn...

..was becoming violent, very upset all the time.

He would self harm, he wouldn't sleep at night,

he wouldn't go outside,

he was clinging to me, he was just so scared all the time.

And we couldn't make sense of where this confident boy had gone.

He was so...vulnerable.

Really, really vulnerable.

And we'd never...we'd never seen that.

He'd always been my strongest,

um, so, that was really hard.

As time went on, Liam went deeper into his shell.

I think as a family we were all extremely worried

with his behaviour. We weren't sleeping.

None of us were sleeping cos we were all worried about him.

Rachael eventually discovered

that Liam had suffered a traumatic event,

which he has asked not to be disclosed.

Something was brewing, and, after a while,

he actually told us that

he couldn't put his brave face on any more

and that he'd had enough and that he just wanted to die.

Um, and those words were really hard to hear.

So, we immediately rang up our doctors

and our doctor was phenomenal and saw Liam

and said he had depression.

Liam's depression was so severe

that he was referred to a psychiatrist,

who diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress disorder,

PTSD.

But then, Rachael learned something even more shocking.

Liam disclosed that he had actually in fact planned to hang himself.

Um, which was...

..absolutely devastating for us to hear.

HER VOICE TREMBLES

It's been extremely hard.

I think, when you give birth to this baby

you plan a perfect life for this little being,

so it broke mine and my husband's heart to hear it.

To help Liam cope, the doctors put him on a course of antidepressants.

I suppose you could say he was coping...

..but he had no joy for life

and it was very, very obvious.

He couldn't physically put his brave face on any more.

In the end, Rachael decided to take Liam out of school

and have him home tutored.

But Liam was getting more and more withdrawn

staying at home all day long and unable to socialise with friends.

-SHOUTS:

-Liam! Lunch.

Then, two years ago, the family decided to get a puppy,

an eight-week-old Labrador, Charlie.

Everybody, as a family, had the role of bringing up the puppy...

..and everyone bonded really well with him.

He was such as lovable little dog.

We noticed that when Liam was anxious or distressed in any way,

he would go off and he would groom Charlie,

and that would calm Liam right down.

And of course, Charlie would just enjoy the grooming.

Rachael was keen to send Charlie for training,

so signed him up for puppy school, and he took to it straightaway.

It was eight weeks of basic training,

so you learn the "sits," the "downs" and the "stays."

And all those sort of things.

And Charlie excelled.

He was really good, which filled us with pride.

SHE LAUGHS

OK, give him the treat now. Do that one again.

That's lovely.

Charlie was so good, that the charity, Dogs Helping Kids,

which trains dogs to support children in schools

to help boost their confidence,

earmarked him to become a support dog.

But it was then that Liam hit a very low point.

Mum Rachel told the charity of her concerns.

I actually broke down in tears

and I said, "I just don't know what I'm going to do."

"I don't know how I can help him any more."

The charity had an idea.

They decided to make Charlie a one-to-one support dog

especially for Liam.

Now, every week, Liam and Charlie have a dedicated training session.

Liam is taught dog behaviour, dog stress signals,

and dog body language.

Then they start doing all the training with Charlie.

And it's...all is basics but then there's lots of tricks as well.

He's got to have really good heel work,

he's got to be able to focus on Liam all the time,

and then there's also the snuggle that he does.

There's just loads that he has to learn.

That's it. Well done, well done. That's it.

Well, when we first got him we already had, like,

a really good bond. And we were really good mates.

Yeah. We love each other, I'd say.

With Charlie's help,

Liam feels less anxious about leaving the house.

The friendship is building and building and building all the time

because they're having fun together and it's great to see.

I never went out.

I just always stayed in my room or just stayed in the house,

and I never went out with friends or anything.

I just stayed in and just annoyed Mum and Dad, basically.

Charlie, this way!

Good boy.

I think Charlie's changed my life around.

Personally, I don't think I'd have the confidence

to be outside right now.

Charlie gives me all the confidence in the world to come outside

and be with friends.

Charlie!

Charlie also helps Liam with his learning, especially reading.

"Later they were all tucked up in their bunks.

"Especially to Katy, she was..."

He loves listening to me read and he's just there to help, really.

I'm more likely to say, "What's this word?"

I would just ignore it and not really understand what's going on.

As Charlie helps Liam rebuild his life,

Liam has made it a decision about his future.

I'd love to be a dog trainer or anything in the animal industry

to show people how to treat animals instead of, um,

like, neglecting them and being horrible to them.

I just want to show people how it's done properly.

He's doing really, really well. His self-esteem is increasing

and his confidence is increasing, which is brilliant.

Good boy.

I want them to strive forward and say, you know,

"I'm stronger and I'm really good.

"And happy."

Does that make sense?

I used to think dogs were just there as pets

and you took them out for walks, and fed them, and that was it.

But now I understand how dogs are man's best friend.

He's always there for me.

And I'd always be there for him.

In Kirklees, West Yorkshire,

dog warden Tina Shaw is hard at work.

We spend a lot of time in the vans.

And a lot of time travelling from house to house.

As one of the Council's five wardens,

Tina's responsible for dangerous dogs.

I am concerned because there's a young baby at that house.

She also deals with strays and complaints about nuisance dogs.

What sort of dog is it?

Um, if I could just ask you to put your dog on a lead, though,

when you're walking.

Any animal she seizes are removed to a local kennel,

or in some cases, reunited with their owners.

A dog like this will be very difficult to re-home.

A dog warden's responsibility is always to the animal first.

And today, Tina's concerned for the welfare of a dog living in a garden.

This is a property where we have a Staffie cross dog

tied up outside in a kennel.

We've been monitoring the property for about two months.

It's family who... Possibly Hungarian, I believe.

When we first saw it, it was just tied to a shed

with no shelter at all,

looking pretty miserable, really.

So we gave them some advice,

told them to build a reasonable shelter for the dog

and put it on a longer lead.

Before she talks to the owners, Tina wants to check that the dog

is alive and well and what conditions it's living in.

Come on. Click-click.

As you can see, the dog's... DOG BARKS

It's not the good situation, to be honest.

This has deteriorated since I last came.

I mean, he's got shelter but you can see from how he's standing

that it would be quite easy for him to be wound up

amongst all the furniture in there.

It's not a situation I'm particularly happy with.

We need to...we need to be talking to them, really.

They need to improve it.

So we'll go knock on the door and see if anybody is in.

Yeah, we're often called to situations

where a dog may be kept in poor conditions,

or may be in poor condition itself.

There is a welfare concern there.

We often try to just advise the people

because it can be often down to simple ignorance

and sometimes because they're on low income themselves

they struggle to look after the dog correctly.

-Hi, I'm from the dog warden service.

-Yes?

I'm just here today to talk you about your dog.

Tina's established on previous visits that the dog is kept outside

because the couple have a three-year-old child.

This isn't an offence,

but she's duty-bound to ensure the dog is sheltered.

You see, the dog is going into the shed to get out of the rain

-and it's untidy. It can hurt itself.

-Yes, we tidy it every day.

Yeah, it's very...

The dog might hurt itself on the chairs and the things in there.

-Do you understand?

-Yes, I understand everything.

-Good dog.

But all this area is wet. It's not good for the dog.

It needs to have an area that's dry.

Not good.

-Not happy with this at the moment.

-Oh, all right.

-We have to make this better. The kennel needs to change.

-OK.

If you can't give the dog a better home here,

then we may need to think about

giving him a better home somewhere else.

The dog owner has asked Tina to call her partner

to explain what needs to be done to improve the dog's living conditions.

Hello, it's Tina from the dog warden's.

OK, so you're going to change the doghouse and make it better?

It's not good...not good at the moment.

You need to try to make and make the doghouse better for this dog. Yeah.

Tina's given the owners a warning to build a better shelter for the dog

by the following week.

Obviously, the dog's situation isn't good.

It was pretty poor, really,

and it has deteriorated since last time we came.

She loves the dog in her own way.

She is not intentionally doing anything bad to the dog.

They just need to be educated a little bit.

Tina will return later to see if the family have taken her advice.

Dr Claire Guest from Milton Keynes is a pet behaviour counsellor,

and a lifelong dog lover.

She's had her eight-year-old Labrador, Daisy,

since she was a puppy.

The first time I met Daisy

she looked at me with those big brown eyes.

I knew she was going to be an incredibly special dog

and I knew we're going to work really well together.

I've been working with dogs for the last 25 years

and I absolutely love it.

In fact, I can't imagine doing anything else.

Not long into her work with dogs,

Claire began looking into the idea

that they might have more than just intuition.

I have a huge respect for dogs

and what they can achieve with their fantastic sense of smell.

Claire was committed to the idea of training dogs

to use their noses for medical detection.

And in 2008, she set up a research centre

with a dedicated team of bio-detection experts.

The story started for me 25 years ago

when a friend and colleague told me a story of her pet Dalmatian dog

that kept on licking and sniffing at her small mole on her calf,

which turned out to be malignant melanoma.

From that time on, I believe that dogs could smell the odour of cancer.

From the very start of Claire's research,

Daisy was a key part of the team.

Daisy started to work on the new project at the time

which was working out the reliability of dogs

in the detection of human bladder cancer.

Over a six-month period, Claire trained Daisy

to correctly identify cancer through a range of urine samples.

Now, some of the samples will be from people who are completely healthy.

Some of the samples are from people

who have other diseases and conditions,

and one of the samples will be from someone who actually has cancer.

In this training session,

Daisy will be asked to find the person who has cancer and indicate.

So, Rob's going to start placing the urine samples on the carousel.

Each arm of the carousel has an individual sample on it

which Daisy will screen.

Position three will actually have a sample

from somebody who has cancer.

Daisy will stop at the sample and indicate

if she smells the cancer volatiles.

We're going to get Daisy in now. Obviously she wasn't in here

when the samples were placed out.

We're going to start the training session. Daisy, come.

Good girl. Come on, Daisy.

So I'll give the command to Daisy to start working, and when I do,

she'll start working round the carousel looking at each arm in turn.

Seek, seek.

Correct.

At the moment, Daisy has screened over 7,000 samples in her lifetime

and her reliability and accuracy for those 7,000 samples is 95%.

This has huge potential

and we're training other dogs now to work at the same level.

Daisy and her near-perfect hit rate encourage Claire and her team

to continue their research training more and more dogs in the same way.

So we're not suggesting, in terms of the medical detection dogs,

that every hospital has a cancer dog sat in the corner of the hospital.

We hope that the work we are doing will lead to second line screening

for cancers, the invisible cancers,

or the cancers that are more difficult to detect reliably,

like prostate cancer or perhaps pancreatic cancer.

But four years into their research,

things suddenly took an unexpected turn.

So I've been working on a cancer project training Daisy,

but I took her out for a run in the fields.

I lifted up the back of the boot of my car.

My other dogs ran out to play but Daisy wouldn't go.

She kept jumping up at me and pushing into me.

I felt a sort of bruised area which was slightly sore.

I told her to go away and play,

but over the next few days I felt this bruised area again.

I thought it was slightly strange.

Bearing in mind the research Claire was doing,

she decided to see her GP

who referred her to hospital straightaway for tests.

My consultant did some biopsies and other tests

and felt there was nothing to worry about,

but he called me back a week later and said that the mammogram

had revealed an area, very deep area, that they had some concerns about.

So I went for some further core biopsies.

I was then told a few days later that this, in fact,

had revealed that I had a very, very deep breast cancer.

Obviously when I got the news I was quite shocked.

I hadn't thought that there was anything wrong with me.

I immediately realised that the behaviour Daisy had shown

was perhaps unusual.

I began to wonder if I hadn't actually been warned by her

like many other people in the past have been warned by their dogs.

I was told by my consultant that they believe they caught the cancer

at an early grade and stage,

and I realised immediately how lucky I was

that Daisy had drawn my attention to this.

Claire had surgery to remove some of her lymph glands

and underwent a course of radiotherapy.

As soon as I'd had my surgery, Daisy's behaviour went back to normal

and she was very, very close to me and with me at all times.

She seemed quite happy and relaxed again around me

so I knew that my treatment had been successful.

Daisy's early warning meant Claire, didn't need intrusive chemotherapy

so she was able to carry on with life as normal.

Throughout my treatment, I continued to work with Daisy by my side.

We worked together on the next research project,

but Daisy also, of course, accompanied me to home

and wherever else I went.

Claire has now been clear of cancer for three years,

and with the help of Daisy is continuing her cancer detection work

with even more determination, and even more new recruits.

Currently, we've got nine cancer detection dogs.

Some are experienced dogs and some are very early on in their training.

Jack here is one of our newest recruits.

He's two-and-a-half years old and is a working Cocker Spaniel.

All our dogs come from a variety of different places,

many of them are unwanted or rescued when they come into the programme.

All our dogs live in homes throughout training and placement.

We have a complete no-kennel policy because we believe

that if we're going to work closely with our dogs,

they need to live with us at all times.

And Claire's research isn't stopping at cancer detection.

Once we understood that dogs could smell cancer,

we began to think, well, probably dogs can smell

a whole range of different of diseases.

It's not surprising, really,

because these diseases cause biochemical changes in our body.

These biochemical changes have an associated change in odour.

So all we have to do is to teach the dog

to recognise the odour associated with a particular condition.

Claire's work hasn't gone unnoticed,

and three years ago, was given an honorary Doctorate of Science

for her outstanding contribution to the development

of new ways of detecting life-threatening diseases.

We hope that the work we're doing will lead to electronic noses

that will mimic the dog.

In the future, perhaps we'd all go for screen

of our breath and our urine

and we would be warned if we have the early stages of cancer.

And as Claire continues her research,

she never forgets who made it all possible.

I'm incredibly grateful to Daisy for drawing my attention

to this cancer so early.

If that had not been the case, and my cancer had grown

to quite a large size before I'd been able to feel it,

my prognosis would have been very, very different.

And I'm sure that I wouldn't be able to continue this work,

and I'm sure I wouldn't be here today.

The difference Daisy has made to my life is unimaginable.

In Newham, Tina Delaney and the police

are heading for the house where two suspected pit bulls

have been scaring the next-door neighbour,

who's worried about his young child.

Currently, we don't open these doors and we can't go in the garden.

So we can't get an answer there.

We can go through these back premises and get in from over the wall.

Is it completely enclosed or is anyway we can walk through?

No, it's completely enclosed.

Hello, it's the Council and the police.

Can you open the door, please?

Hi, it's the police. We've got a warrant to come in.

Please open the door.

Tina's hoping the neighbour who complained

will give them access through his garden.

But he doesn't seem to be in.

We'll just wait and...wait for him to come back and go through there.

If there's no-one at the house, the police have a warrant

to force the door, but the neighbour turns up.

Hello, hiya, how are you?

We've got a warrant and to remove the dogs,

but obviously there's nobody in.

He's in. They're all in.

-He just doesn't want to open the door.

-OK.

Doesn't surprise me. That's his black car.

That's what he does all the time.

Is it possible that we can come this way and do it?

Hello, hiya. Hello.

Hello.

-Have they been getting out still?

-Yes.

-Yeah?

-They were there yesterday.

-Yesterday.

Tina left a card for the owners to contact her on her first visit,

but she's heard nothing.

As you can see, there's dog faeces here,

there's some more over there, there's quite a bit of dog faeces.

People shouldn't have to put up with that regardless of the dog's breed.

They've got no water.

They've completely damaged the fence all along the far side

and all along the back and this one.

They're getting into everybody's gardens.

Um, we want to assess them for type.

I don't think the younger one will be,

but we need to assess it properly when we take it back.

I mean, there's at least 100 piles of dog faeces over there.

You know, neighbours shouldn't have to put up with that.

It does make you wonder why people bother having them

if they're just going to shut them in the garden, really.

Not a life for a dog.

The easiest way to grab the dogs is through the fence,

but there's still the risk they could attack.

There you go! There you go!

There's one. Come on. Come and see me.

Come on. Come on, come on.

Come on. Good girl. You're a clever girl.

You're a clever girl, aren't you? You are.

You're a clever girl.

You're clever.

Wee.

You take this one.

Hello. Hello.

What's going on, puppy?

Hello, puppy.

Come on. Come here. Don't go away, come here.

Come here. Come on.

There you go. There you go.

There you go, little puppy.

There you go.

Yeah, there you go.

This one's quite young.

They're really friendly so we're just going to take them for an assessment.

And just take it from there, really.

Come on. It's all right, come on.

Come on.

Are they all right with dogs?

Hiya, thank you.

We're just going to be back in a minute. Won't be a second.

To find out if the dogs are pit bulls,

they'll be assessed by measuring their body proportions.

As an animal welfare manager,

Tina has the authority to do this herself.

But it's also usual to take them away for confirmation.

The dogs will be kept at council kennels while the case

is further investigated and contact is made with the owners.

I think the most positive thing about Newham

is it's a leading local authority on animal welfare.

We are one of the very few, if not the only, local authority

that will prosecute, that will take legal action when and as necessary.

So we're a very active animal welfare service

and we have a 24-hour service, so we are kind of unique.

We have a really good balance between enforcement work and education,

and both aspects are equally important.

We have the largest kennels in London apart from Battersea Dogs Home,

and we are very unique in the work that we do.

Tina and Sue have arrived at the kennels with the two dogs.

I don't think any dog is naturally bad or inherently bad.

What makes the dog bad usually is no training or the wrong training.

They'll both be assessed. Once they've been assessed...

We've actually traced the owner. He's not the tenant of the property.

They're refusing to give their name and address.

Obviously that makes it difficult with the dogs being able to go home,

so once they've been assessed, if that continues, then

we would give the owner a certain period of time to come forward.

If they don't, the dogs will become the property

of the London Borough of Newham.

The one on the left will be assessed for type

and if she does conform to type then legally we are not allowed

to re-home her and she would have to be euthanized.

The one on the right I don't think will conform to type

and that one would probably be re-homed at a later date.

Up in Kirklees, dog warden Tina Shaw is on the road again.

She's returning to see the owners of the dog

who was left tied up outside with poor shelter.

They been given a reasonable length of time. We're going back now

to see if they've continued to make improvements

and see how the dog is.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Hi, it's Tina from the dog warden's.

Oh, I have a problem - the dog is lost

and I'm looking everywhere and...

Right. I'm just going to get my phone and make a phone call.

Tina wants to check out if any dogs

matching the Staffie cross' description have been handed in.

Where did you pick it up from?

She's called the office and there's news.

I bet it's this one.

I've just rung our office to see if we've picked anything up.

We picked a dog up from this area last Tuesday.

My worry is that she's not reported her dog missing,

and if we've had the dog for seven days

and nobody's put a claim in, we might not have the dog any more.

That's my concern.

Because it may have been re-homed.

The Council use a local kennel and Tina needs to find out

if the dog they took in is the missing Staffie cross,

and if it's still there.

Hiya, you had a dog brought in from the Thornhill area last week

by a member of the public. Can you remember what it was?

I think I've got the owner.

It's actually, if it's got a good home, it might not be a bad thing.

Dealing with families and pets is very emotive.

They love their animals.

The animals may not be kept in good conditions, but they love them.

It's just getting people to try and think differently

about how they're keeping them and looking for a better way forward.

Now Tina has to find a way to break the news to the dog's owner.

The thing is, it might have been found and taken to our kennels.

But when we find a dog, we keep them for a week.

If it's the same dog, it has gone to a new home.

-Oh, right.

-So...

-Oh, I'm sorry.

-Yeah. Well, it is a nice home.

Thank you.

I'm very sorry. He has gone to good home.

It's maybe a good thing out of a bad

because it's probably gone to a better environment, to be fair.

The dog's been run home to a gentleman

who lives on a boat, apparently.

So it's probably going to have a nice time touring the canal waterways

of the countryside, and will have a nicer life than it's had

tied up in somebody's back garden.

When I went to the kennels I looked at another six dogs,

and Sam, he put his paw though the cage and he basically picked me.

Now called Sam,

the Staffie cross is quickly getting used to his new owner.

He's going to have a good life now.

Plenty of walks, plenty of pets, plenty of little titbits now again.

And yeah, we'll be off cruising on the boat.

Different places

so he'll have a different experience everywhere we go.

So I hope he enjoys himself.

In Newham, both the seized dogs have now been independently assessed.

The older dog has been confirmed as a pit bull

and Newham Council is taking legal action

against the tenant of the house for having a banned bread.

The younger dog is not a pit bull,

but to date, the owner hasn't reclaimed it.

If they don't, it will be re-homed.