Episode 3 Ronnie's Animal Crackers

As a nation, we are just potty about our pets.

Lunch time.

We are unashamedly animal crackers. And I'm just the same.

What do you think about that?

But you'd be amazed at the sometimes baffling lengths we go to for our pets.

-Oh, that was silly, wasn't it?

-The time...

Oh, that's lovely. Yay!

..the money...

-She looks like a princess.

-She does.

-..not to mention the love.

-Oh, yes, that's nice.

So join me as I enter the extraordinary and often

bizarre world of our pedigree pals.

This week, love and marriage - one couple splash out on a dream

wedding for their dogs.

Some people would say, you know, "You must be mad," you know.

Why not? Why shouldn't they get married?

CHEERING

We meet Bumble, an amazing Labrador who is a lifeline for her owner.

Yeah, you're a good girl.

Rather than me feeling a burden, Bumble does it, but she's happy.

Yeah.

And what's troubling my dog, Baz?

I turn to something extraordinary - a dog psychic.

Animal communication works by using telepathy.

Sometimes, I'll see images of things,

and sometimes I'll hear, like, the voice in your head.

Have you ever wished your pet could actually speak to you?

And that you could hear his thoughts?

Well, there are people who really do believe

they can indeed communicate directly with animals, using telepathy.

We are in Cambridge and about to meet one of just 20 so-called

animal communicators in the country, who claim to have the ability

to get inside the mind of animals.

-Hi. How are you?

-Good, how are you?

This is Michelle, a renowned pet psychic who has written a

book on animal communication.

I close my eyes, I take a deep breath in, so I use the breath.

Michelle professes to have unique mystic powers.

She's come to the home of dog breeder Fran, who is baffled

by the anxious behaviour of Raven, one of her Basset hounds.

Shush.

The problem is, Raven is from a long line of champions and Fran

would dearly love her to follow in their footsteps, but although

she was successful at first, Raven now just gets the jitters

when she's taken to competitions.

She seems irritable and desperately unhappy.

Leave her alone.

She's very, very shy.

She's frightened of the judge, of anybody coming too close,

which is a real shame, because she's lovely.

Fran is so perplexed by Raven's anxiety, she will try

absolutely anything to get to the bottom of it.

Michelle's going to try psychic communication with Raven.

Now, I'm not sure how this works, or indeed whether it works at all.

Animal communication is working really outside of our five senses,

so it's working with a telepathic communication with animals.

It brings you a deeper connection with the animal,

so it's really working more with emotions and thoughts.

I mean, that's the sort of information that I receive from the animal.

I'll be honest, I am sceptical myself, but pet owners,

wildlife parks and animal shelters have called on Michelle and

seem to take this seriously.

What I'd really like her to do is to be obviously proud of herself,

hold her head up high.

Because obviously I don't want her to be afraid.

OK.

Look into my eyes.

This is the first of eight or nine sessions Michelle would have

with an animal.

It's one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen.

What does Michelle believe is going on?

Animals think in pictures and emotion, that's how

an animal will try and communicate with you.

The vibrations

that we receive will actually come in either an image that

I will see in my mind's eye, or the other way,

there's like a feeling that I actually feel myself in my own body.

I've worked with red pandas and tigers

and I've also worked with mice and a whole variety

of different animals that I've communicated with.

So, whether it is a rhinoceros or whether it's a spider,

it's exactly the same.

So, does Michelle think she's got anything from Raven?

When I was communicating with her

and asked her about being a show dog, the first thing that she

actually said to me was, "What am I doing here?"

She feels that the place that's she's in,

the environment is very alien to her.

She doesn't really want to let you down in the show ring, so she's

very aware of how she behaves and it can bring on the anxiety.

But hold on, there's more.

Raven has apparently told Michelle what she'd really rather do.

The breeding side, that is her forte.

When I asked her that question, she was so excited - "I can't wait,

"this is my thing," she's so mumsy, so I think the breeding

side for her is going to be where she absolutely shines through.

Yeah, she's been brilliant with pups in the past, actually.

She's a completely different dog.

She's right in the middle of it.

So apparently, Raven just wants to be a stay-at-home mum.

I'm not sure what to make of it.

Thanks for your help.

But Fran seems like a happy customer.

-Bye.

-Bye now.

Michelle's next stop is Norfolk.

She's come to see breeder, Tracy. Her dog Foxy has given Tracy

an emotional dilemma.

-Hi, Michelle.

-How are you?

Very well, thank you.

Foxy has had a litter of pups and today, Tracy is due to sell one

of them, but she wants reassurance that Foxy's OK with it.

Being my dog, I feel that she is happy and that she is OK with

her babies going, so I'm hoping that I haven't misinterpreted my own dog.

If you wouldn't mind communicating with Foxy,

I really need to know if she's happy giving one of her puppies away today.

I'm sure many people will be sceptical

about animals talking telepathically.

I'm quite often asked if I'm speaking to an Italian rabbit or a

Mexican pig, for example, how do I... Do I speak all of these languages?

But because the information comes as a frequency,

It's my interpretation of the vibration that I'm receiving.

Michelle now charges £30 for a session, but says she's been

talking to animals since she was a child.

When I was about six or seven years old,

I had a yellow Labrador and I would chat with him all day.

It kept my right brain open, which is the part that is

used in animal communication, so if you're a very open, right-brained

person, it allows the communication to come in to that side, before

the left, analytical brain starts to tell you that you're making it up.

So what does Michelle say that Foxy thinks about giving her puppies away?

The way she looks at it, is that they will always be her puppies

and it feels to her that, somebody's looking after them for me,

but they will always be my puppies.

So is there anything else that Foxy wants to tell us?

Oh, here we go.

What she did say to me was that there's no singing at the moment,

so I think that she must be missing somebody singing around the house.

It's really strange you say that, cos recently our stereo broke and

we like to have a lot of music and we sing along to music all the time.

We haven't done that for the last few weeks, so Foxy's obviously missing it.

Oh, well, that's cleared that up(!)

Foxy is a very intuitive dog who knew what I'd come to do

and was completely open and she was very easy to talk with.

Hi, Martin. Do come in.

The buyers have arrived. Dad Martin is buying a pup for Mark.

They have no idea of the turmoil owner Tracy's going through.

It's time for Tracy to let the pup go.

I'm really happy for the puppy that's going to its new home today.

It's really reassured me that I'm doing the right thing.

There we are. One little boy.

Enjoy him. Be a good boy.

He will.

Watch your step there.

The first puppy's always the worst. It does get easier with each

puppy going, but you're very attached to them, so it is difficult.

It's like waving goodbye to a family member or a child.

-See you.

-Bye.

I'm yet to be convinced, but I am intrigued

and I'd dearly love to understand what's troubling my own dog, Baz.

So I'm going to put Michelle to the test myself

when she pays us a visit at home later.

In the meantime, this is seven-year-old Labrador, Bumble,

in the West midlands. Now, I'm in awe of Bumble and others

like her, because she's a disability dog.

Shall we have a cuddle? Shall we have a cuddle?

Her owner is university student Demi, who has cerebral palsy.

I can't stand, I can't weight bear.

I haven't got balance, so obviously I can't walk.

Come on then. Come on then, what's this?

Bumble kind of compensates for that weakness.

Life as a teenager before Bumble was hard for Demi.

She was totally dependent on others

and her hope of going to university seemed impossible.

But five years ago, Bumble came into Demi's life and they have

been inseparable ever since.

You're a good girl!

'Bumble's changed my life completely.'

Good girl.

'Rather than me feeling a burden, Bumble does it, but she's happy.'

She's now in her third year at university, studying

counselling psychology.

University wouldn't have been possible without Bumble.

Good girl. Good girl.

Demi is one of the lucky ones.

The charity that she got Bumble from gets 2,000 requests

for dogs every year, but is only able to train up 50.

Bumble's brought out me as a person

and all the qualities that I believe I have.

It takes a special sort of Labrador to do what Bumble does.

She was bred here in West Sussex by Michelle, who has been

breeding disability dogs since 1997.

The Labs that I breed have got to be physically strong, because

the work they do is demanding, along with a gentle temperament.

These two sisters, Clementine and Olive, have both recently had litters.

But out of their eight adorable little pups, only a few will

have what it takes to follow in Bumble's footsteps.

This particularly litter is two and a half weeks.

You're looking for a nice, broad skull, nice, strong tail set,

good bone and they just physically have an overall

picture of strength and wellbeing.

Michelle breeds puppies for the charity Dogs for the Disabled.

A Labrador puppy would normally cost up to £850 to buy

but she gives the charity a £300 discount.

These are photographs that Dogs for the Disabled send me

when one of my puppies qualifies.

I feel passionately about supporting the charity.

It gives people a quality of life.

It's a fantastic life for the dog. It just gives me a lot of pleasure.

I feel like I'm doing my bit.

Today is a big day for the pups.

Chris.

Pup, pup, pup, puppies!

Thank you.

Training expert Chris from the charity has come to see if

any of them have what it takes to one day become a disability dog.

He puts them through their paces.

-Here we go.

-Good girlie.

It might look like just fun but Chris is looking for a pup with

exceptional aptitude, who amongst other things is good with

people, is not nervous or timid...

She's done a little bit of licking as well

when she approaches, which is perhaps a slight sign of anxiety.

..and willing to please.

Good, that's nice.

Out of the eight pups, he's picked just one.

Little Ida here.

She's got a good retrieve for us to then develop in training

and then her response to the strange noises,

she noticed that something odd was happening, but then

she carried on investigating with a nice, soft tail wag.

Once Ida's taken away for three years of training, Michelle

will never see it again.

The puppies that go to Dogs for the Disabled, I've never visited.

If I could meet somebody that has got one of my dogs,

I'd be delighted and very interested.

Michelle's dream of seeing one of her old pups again is going to come true,

as she's off to meet Bumble.

Meanwhile, we are in Northamptonshire for one of

the most eccentric things I have ever heard of.

-Go, Darcy.

-That's a good boy.

We're at the home of two blissfully happy Norfolk terriers,

six-year-old Darcy and four-year-old Todd.

Retired couple Sue and Bryn are their owners.

Darcy and Todd have a good relationship.

They live together, they play together, share their toys.

But they're about to be delivered a bombshell.

What we decided to do was get them married.

Yes, you heard right, Sue and Bryn are getting their dogs married.

Some people would say, you know, "You must be mad," you know.

Why not? You know, they're like our children, and why shouldn't they get married?

Sue and Bryn's only daughter has grown up and left home,

so this is their last chance to have a big slap-up family wedding.

It just happens to be for the dogs.

We're giving back what they've given us over the years.

A dog don't ask for much. You know, all he wants...

To be clean and fed.

They've got a bed and they give you all the love they can.

You know, you can't ask for much more than that.

Can we?

Just because it's the dogs, the preparations are no different

from a normal wedding. There's flowers to buy...

Darcy, do you like those? Oh, yes, they're lovely.

As we all know, weddings are expensive and the flowers alone cost a whopping £120.

Todd likes them.

Good girl.

Next, it's the dog boutique.

There's a dress for the bride.

This is what we've got for Darcy's dress. That is gorgeous, beautiful.

-So this is going on the bodice.

-Yes.

And we're going to take the bodice to there.

-Yeah.

-So the bodice is seven inches, Kate.

Are we going with a veil?

No, I think we're going to do flowers.

-You look beautiful, don't you, darling?

-Beautiful girlie.

Let's not forget the suit for the groom.

I think the darker one would like nice.

-The dark with the blue stripes.

-Yes.

In all, £55 are lavished on costumes for Darcy and Todd.

I think they will look absolutely fabulous.

It was what I wanted.

Hang on a minute. Hold on.

I'm really, really excited about it and I can't wait till the wedding.

This can only get more bizarre.

It's two months since my wife, Anne, and I got our new dog, Baz,

from the rescue centre.

He'd obviously had a troubled life and is quite skittish.

He is extremely nervous still, particularly with me,

but he is not at all nervous with Anne.

'We've been seeing pet behaviour experts, who have given

'us tips on trying to understand why Baz is still a little scared of me.'

The main hope is that he likes me as much as he likes Anne.

That would be my wish.

We've no idea what made Baz so fearful,

but we suspect he's been maltreated.

We'll do anything to help him, so why not try animal communicator

Michelle to see if she can get to the bottom of Baz's problems?

Come on, my darling. Whay! Yes.

I'm open minded, but we haven't found anything about Basil yet that

helps us, really.

I know animal communication is a bit wacky and Anne's even more

wary than me, but let's see what happens.

I was asking him

really about the life that he had before he came to you.

It was quite a busy house.

I feel that the way they played with him was actually quite rough.

And he was almost maybe teased at times and he showed me...

Now, how did you get those answers?

OK, well, what I do,

animal communication works by using telepathy, it's

a telepathic connection that I have with them, and I feel that what

Baz needed and wanted was some order and structure and some tranquillity

and support and it's wonderful, really, that he's found you.

Well, we've no way of knowing if that's true or meaningless.

-When I communicate with him, I keep telling him, "Ronnie loves you."

-Yes.

He's a lovely dog, he's a loving dog and he will settle.

He will definitely settle, but he's just adjusting.

I have to be absolutely honest, I don't believe these sort of people.

I mean, they are talking about knowing what

a dog's like by looking and imagining.

Having been a dog owner all my life...

that's not something I would truly believe in.

'If others find Michelle's work helpful, all well and good,

'but I'm not sure we're any closer to unlocking Baz's history, so

'we're just going to keep giving him all the love we can, hoping

'that, in time, he can put his past behind him.'

Off to the West Midlands now and a special treat today for

breeder, Michelle.

This is the first time she'd been to see one of her disability dogs in action.

She's seeing Bumble, who she hasn't seen since she was a puppy.

Oh, clever.

Bumble belongs to university student, Demi.

Michelle's brought Violet, Bumble's sister.

-Hello.

-Hello, Demi.

Hello. They look alike.

-Oh, hi. I'm Michelle.

-Hello.

-Nice to meet you.

-All right, I'm Demi.

Come on, dogs. Let's shut the door.

It's lovely for me to meet you, because I've got,

in my office at home, they've had 21 dogs from me over the years.

This for me was amazing,

because normally you wouldn't ever get to meet the breeder.

So it's nice to know where she comes... Like, things about her,

where she comes from.

So how has Bumble enhanced your life?

Before Bumble, I kind of felt a bit like a burden as such, because

I'd drop things, my mum would pick them up, I'd drop them again.

She'd have to come and pick them up again.

And then obviously to my mum, it gets a bit tiring,

whereas to Bumble, it's a bit of a game.

It doesn't matter how many times I drop it, she'll pick it up.

Demi is keen to show Michelle what Bumble's three years

of training means she can do.

Starting with answering the phone.

Oh, bless her, good girl.

Good girl, well done.

Bumble, pull, pull.

Pull, pull.

Yeah, you're a clever girl. Well done.

As well as fetching and opening doors, Bumble can bark on command,

vital if Demi falls over and requires human assistance.

Bumble, speak. And again. And again. And again.

Obviously, that's loud enough now.

Yeah. It's all right for your eardrums!

It's thought 100,000 people

could benefit from an assistance dog like Bumble.

But there are presently only around 280 in the UK.

It's just amazing that a dog can change somebody's life.

Good girl.

Bumble has given her more confidence to get up and face people

and take a different view on life.

Hello.

It's been informative and humbling and sort of mixed emotions,

but it's been lovely.

Lovely to see you. And good luck with your uni.

I believe that Michelle's done an amazing job

in terms of breeding, cos obviously it's down to

Michelle that her temperament is what it is.

Bye.

In Northamptonshire, it's the day of the dog nuptials.

Are you going to look beautiful today?

38 years since their own marriage, Sue has been saving hard for

one last family wedding.

Lick my nose, thank you.

It's not every day you get to wear your pink fascinator.

Oh, look what a pretty dress you've got.

Oh, my word. I think I'm getting a bit choked up!

She's very nervous.

It's a big day, getting married, whether you're a dog or a human.

As traditional, you know, that the bride doesn't see the groom

on the day, and hasn't.

I think it's going to be a wonderful surprise for Todd.

At the wedding venue, preparations are in hand, Bryn's gone on ahead

with the groom and is having a man-to-man talk.

He's a little bit nervous, but definitely looking forward

to your girlfriend, ain't you, becoming your wife?

Married for life.

Oh, I'm feeling I'm losing touch with reality, but I can't wait

to see what happens next.

Presiding over the ceremony today is Ann, who when she's not

playing pet vicar, runs a cattery.

People do think it's crazy

but the animals these days are an extension of your family.

Your children get married, so why not your animals?

While pet weddings are popular in America, Ann's the only one

doing them in the UK.

And 50 invited guests today seem more than happy to go along with it.

I think they make a fantastic couple, they are really,

they're obviously made for each other.

I've known the bride and groom since they were puppies.

It's nice to see them make it legal at last.

I don't know about "legal". Let's not get carried away.

Ah, here comes the groom.

In the three years Ann's been doing pet weddings, she's done 14

dog weddings, one cat and even one rabbit.

There's only been one dog divorce.

Apparently, they just grew apart.

Fashionably late, Darcy arrives.

Hello, darling, you'll be all right.

WEDDING MARCH PLAYS

These dear friends have shared their lives together for many years.

Darcy wants to express all the joy in having Todd in her life.

She will always love Todd, today, tomorrow and always.

Is there any dog here today who knows of any lawful

impediment why these two dogs should not be joined together?

Bark now or forever wag your tail.

I now pronounce Todd and Darcy husband and wife.

Todd and Darcy will make the happiest couple, I think,

that I've married so far.

Today brought a tear to my eye,

cos I could see how happy they both were.

They just love each other, you can tell by...in their eyes.

Some wild dogs, like coyotes, actually do pair bond for life,

but scientists doubt our pet dogs do it.

Maybe Darcy and Todd are an exception.

But as the reception starts, it's not long before there's a controversy.

-Check it out.

-You flirt!

-It didn't take her long, did it?

Flirting with another man straight after the do, huh?

Mind you, as soon as the cake appears, Darcy's soon back.

Perhaps she knows she's now a married woman.

Cutting the cake now.

CHEERING

All in all, it cost over £1,000 to marry Darcy and Todd

and although some might think Sue and Bryn are barking mad, it just

goes to show how much the dogs are part of their family.

It's a serious commitment from both of them.

Just taking their relationship to a different level.

It's like any marriage, if you don't work it at, it won't last, will it?

You know, it's give and take - the man gives and the woman takes it all!