Dogs In The City (2012) s01e06 Episode Script
You Can Teach Old Dogs New Tricks
1 There's 80 million dogs in America.
One in eight New Yorkers owns a dog.
Titus, come here, big handsome.
That's one and a half million dogs.
Which means, there's gonna be some problems.
Oh! Oh, no.
That's where I come in.
I'm Justin Silver.
They call me the dog guru.
All right, let's get started right now.
I've been working with dogs and their owners for nearly ten years.
Watch his feet, watch my feet.
Just walk.
They're gonna follow you.
Walk.
Good girl.
And believe me, I've seen every problem you can imagine.
- Stubborn.
- No, that way.
Difficult.
Spoiled.
Demanding.
And that's just the owners.
- Okay, now you're gonna hate me.
- Now? I mean, the truth is, when I'm training dogs, - I'm training owners.
- I don't want him to bark.
I didn't ask what you don't want him to do.
I asked what you want him to do.
You never get past the introduction because you're worried about the flare-up.
Up.
Good boy.
Bottom line, my job is to make life with dogs in the city a whole lot easier.
Walk.
You see how she starts to just fall into a rhythm with If there's one language I speak fluently, it's canine.
This stuff ends today.
What can I say? I speak dog.
What? Oh, my handsome dog trainer? Any breed, any time, anywhere.
When it comes to dogs, I've got this city covered.
Tonight - Hello.
- I join forces with Emmy-winning actress Edie Falco to transform the shelter We're gonna make this like Times Square.
that's close to her heart Oh, he's bouncy! by training the staff Get specific with your body language.
and taking on the most challenging dogs I'm gonna get you a home.
Plus, I encounter one of the most anxious dogs I've ever met.
Gilda is worked up.
Okay, okay, okay, okay! Easy.
And an attack from another dog has left this spaniel traumatized We can't bring him to the park without a muzzle.
snapping at other dogs that cross its path.
font color=#FF6EC7 dogs in the city Season 1 Episode 06 I am going to a really, really wonderful shelter called Animal Haven.
Edie Falco called me because she volunteers, and asked if I could come and meet her and help her out.
Hi.
How are you? - I'm Justin.
- Hey, Justin.
- So nice to meet you.
- Edie.
Nice to see you.
Thanks so much for calling me down.
How are you You adopted a Brussels from here? I did.
I love it.
My little girl Sammy.
They had adopted a bunch of Brussels from a puppy mill, so I came down here on my lunch hour, literally, and left in a cab with a dog, which was not my intention.
These guys, Animal Haven, have helped, uh, every step of the way with training that Sammy needed.
And what little I can do to give back, I'm-I'm happy to, so I'm sure a little means a lot.
It means a ton.
It's unbelievable.
You know, I know what animals are to me.
If there's anything I can do to help bring the word that, you know, getting an animal, rescuing an animal changes your life, - Yeah, it does.
- That's what I'm here to do.
How can I help you guys out? Some of the areas where the dogs spend time are a little bit dark, a little dingy, need new paint.
It's so important, like, if you come into an environment that's a shelter, and people come in and say, like, "This place makes me feel good, these animals are being treated well" Help making them more adoptable, as well.
- Right, exactly.
- How's their behavior doing? We always have a couple that stand out that just probably need a little additional, uh, TLC and your expertise.
Show some of our staff your techniques with dogs.
Yeah, definitely.
Helping upgrade the shelter and working with some of the staff and training the animals are working toward the same goal to get more animals adopted.
- Why don't you give me a tour.
Show me what's up.
- Sure.
- Want to come see the place? - Awesome.
The one thing that Tiffany wanted Justin to see was the downstairs kennel area.
It's kind of cold.
We all want these animals to find their forever homes.
And it needs to be upgraded if it's gonna continue to be as successful as it is.
So, uplifting this room a little bit, - making everybody happy.
- Mm-hmm, yeah.
Right, this is basically the walk this is the runway for the dogs that go on their walks.
And right here are the doors.
They're not optimal for what we're doing here at Animal Haven.
We have to tighten them all the time, 'cause the dogs bang up against them.
And they're a little too high off the ground, so the dogs are cramming their noses underneath.
- Are they getting injured? - And some are getting injured and scratched up.
The posturing to see our dogs is something like this.
- So it's a little threatening.
- Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
- So maybe something more inviting and visible.
- Right.
So they can remain calm as they're being looked at by someone - who might want to take them home.
- Right.
If the dog seems like, you know, overwhelmed and attacking, it's less likely to be adopted, of course.
Right.
I'm all for helping them fix these doors and changing the aesthetics.
And I think I know the perfect people who can lend their time and their talents to helping them with this situation.
I'm gonna make some phone calls, and we're gonna see what we can do to help you out.
- Excellent.
Sounds great.
- Couldn't ask for more.
Justin seems great, with his energy and his-his contacts.
I'm hoping he can come through for Animal Haven with the stuff they need help with.
I'm in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and I'm here visiting my friend Yannis and Jessimae.
They have three dogs, all named after comedians.
Gilda, named after Gilda Radner; Fozzie, named after Fozzie Bear from the Muppets; and Carlin, named after George Carlin.
I know that Yannis and Jessimae have had issues with Gilda and Fozzie in the past.
Recently, these issues have gotten way out of control, so they gave me a call.
What's up, Jus? How are you, brother? This is when he's gonna attack you.
Yeah, we know Justin for years.
And we knew that he was also a dog trainer.
And we called him up 'cause we got three dogs and we have some problems.
Okay, okay, okay.
It's embarrassing, 'cause it's like we don't have any control over these animals.
Get down.
Get down.
Get down! All right, don't yell at him so much.
Vocal and verbal commands don't work.
Come here.
Come right here.
She has no idea what's going on.
It's mayhem.
- Did you get bit yet? - Yeah, I'm-I'm getting bit.
Fozzie's bitten people in the house, and you can add my ankle to that list today.
All right, so what's the problem? Jessimae and Yannis are awesome because they rescue all these dogs, so I really want to get all the dogs well-adjusted.
You guys got your hands full right now.
Yeah, we got three.
Give me more of the history on him.
Fozzie, the moment I got him, was aggressive.
He's the worst dog.
- He's not the worst dog; he's nervous.
- He attacks everybody.
He's nervous.
ls he always licking like that? - Always licking.
- Yeah.
He's got anxiety.
Well, he's in New York.
Of course.
Who doesn't have anxiety? Fozzie is an ankle-biter.
Well, he's an opportunity biter.
Yeah, the ankle's the only thing he can get.
Chihuahuas are like little piranha dogs.
When people come over, he will attack them.
He's just tiny.
He seems to have no awareness of his size.
Fozzie bites a lot.
But because he's so small, you think, oh, it's not such a big deal.
It is a big deal.
This dog bites the wrong person, this dog bites a kid, that's it.
- Gilda is worked up.
- This is daily.
She requires about two hours of exercise a day.
We're talking about a dog who can run six miles without stopping, straight with hills, pulling a human being, and then come back into the house and be like, "All right, I want to kill some more squirrels.
" - She's bionic.
- Yeah.
The first week we got her, we just started letting her out, like, liberally in the backyard.
And so I think, like, that kind of set her mind that that's her free space.
Like, she can go crazy.
Can I see it? Yeah, oh, yeah.
Let's see what we see.
She's like an addict for the backyard.
Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.
Easy, easy.
Calm down.
Gilda gets so anxious, and all the dogs' energy just trigger one another, so then they start going at it.
Gilda's so wound up.
She's like a type A personality.
You open that back door Gilda just explodes.
Oh, God, this dog.
It's a new rug.
Look at her.
She's just destroying it.
Why is she doing Like, what does that have to do with her going through the door? Is that a toy? What happened was she gets so anxious when that door's gonna open, and she's getting all amped up, amped up, amped up, and she started going for the mat.
There's just no calm in this house.
She shoots right out the front door, up onto this ledge and back and forth across the ledge.
- Just back and forth.
- It's constant, huh? Constant.
And this doesn't even tire her out.
She'll be out here doing this Well, it's not tiring her out because she's not really exercising.
- She's wound up.
- Yeah, right.
- She's having, like, an anxiety attack.
- Right.
You know what I mean? She's got tremendous amount of exercise.
It's not that.
She never has a point where her attention is just kind of on you and relaxed.
She's always like this, looking to do, do, do.
When Gilda's being exercised, I think because there's no structure to her exercise, she just keeps going, going, going, going, going, going, going.
I got a really good sense of what I want to do with her.
You're gonna fix our problems? What's awesome and what makes me want to help them even more is that these are all shelter dogs.
These are dogs that wouldn't have h a chance.
So I'm always glad to come and help friends out, especially friends that are doing rescue stuff.
- I wish I could stay longer.
- You guys gonna hug? - Good to see you.
Aw.
- Yes, we're gonna hug.
Justin, help us to restore some calm into our home.
Please.
Open the door.
Coming up Gilda.
So the first thing I wanted to see was how tense he gets around other dogs.
See, he's very stiff right now.
I am headed to the Lower East Side to work with Chad and Leigh and their dog Riley.
Uhp, there's my guy.
- Hi.
- I'm Justin.
- I'm Leigh.
Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you, Leigh.
- This is Riley.
Come on in.
- I see this is Riley.
What's up, gorgeous? I was really taken by how beautiful the dog was.
Rambunctious, playful, running around.
Overall, just, like, a friendly guy.
What's wrong? When he was young, we'd take him to the park, and he would run and run and run.
And he was, like, the star of the park, essentially.
And then he got attacked, and he went from a pretty normal, docile dog to starting to protect himself.
We spent a lot of hours working with him on training, and we can't really get past bringing him to the park without a muzzle.
When he doesn't like a dog, he ends up lashing out.
We want to avoid those situations at all costs.
If there is an issue What's an issue? "If there is an issue.
" So, if I'm walking down the street and he just gets very stiff.
If he sees a dog in the distance and then he immediately reacts to it.
- That's "if there's an issue.
" - Right.
So he'll just stiffen up, and then I can pick up that behavior and know that that might not be a great situation for me to - And then what do you do? - Then I avoid.
Okay.
I think the best thing for you guys that I can do is try to find a bunch of dogs that trigger him and just not avoid anything.
I can tell you right now, I'm gonna be very nervous when he's interacted with other dogs, because of past experiences.
Okay, that's the source of your issue, then, is that you're nervous.
Right.
Chad and Leigh are stuck on Riley's story.
He got attacked once when he was younger, and then ever since then, he's been a little tentative with other dogs.
And I really think that's the issue here is just freeing them up from that story and moving forward and showing them how to confidently introduce Riley to dogs that may at first trigger him, and letting him know that, hey, that dog's not necessarily a threat.
Let's just work on this one little thing and see if we can iron the kink out.
All right? We're gonna help Mom and Dad? What happened? Oh, I see that face.
I'm here at Animal Haven.
I told Tiffany that I would come back and work with some of her handlers, helping train some of the more difficult dogs.
- Hey, welcome.
- What's up? - This is the crew.
- I'm Justin.
Everyone here's goal in mind, as well, is to help get these dogs adopted, so if there are some that are a little bit more difficult than others - And this is Waldo.
- This the one you got your hands full with? I'm really happy to help these handlers with some training techniques to get these dogs out of here into some forever homes.
- Come here, bud.
- He's a great dog.
What are you struggling with the most with him? - He can be a little bit of a handful.
- Okay.
He's wonderful, but he's just he's a lot of dog.
Oh, I want this! The first dog, Waldo-- Hyper energy puppy, big dog.
Oh, he's bouncy.
And mouthy.
So they're having a lot of trouble with this dog, getting him under control.
What's your goal? What do you want to do right now? Get him to walk without fussing with the harness.
So I wanted to work on a heeling technique, teach him how to walk properly.
You're gonna take this turkey and just-- Off-off-off-off-off.
I use rewards, so it just encourages him to keep his paws on the ground.
I want to just see you start the way you want to start.
But I would start with lead.
One, two-- Okay.
Start with just his jump.
Get him down.
So use your hand as the guide.
So get specific with your body language.
- Okay.
- Put your hand down.
And then just keep that low? You don't want him to touch that, right? So put him back where he was.
You're allowed to have the treat in your hand, right? - Okay.
- It's not a bribe.
Try to get three sits.
It's super important that they take in the techniques that I show them.
- Big voice.
- Sit.
- Say it, big voice.
- Sit.
So that they can walk them through these adoptions themselves.
- Sit.
- Good boy.
Nice.
- One, two, three, go.
- Sit.
Good boy.
Beautiful.
Good.
Go for three more.
I had her set small, achievable goals.
She accomplished them.
That's it.
That's-that's the base.
- And then you work on that.
- Yeah.
Wait, wait.
- Give me the turkey hands.
- Okay.
So the next dog is Bison, who is this little beagle who barks uncontrollably.
People really can't even meet him, because the minute they hear his bark, it's like they're running out the door.
Like, when we are in the boutique, you know, we will have multiple dogs down there, showing people, so the minute he gets in there, it's over.
They want to introduce Bison to families 'cause he's so cute and so sweet, but the shrieking starts and the families are just turned off.
- So he acts out in the boutique? - Yes.
Okay, so I want to go down there and see that.
If we could just make that little adjustment, get him quiet he's gonna get adopted.
So this just goes on.
This is when you want to introduce him.
Every time we try to show him for adoption, this is what happens.
And then the adoption applicant usually walks out the door right there.
Yeah.
Sit down.
Bison, sit.
So I'm making this a positive experience.
I've got the head collar on for a little bit more control with him.
Wait.
Sit.
Come.
Right there, stop.
Bison, sit.
Thank you.
You know, and they don't Okay.
Right there.
Relax.
Okay, so just a little bit of You see, you see his breath? - He's getting a little excited.
- Right.
I just keep him calm right now.
Let her do what she does.
We use the head collar, ask him to sit, get his attention on me.
And I'm just asking him to not react.
Once he was calm, we can just move him forward through the introduction.
Quiet as a mouse.
I just don't want the barking.
Come here.
Come here.
Sit.
Beautiful.
- I'll let you do it.
- Okay.
Bison.
Can you sit? Good.
Good sit.
Good sit.
Now, here's the other now, here's the other thing.
We want this energy, right? - Yes.
- Okay.
So when we're like, "Bison, sit, " and then "Good boy, "blah, blah, blah, like where-where's it going? - It's going higher.
Up.
- So if we want calm, I give calm.
So with him-- Sit.
Right here.
And I stay right in here with this.
She can go a little berserk, that's okay.
And I just keep him right here.
And if I want to reward him, it's just calm.
- Okay.
- All right? Bison.
Bison's been here the longest.
The howling was the thing that was turning people off from him.
If I met this dog, I'd be like, - "This is the quietest beagle I've ever met.
" - Right.
I cannot believe that's Bison.
- He's a different dog.
- Seeing Bison on the floor quiet, when there was all these other dogs around and people, was one of the greatest things I've ever seen here.
Like, he would've been gone weeks ago if he acted like this.
I fell in love with Bison.
Certain dogs just get me that way, and Bison got me that way.
I want to get this dog adopted.
All right, so I'll introduce him.
If you have a family that you want for him, I'll do it.
Wonderful.
Training with the staff here was awesome.
And I was so happy that they had a positive experience and that we were able to work these dogs' issues out.
I hope every dog in this shelter gets adopted.
I'm gonna get you a home? I'm back in SoHo headed to Animal Haven.
This is a really special shelter.
It's a no-kill shelter They take animals from other shelters that are gonna be put down.
They have a huge adoption turnover.
But the shelter could use an upgrade.
So I'm all for helping them fix these doors and changing the aesthetics.
Helping upgrade the shelter and working to train the animals is only gonna get more animals adopted.
I'm meeting a whole crew of people-- My friends who are artists, builders.
- Hello.
- Hey.
How are you? We're gonna surprise Tiffany with a ton of stuff to renovate the shelter.
- -So, I made a bunch of phone calls.
- Oh, my gosh.
I called builders I know, I called artists I know.
- Thank you so much.
- And I assembled a bunch of people who are animal lovers, who all want to help out with the renovations.
- They want to redo your basement, so - That is incredible.
- Thank you so much, Justin.
- You're welcome.
You're welcome.
If you want, we're ready to get started.
Uh, of course.
Please do, right now.
- Okay, I'm gonna go get them.
- Let's do it.
- Hey, everybody.
- This is Tiffany.
- I'm Andrea.
- Nice to meet you.
- Come on in, everybody.
- Hey, guys.
Hey, everybody.
Thank you so much.
If I told my buddies I was moving, everybody would just have the flu that day.
You tell people you're saving dogs, they're like, "Oh, I have the flu and I'm still gonna show up.
" Wow.
Guys, thank you.
Go, Team Animal Haven! I am so excited to see what all the people here are gonna do.
My stomach has knots in it, actually.
Come on.
- See how dingy this is? - Yeah, yeah, we're gonna make this go, like, a sort of sunflower color here We have two halves of this team.
We havethe builders who are gonna install the doors that we got customized from Mason Company, and then we have artists who want to paint beautiful murals to just uplift the spirit in there.
We're gonna make this like Times Square.
It's amazing how talented these people are.
You know, you just see a chalk outline and then you start to see it get filled in.
You're watching these drab, kind of gross walls turn into this beautiful cityscape.
It's almost like the grass is growing right in front of you as they paint it.
You're watching the whole thing come to life right in front of your eyes.
I'm making a breed I don't know necessarily exists here.
When people are coming downstairs with their family, you want that experience to be as pleasurable as possible.
There's so much to do here, and we want to get it done before their big adoption event, but I'm feeling good.
Hey, who are you? How are you? Come here.
Come here.
I'm gonna do something right now.
- Grab his leash, put it on him.
- Okay.
I knock on the door, Fozzie just starts going, so I'm gonna start going right here.
I'm gonna knock on the door again.
- Okay.
- The second you hear the door knock, - just make him sit down.
- Okay.
They always say, like, you know, he's this little demon, he's this little monster, he's this little nightmare.
It's like, well, let's not so fast.
Hey.
Fozzie.
Now, watch.
In dealing with Fozzie, the first thing I grab is the leash.
The leash is an extension of our communication with the dog.
They're literally tied to us.
So whatever our tone is is going to be communicated all the way down the leash to the dog.
There's a lot of anxious energy in here.
You guys are tense because he's going so nuts, and it just everything is up here.
I want them to just bring that good energy when they deal with Fozzie, and then he's going to respond.
So, you see, he's still unsure, but he's not having a fit right now.
As soon as Justin took the leash, Fozzie changed.
Fozzie, come here.
From that point on, he was calmer.
It's like Justin sent his dog training guru juice through the leash, and Fozzie was like,"Oh, that's some good stuff.
" My tone with him is like, "Hey, buddy, relax.
" Not, "Stop it!" Not that tone.
Justin says it's all about the tone.
Our tone's usually He's so calm right now.
- He's chilling.
- Yeah.
That was really surprising.
I felt like kind of a fool, because we'd been doing it wrong for so long.
And for Justin to come in and be like, "This is how you do it.
" You know, you can teach old dogs new tricks.
- This is who he really is.
- That's crazy.
We don't ever get to see who he really is 'cause he's amped up and having an anxiety attack all the time.
But look at him.
He's this adorable little Chihuahua whose ears pop forward, and he just starts licking you, and he's, like, that's who that dog is.
Managing Fozzie's a little easier; Managing Gilda's a little more difficult, because she just goes, goes, goes, goes Gilda is fixated on that back door.
Okay, okay, okay, okay, That's got the highest value in the house right now.
The back door, the back door, the back door.
So I wanted to introduce a toy to her.
Now I have her attention.
A toy has high value.
So when I introduce the toy, Gilda's focus goes to the toy.
Value system.
Something she wants.
I got you.
That's some sensei stuff right there.
Come here.
Go get that.
If we create structure, and I keep the play as the focal point for her, she's gonna calm down.
She hasn't been whining.
We can even sit down right now on the couch.
Sit down.
Relax.
You see? She's even facing the door, she's looking at it.
This is the work.
We're asking her to pause.
And then the reward is? I never thought of that before, like, having the play with the dog be the reward.
Her play outside should be similar to the way it was in here.
Now that Gilda's calm, I want to focus on the back door.
First thing is I bought you a head collar.
The nice thing about this is she can open her mouth all the way-- You see, she can eat-- But it controls where her head goes.
So, I get her something healthy, like turkey.
Now is she whining right now? - No.
- What's her priority right now? - That food.
- That food.
Yannis.
Go over to the door, please.
I had the clicker to condition her that when it clicks, she's gonna get a treat.
Touch the door handle.
Gilda.
That was great, man.
I see she's focused on you now.
Just like Fozzie, once I calm Gilda down, I want to stir the pot again.
'Cause the point is that that back door is going to trigger her.
Put your hand very obviously on the door.
Here we go.
There we go.
I'm desensitizing her to you at the door.
She's earning her meal by staying put and doing what I want while you're at the door.
Which is hard for her.
There's nothing wrong.
She's got to protest and get through this a little bit.
I expect Gilda to go absolutely berserk.
That's fine.
She's going to protest.
She's never had that door opened without shooting out of it and going crazy.
Open the door.
Gilda, come here.
Open the door.
- She's gonna get crazy.
- Open the door.
Gilda, come here.
I'm undoing prior conditioning that Gilda had, which was,"when that back door opens up, you're allowed to just go crazy" to "when the back door " opens up, you can be calm and focus your attention on something else.
" Okay, okay, okay.
There's nothing wrong with the door being open.
Good.
For me, it was like watching a drama.
I was, like, how's this gonna end? Right there.
That pause.
I'm really gonna just work on redirecting this dog and getting her to pause.
We've never seen her that calm by the door.
It made the room calm.
That's crazy.
She's so much more responsive to my commands and to the turkey and the clicker, not even caring about the door at all.
So I'm just conditioning her not to go ballistic when the door opens.
That's it.
Now it's time for Jessimae to do this.
And do an impression of me.
What's up, bro? I'm Justin.
I'm good with dogs.
I speak the language.
Go ahead, do what you want to do.
Turn when you want to turn.
Gilda Come on.
Turn around.
Sit her down.
We witnessed the first time that she had never gone crazy at the door.
Our little baby girl! - Come on.
- Walk right back out.
Walk right back in.
Go ahead.
That's insane.
Oh, my God.
Then, when I felt like I was ready, I took the head collar off Gilda, no leash.
- We did it completely free.
- Watch me.
Come here.
Gilda, sit.
Who's closer to the door, me or her? Gilda come.
She's a robot, following orders.
Don't, please.
I cannot believe that she did not run through that.
It feels like a different dog.
Gilda, what we thought was a high-energy dog, she just needed some focus.
I'm gonna make him work for his food now.
I'm gonna put little pieces of cheeseburger on the stairs.
So, now that the exercise is complete on the inside of the door, I want to work on the backyard.
Here comes the test.
Off.
She's off the leash out here.
Okay, she can make mistakes.
Gilda, come.
Now I'm gonna bridge a few things together for you.
- What's this? - Gilda, sit.
Good girl! Oh, she loves that.
What's this? You want this? And watch.
Now we can get her excited and Come here.
Sit.
Good girl! So, instead of the turkey, the play becomes the reward.
You see the structure? Look at her.
Look at her.
Look.
Come here.
She looks the second you get her attention.
She looks here.
You do it.
Every time she got distracted and wanted to go to the fence, we just called her back, redirected her with play.
I don't have to do it.
Look.
She's looking at you.
Not looking up here, not looking to chew the fence.
- This is what we do now out here.
- Sit.
If we create structure, her energy isn't just anxious, rambunctious energy; It's playful, fun energy.
Focused energy.
Right.
In the backyard, - this is the way to play with her.
- Now, after he did his training session, - Gilda was like a Buddhist.
- She felt like a different dog.
She's very calm.
I gave you a lot of stuff today.
It was like dog college today.
It ended up going from total chaos to just being a really nice afternoon with my friends and their dogs, so Yannis and Jessimae have to practice this stuff, but I think they made huge progress, and I hope they keep it up.
Loser east side After hanging out with Yannis, Jessimae and all the pooches, I bounced back to the Lower East Side to work with Riley, Chad and Leigh.
Hello! How are you? - Good seeing you, Justin.
- How are you? We're gonna go to the park and work on Riley's aggressive issues.
One of the clients I work with has two show dogs.
One we're still working with, so she's reactive to dogs.
- Okay.
- The other one is a young, un-neutered male, who is very rambunctious and playful.
I really want to see the problem.
I want to see how he pins on them, I want to bring dogs into the scenario and see if I can work him through the aggression problem.
So to help me with the situation, I called a couple friends.
Nicole works with me, and Julie's a friend of mine.
A lot of dogs are reactive to dogs that are un-neutered.
It's natural for them, right? Here's how I do it.
George, sit.
George, sit down, please.
- They sit first and they get calm, right? - Okay.
It's my job to make the introduction.
So I would meet George first.
By me coming in first, sitting him down, I'm saying I'm gonna negotiate this territory here.
I don't let them greet head to head.
Then, when I feel comfortable, I can walk these two together now.
We're good.
The signs I'm looking for from Riley are that he kind of get really tense and then he lunges at other dogs.
You see how she's a little excitable? Come here.
Let them sniff.
So the first thing I wanted to see was how tense he gets around other dogs.
Let them sniff each other.
She's getting under the hood a little bit.
See? He's very stiff right now.
Riley got a little tense, and then Riley lunged.
And I waited till Nola was calm and in good spirits again, and then she was in an okay state to continue.
This is what happens on leash-- You're tense, right, then he's nervous, and then boom, that's what happens.
You never get past that point.
You're avoiding him lashing out.
You get emotional about it? Upsetting.
- Right.
- Don't be so upset.
He can't learn how to meet other dogs until we introduce him.
Even though they had a spat, I still want to go about having these dogs meet and become friends.
So, she's okay.
Come here, Nola.
Nola, come.
Fine.
So, I want them to go slowly.
They don't have to try to make these dogs best friends, but I want them to just do something other than avoid 'em.
- You want to come here again now? - Me? - Yeah.
- All right.
- Who feels more nervous? - I am the one-- Especially after that.
Leigh gets really, really tense.
When Riley gets tense, she gets super tense.
- I want you to relax.
- Okay.
- Look at me.
- All right.
- Relax.
- Okay, okay, okay.
Now, with control-- Don't let him get too far forward-- - You say hi to Nola.
- Riley, stay.
Be aware of where he is.
- Hey, Nola.
- You say hi to Nola.
Hey, Nola.
Hi.
Are you okay? I want them to start to integrate Riley and show him that he doesn't have to go crazy on these dogs.
Now let's walk together for a second.
Don't be nervous.
Relax your arm.
It's okay for him to walk next to them.
That's just the first step in his socialization.
I'm gonna let her sniff him, and you keep control of him.
- Okay.
Riley, heel.
- Don't be so tight.
Go.
Come on, Nola.
Working with Justin, just the consistency of being in these environments and these situations that I would have avoided, has helped build my confidence.
I'm not 100% there.
Don't be nervous.
Relax your arm.
I've got it.
Relax your arm.
What I want to do is have the dogs side by side, and I just walked them together, so that Riley can see, like, this dog "isn't a threat and I'm not being put in a position where I'm sparring with him.
Is that your new friend? Who's that? Is that your new friend? Look.
It was such a luxury to be able to reintegrate Riley and Nola.
Come on, babies, What are we doing? What are we doing? Come on.
Beautiful! And, you know, lo and behold, three minutes later, they're playing and happy-go-lucky.
So what's the lesson he learns now? - Not to be afraid.
Yep.
- Nothing to be afraid of right here.
Moving forward, instead of avoiding, as we've done in the past, we're gonna slowly build not only Riley's confidence in a situation, but also our confidence as well.
- Thank you, Justin.
- You're very handsome.
- It was nice to meet you guys.
- If I keep on working at this, I have full faith that I will be able to feel confident and calm in these situations.
Today I get to reveal the renovations to Tiffany and the staff.
- Hey! How are you? - I'm good.
Good to see you.
So, Justin told me not to go downstairs to see the renovations, so I've been waiting, and I'm dying, and the anticipation is killing me, actually.
- Cover your eyes.
I want them covered.
- Okay.
They're covered.
Here's what I'm gonna do.
I'm going to direct you here.
I put my hands on her shoulders, and you can just kind of feel her vibrating.
- You cannot open them until I say, "Open them.
" - I will not.
I will not.
I walk her to the top of the stairs, she opens her eyes, and Oh, my God.
No way.
This is really great.
Walk down a little bit.
- Thank you so much.
- You're welcome.
I can't believe it.
I'm I'm still overwhelmed.
- Go slow, go slow.
- I'm shaking.
It's unbelievable what a group of people were able to do in such a short amount of time.
Oh, my God, it's bright in here, too, and you guys put there's different lights! Oh, my God.
Wait right here.
Come here.
- I'm just speechless.
- Look at this one.
Oh, my God, it looks 3-D.
It actually looks like the dog is out here.
I thought Justin was just gonna come down here and do a paint job.
I had no idea that this is what he had up his sleeve.
I can't believe you guys did this.
And this, this is really cool.
See how the dog-walking lane goes all the way up.
That's my dog, Pacino.
I threw him in! It's not life-size, right? Here's more mural.
The mural doesn't end.
Oh, they're playing Look! They're playing with a toy.
This is, like, the dog park.
There they are.
Mason Company really came through in donating your doors.
The doors were a mess.
The dogs were getting hurt.
There was a space on the bottom, so the dogs were getting cuts on their noses.
They also couldn't see, so to view the dogs, people had to put their heads over the top of the doors, which was scaring the dogs, and the dogs were reacting.
Mason Company made these beautiful doors that have stainless steel venting on the top, so the dogs can see out, people can see in.
The baseboards of them go all the way to the floor, and they're made out of a material that dogs can't scratch.
Oh, I've got to hug you again.
Justin didn't just do something for Animal Haven and me; He did it for everybody that's involved with our organization.
It's really incredible.
- Good.
Good.
- It's really, really incredible.
Good.
I get really emotional when I go to shelters, 'cause I got my dogs from shelters, and it's, like This is exactly what Animal Haven, this location, was originally built out to do.
It was to turn the idea of an animal shelter on its head and say to people, it's not a bad place, they're really pretty places, - and they can be, and they shouldn't be dark.
- People think, I don't want to go to the shelter.
- I don't want to see that.
- Right.
Right.
This is This is cool.
This is a cool place.
This is way cool.
I just feel fortunate, in a way, like, the things I do with dogs is the conduit toward making them have better lives.
I just I feel blessed.
That's how I feel.
After all the hard work that everybody put in, they really deserve to celebrate.
I'm so excited to see some of our dogs get to show their great face and get adopted.
Bison, sit.
I really, really want to see this dog go home.
I'm on my way to Animal Haven's big benefit.
This is a yearly thing that they do, raise money for all the animals, they feature all these adoption stories.
I'm gonna see Edie there.
It's gonna be a good time.
If it isn't the one and only.
Hello.
- So nice to see you.
- How are you? - You look lovely.
- Why, thank you.
Tiffany invited me here tonight, and it's great, especially after all the hard work that everybody put in, so they really deserve something to celebrate.
The doors they put in are phenomenal.
- They're in already? - Yeah.
Holy mackerel.
You guys don't mess around.
This crew worked their they worked their tails off.
I, honestly, like from my heart, I really appreciate you including me in this Oh, you kidding me? I was thrilled that you were able to come on board and find people, and you yourself, to help spruce the place up and work with the difficult dogs.
I mean, this is stuff that's important, I think.
You know, there's something about animals that just that goes really deep.
It's primal in some way.
Yeah, it is.
With Justin's understanding of animals and the contacts he has, it was a perfect arrangement.
I'm so glad it worked out for everybody.
I had a great time.
You've really just been the best.
Thank you so much.
And if you need anything, seriously, call me.
- Thank you so much.
Take care.
- Bye.
Great event.
The benefit was a lot of fun.
Animal Haven is having an adoption event in the morning, and I really want to be there, 'cause I feel like, if they're introduced properly, these dogs have a great shot at getting adopted.
Today's the big adoption event at Animal Haven.
Everyone's put in so much hard work, with training the dogs, the staff, revamping the space.
And the reason for all this comes down to one simple thing: Getting these dogs adopted.
- What's up, you? - Hello.
- How are you? - Good.
I'm so excited to see some of our dogs get to show their great face and get out there and get adopted.
You can go ahead.
Put your hand down.
It's okay.
You can let him pet you.
He's a baby.
He's just a baby.
- Do you like him? - Yeah.
- Do you like him? He likes you.
- Yes.
The energy and the spirit here is great.
Like, everybody's here, like, I may meet my forever dog, and the dogs are, like, oh, I may meet my forever home, so it's a wonderful feeling here today.
A schnoodle? You wanna go home with us? One beautiful thing about dogs is their simplicity.
Just like children, they love you unconditionally.
If you treat them the way you want to be treated, - they love you forever.
- Hello.
- Oh, hey.
How are you? - Hi.
This is Biscuit.
She's a little shy, she's, like, a little tentative.
She's a baby.
Like, she needs a mama right now.
Are you gonna take her? Oh, yeah, absolutely.
You're going home, baby girl! - Oh, he's such a good boy.
- Stay.
Wait.
Doing good.
Sit.
Down.
Wait.
This adoption event is going fantastic.
It's a huge success, but my boy Bison's still sitting here, and I got to be honest, I am dying to see this dog go home today.
This guy walks up.
He's looking at Bison.
He's definitely interested in him you could see he's got his eye on the little guy.
- What's up? How are you? - Oh! He loves you! Bison's way into him right away.
Just licking all over his face, and I'm hoping this is Bison's forever home.
He's definitely very vocal, but we did a little bit of training with him, and I mean, in my opinion, and I think these guys'll say, he responded excellent.
This guy needs lots of exercise.
I want to be very up front with Sean about all of Bison's issues so he's aware of the training that this dog's gonna require.
Bison, sit.
Down.
And he'll, like Me and my girlfriend had moved to Williamsburg, so we've been looking for a pet for a while, have a huge yard, want a little guy to have run around in it - Really good.
- I think this match is pretty incredible, and I'd love to see Bison go home with you.
If you'll let me have him, I'd love to have this dog today.
Well, I would say, let's do it.
Want to come home with me, buddy? Oh, Bison, you are one lucky dog.
End of the adoption event, I didn't think it was gonna happen, but the last dog to get adopted was Bison-- I was so psyched.
Hey, buddy, come here.
Come here.
Come here, you.
Come up.
Give me a kiss.
Like I always say with adoption, the adoption story, this is a happy ending, but it's a happy new beginning for Bison and for Sean.
- Here you go, man.
- All right.
Congratulations.
You got your Bison paperwork.
- Got my Bison paperwork.
- Take care, Sean.
See you.
Be in touch with me, all right? - Come on, boy.
- Of course.
Bye.
Come on, boy.
- Awesome.
- What's up? - Look at him go.
- Yeah.
Bye-bye.
He's got it.
He's got it.
Oh, he's gonna be great.
Our experience with Justin has been unbelievable.
What he has done for Animal Haven has just blown me away.
Bison goes home.
Biscuit goes home.
Sprocket goes home.
That's three in one day.
That's pretty incredible.
- That's great.
Thank you.
- Congratulations.
This was a really, really successful event.
Animal Haven, Tiffany's really happy, the dogs are gonna be happy.
- This feels awesome.
I'll see you soon.
- Bye.
See you later.
One secret to a happy life is giving back.
What's beautiful about dogs is: whatever you give them, they give back tenfold.
Dogs teach us as much as we teach them-- They can teach us to find courage or to find peace or even how to find a home.
Giving an animal a home makes life in the city that much brighter.
One in eight New Yorkers owns a dog.
Titus, come here, big handsome.
That's one and a half million dogs.
Which means, there's gonna be some problems.
Oh! Oh, no.
That's where I come in.
I'm Justin Silver.
They call me the dog guru.
All right, let's get started right now.
I've been working with dogs and their owners for nearly ten years.
Watch his feet, watch my feet.
Just walk.
They're gonna follow you.
Walk.
Good girl.
And believe me, I've seen every problem you can imagine.
- Stubborn.
- No, that way.
Difficult.
Spoiled.
Demanding.
And that's just the owners.
- Okay, now you're gonna hate me.
- Now? I mean, the truth is, when I'm training dogs, - I'm training owners.
- I don't want him to bark.
I didn't ask what you don't want him to do.
I asked what you want him to do.
You never get past the introduction because you're worried about the flare-up.
Up.
Good boy.
Bottom line, my job is to make life with dogs in the city a whole lot easier.
Walk.
You see how she starts to just fall into a rhythm with If there's one language I speak fluently, it's canine.
This stuff ends today.
What can I say? I speak dog.
What? Oh, my handsome dog trainer? Any breed, any time, anywhere.
When it comes to dogs, I've got this city covered.
Tonight - Hello.
- I join forces with Emmy-winning actress Edie Falco to transform the shelter We're gonna make this like Times Square.
that's close to her heart Oh, he's bouncy! by training the staff Get specific with your body language.
and taking on the most challenging dogs I'm gonna get you a home.
Plus, I encounter one of the most anxious dogs I've ever met.
Gilda is worked up.
Okay, okay, okay, okay! Easy.
And an attack from another dog has left this spaniel traumatized We can't bring him to the park without a muzzle.
snapping at other dogs that cross its path.
font color=#FF6EC7 dogs in the city Season 1 Episode 06 I am going to a really, really wonderful shelter called Animal Haven.
Edie Falco called me because she volunteers, and asked if I could come and meet her and help her out.
Hi.
How are you? - I'm Justin.
- Hey, Justin.
- So nice to meet you.
- Edie.
Nice to see you.
Thanks so much for calling me down.
How are you You adopted a Brussels from here? I did.
I love it.
My little girl Sammy.
They had adopted a bunch of Brussels from a puppy mill, so I came down here on my lunch hour, literally, and left in a cab with a dog, which was not my intention.
These guys, Animal Haven, have helped, uh, every step of the way with training that Sammy needed.
And what little I can do to give back, I'm-I'm happy to, so I'm sure a little means a lot.
It means a ton.
It's unbelievable.
You know, I know what animals are to me.
If there's anything I can do to help bring the word that, you know, getting an animal, rescuing an animal changes your life, - Yeah, it does.
- That's what I'm here to do.
How can I help you guys out? Some of the areas where the dogs spend time are a little bit dark, a little dingy, need new paint.
It's so important, like, if you come into an environment that's a shelter, and people come in and say, like, "This place makes me feel good, these animals are being treated well" Help making them more adoptable, as well.
- Right, exactly.
- How's their behavior doing? We always have a couple that stand out that just probably need a little additional, uh, TLC and your expertise.
Show some of our staff your techniques with dogs.
Yeah, definitely.
Helping upgrade the shelter and working with some of the staff and training the animals are working toward the same goal to get more animals adopted.
- Why don't you give me a tour.
Show me what's up.
- Sure.
- Want to come see the place? - Awesome.
The one thing that Tiffany wanted Justin to see was the downstairs kennel area.
It's kind of cold.
We all want these animals to find their forever homes.
And it needs to be upgraded if it's gonna continue to be as successful as it is.
So, uplifting this room a little bit, - making everybody happy.
- Mm-hmm, yeah.
Right, this is basically the walk this is the runway for the dogs that go on their walks.
And right here are the doors.
They're not optimal for what we're doing here at Animal Haven.
We have to tighten them all the time, 'cause the dogs bang up against them.
And they're a little too high off the ground, so the dogs are cramming their noses underneath.
- Are they getting injured? - And some are getting injured and scratched up.
The posturing to see our dogs is something like this.
- So it's a little threatening.
- Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
- So maybe something more inviting and visible.
- Right.
So they can remain calm as they're being looked at by someone - who might want to take them home.
- Right.
If the dog seems like, you know, overwhelmed and attacking, it's less likely to be adopted, of course.
Right.
I'm all for helping them fix these doors and changing the aesthetics.
And I think I know the perfect people who can lend their time and their talents to helping them with this situation.
I'm gonna make some phone calls, and we're gonna see what we can do to help you out.
- Excellent.
Sounds great.
- Couldn't ask for more.
Justin seems great, with his energy and his-his contacts.
I'm hoping he can come through for Animal Haven with the stuff they need help with.
I'm in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and I'm here visiting my friend Yannis and Jessimae.
They have three dogs, all named after comedians.
Gilda, named after Gilda Radner; Fozzie, named after Fozzie Bear from the Muppets; and Carlin, named after George Carlin.
I know that Yannis and Jessimae have had issues with Gilda and Fozzie in the past.
Recently, these issues have gotten way out of control, so they gave me a call.
What's up, Jus? How are you, brother? This is when he's gonna attack you.
Yeah, we know Justin for years.
And we knew that he was also a dog trainer.
And we called him up 'cause we got three dogs and we have some problems.
Okay, okay, okay.
It's embarrassing, 'cause it's like we don't have any control over these animals.
Get down.
Get down.
Get down! All right, don't yell at him so much.
Vocal and verbal commands don't work.
Come here.
Come right here.
She has no idea what's going on.
It's mayhem.
- Did you get bit yet? - Yeah, I'm-I'm getting bit.
Fozzie's bitten people in the house, and you can add my ankle to that list today.
All right, so what's the problem? Jessimae and Yannis are awesome because they rescue all these dogs, so I really want to get all the dogs well-adjusted.
You guys got your hands full right now.
Yeah, we got three.
Give me more of the history on him.
Fozzie, the moment I got him, was aggressive.
He's the worst dog.
- He's not the worst dog; he's nervous.
- He attacks everybody.
He's nervous.
ls he always licking like that? - Always licking.
- Yeah.
He's got anxiety.
Well, he's in New York.
Of course.
Who doesn't have anxiety? Fozzie is an ankle-biter.
Well, he's an opportunity biter.
Yeah, the ankle's the only thing he can get.
Chihuahuas are like little piranha dogs.
When people come over, he will attack them.
He's just tiny.
He seems to have no awareness of his size.
Fozzie bites a lot.
But because he's so small, you think, oh, it's not such a big deal.
It is a big deal.
This dog bites the wrong person, this dog bites a kid, that's it.
- Gilda is worked up.
- This is daily.
She requires about two hours of exercise a day.
We're talking about a dog who can run six miles without stopping, straight with hills, pulling a human being, and then come back into the house and be like, "All right, I want to kill some more squirrels.
" - She's bionic.
- Yeah.
The first week we got her, we just started letting her out, like, liberally in the backyard.
And so I think, like, that kind of set her mind that that's her free space.
Like, she can go crazy.
Can I see it? Yeah, oh, yeah.
Let's see what we see.
She's like an addict for the backyard.
Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.
Easy, easy.
Calm down.
Gilda gets so anxious, and all the dogs' energy just trigger one another, so then they start going at it.
Gilda's so wound up.
She's like a type A personality.
You open that back door Gilda just explodes.
Oh, God, this dog.
It's a new rug.
Look at her.
She's just destroying it.
Why is she doing Like, what does that have to do with her going through the door? Is that a toy? What happened was she gets so anxious when that door's gonna open, and she's getting all amped up, amped up, amped up, and she started going for the mat.
There's just no calm in this house.
She shoots right out the front door, up onto this ledge and back and forth across the ledge.
- Just back and forth.
- It's constant, huh? Constant.
And this doesn't even tire her out.
She'll be out here doing this Well, it's not tiring her out because she's not really exercising.
- She's wound up.
- Yeah, right.
- She's having, like, an anxiety attack.
- Right.
You know what I mean? She's got tremendous amount of exercise.
It's not that.
She never has a point where her attention is just kind of on you and relaxed.
She's always like this, looking to do, do, do.
When Gilda's being exercised, I think because there's no structure to her exercise, she just keeps going, going, going, going, going, going, going.
I got a really good sense of what I want to do with her.
You're gonna fix our problems? What's awesome and what makes me want to help them even more is that these are all shelter dogs.
These are dogs that wouldn't have h a chance.
So I'm always glad to come and help friends out, especially friends that are doing rescue stuff.
- I wish I could stay longer.
- You guys gonna hug? - Good to see you.
Aw.
- Yes, we're gonna hug.
Justin, help us to restore some calm into our home.
Please.
Open the door.
Coming up Gilda.
So the first thing I wanted to see was how tense he gets around other dogs.
See, he's very stiff right now.
I am headed to the Lower East Side to work with Chad and Leigh and their dog Riley.
Uhp, there's my guy.
- Hi.
- I'm Justin.
- I'm Leigh.
Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you, Leigh.
- This is Riley.
Come on in.
- I see this is Riley.
What's up, gorgeous? I was really taken by how beautiful the dog was.
Rambunctious, playful, running around.
Overall, just, like, a friendly guy.
What's wrong? When he was young, we'd take him to the park, and he would run and run and run.
And he was, like, the star of the park, essentially.
And then he got attacked, and he went from a pretty normal, docile dog to starting to protect himself.
We spent a lot of hours working with him on training, and we can't really get past bringing him to the park without a muzzle.
When he doesn't like a dog, he ends up lashing out.
We want to avoid those situations at all costs.
If there is an issue What's an issue? "If there is an issue.
" So, if I'm walking down the street and he just gets very stiff.
If he sees a dog in the distance and then he immediately reacts to it.
- That's "if there's an issue.
" - Right.
So he'll just stiffen up, and then I can pick up that behavior and know that that might not be a great situation for me to - And then what do you do? - Then I avoid.
Okay.
I think the best thing for you guys that I can do is try to find a bunch of dogs that trigger him and just not avoid anything.
I can tell you right now, I'm gonna be very nervous when he's interacted with other dogs, because of past experiences.
Okay, that's the source of your issue, then, is that you're nervous.
Right.
Chad and Leigh are stuck on Riley's story.
He got attacked once when he was younger, and then ever since then, he's been a little tentative with other dogs.
And I really think that's the issue here is just freeing them up from that story and moving forward and showing them how to confidently introduce Riley to dogs that may at first trigger him, and letting him know that, hey, that dog's not necessarily a threat.
Let's just work on this one little thing and see if we can iron the kink out.
All right? We're gonna help Mom and Dad? What happened? Oh, I see that face.
I'm here at Animal Haven.
I told Tiffany that I would come back and work with some of her handlers, helping train some of the more difficult dogs.
- Hey, welcome.
- What's up? - This is the crew.
- I'm Justin.
Everyone here's goal in mind, as well, is to help get these dogs adopted, so if there are some that are a little bit more difficult than others - And this is Waldo.
- This the one you got your hands full with? I'm really happy to help these handlers with some training techniques to get these dogs out of here into some forever homes.
- Come here, bud.
- He's a great dog.
What are you struggling with the most with him? - He can be a little bit of a handful.
- Okay.
He's wonderful, but he's just he's a lot of dog.
Oh, I want this! The first dog, Waldo-- Hyper energy puppy, big dog.
Oh, he's bouncy.
And mouthy.
So they're having a lot of trouble with this dog, getting him under control.
What's your goal? What do you want to do right now? Get him to walk without fussing with the harness.
So I wanted to work on a heeling technique, teach him how to walk properly.
You're gonna take this turkey and just-- Off-off-off-off-off.
I use rewards, so it just encourages him to keep his paws on the ground.
I want to just see you start the way you want to start.
But I would start with lead.
One, two-- Okay.
Start with just his jump.
Get him down.
So use your hand as the guide.
So get specific with your body language.
- Okay.
- Put your hand down.
And then just keep that low? You don't want him to touch that, right? So put him back where he was.
You're allowed to have the treat in your hand, right? - Okay.
- It's not a bribe.
Try to get three sits.
It's super important that they take in the techniques that I show them.
- Big voice.
- Sit.
- Say it, big voice.
- Sit.
So that they can walk them through these adoptions themselves.
- Sit.
- Good boy.
Nice.
- One, two, three, go.
- Sit.
Good boy.
Beautiful.
Good.
Go for three more.
I had her set small, achievable goals.
She accomplished them.
That's it.
That's-that's the base.
- And then you work on that.
- Yeah.
Wait, wait.
- Give me the turkey hands.
- Okay.
So the next dog is Bison, who is this little beagle who barks uncontrollably.
People really can't even meet him, because the minute they hear his bark, it's like they're running out the door.
Like, when we are in the boutique, you know, we will have multiple dogs down there, showing people, so the minute he gets in there, it's over.
They want to introduce Bison to families 'cause he's so cute and so sweet, but the shrieking starts and the families are just turned off.
- So he acts out in the boutique? - Yes.
Okay, so I want to go down there and see that.
If we could just make that little adjustment, get him quiet he's gonna get adopted.
So this just goes on.
This is when you want to introduce him.
Every time we try to show him for adoption, this is what happens.
And then the adoption applicant usually walks out the door right there.
Yeah.
Sit down.
Bison, sit.
So I'm making this a positive experience.
I've got the head collar on for a little bit more control with him.
Wait.
Sit.
Come.
Right there, stop.
Bison, sit.
Thank you.
You know, and they don't Okay.
Right there.
Relax.
Okay, so just a little bit of You see, you see his breath? - He's getting a little excited.
- Right.
I just keep him calm right now.
Let her do what she does.
We use the head collar, ask him to sit, get his attention on me.
And I'm just asking him to not react.
Once he was calm, we can just move him forward through the introduction.
Quiet as a mouse.
I just don't want the barking.
Come here.
Come here.
Sit.
Beautiful.
- I'll let you do it.
- Okay.
Bison.
Can you sit? Good.
Good sit.
Good sit.
Now, here's the other now, here's the other thing.
We want this energy, right? - Yes.
- Okay.
So when we're like, "Bison, sit, " and then "Good boy, "blah, blah, blah, like where-where's it going? - It's going higher.
Up.
- So if we want calm, I give calm.
So with him-- Sit.
Right here.
And I stay right in here with this.
She can go a little berserk, that's okay.
And I just keep him right here.
And if I want to reward him, it's just calm.
- Okay.
- All right? Bison.
Bison's been here the longest.
The howling was the thing that was turning people off from him.
If I met this dog, I'd be like, - "This is the quietest beagle I've ever met.
" - Right.
I cannot believe that's Bison.
- He's a different dog.
- Seeing Bison on the floor quiet, when there was all these other dogs around and people, was one of the greatest things I've ever seen here.
Like, he would've been gone weeks ago if he acted like this.
I fell in love with Bison.
Certain dogs just get me that way, and Bison got me that way.
I want to get this dog adopted.
All right, so I'll introduce him.
If you have a family that you want for him, I'll do it.
Wonderful.
Training with the staff here was awesome.
And I was so happy that they had a positive experience and that we were able to work these dogs' issues out.
I hope every dog in this shelter gets adopted.
I'm gonna get you a home? I'm back in SoHo headed to Animal Haven.
This is a really special shelter.
It's a no-kill shelter They take animals from other shelters that are gonna be put down.
They have a huge adoption turnover.
But the shelter could use an upgrade.
So I'm all for helping them fix these doors and changing the aesthetics.
Helping upgrade the shelter and working to train the animals is only gonna get more animals adopted.
I'm meeting a whole crew of people-- My friends who are artists, builders.
- Hello.
- Hey.
How are you? We're gonna surprise Tiffany with a ton of stuff to renovate the shelter.
- -So, I made a bunch of phone calls.
- Oh, my gosh.
I called builders I know, I called artists I know.
- Thank you so much.
- And I assembled a bunch of people who are animal lovers, who all want to help out with the renovations.
- They want to redo your basement, so - That is incredible.
- Thank you so much, Justin.
- You're welcome.
You're welcome.
If you want, we're ready to get started.
Uh, of course.
Please do, right now.
- Okay, I'm gonna go get them.
- Let's do it.
- Hey, everybody.
- This is Tiffany.
- I'm Andrea.
- Nice to meet you.
- Come on in, everybody.
- Hey, guys.
Hey, everybody.
Thank you so much.
If I told my buddies I was moving, everybody would just have the flu that day.
You tell people you're saving dogs, they're like, "Oh, I have the flu and I'm still gonna show up.
" Wow.
Guys, thank you.
Go, Team Animal Haven! I am so excited to see what all the people here are gonna do.
My stomach has knots in it, actually.
Come on.
- See how dingy this is? - Yeah, yeah, we're gonna make this go, like, a sort of sunflower color here We have two halves of this team.
We havethe builders who are gonna install the doors that we got customized from Mason Company, and then we have artists who want to paint beautiful murals to just uplift the spirit in there.
We're gonna make this like Times Square.
It's amazing how talented these people are.
You know, you just see a chalk outline and then you start to see it get filled in.
You're watching these drab, kind of gross walls turn into this beautiful cityscape.
It's almost like the grass is growing right in front of you as they paint it.
You're watching the whole thing come to life right in front of your eyes.
I'm making a breed I don't know necessarily exists here.
When people are coming downstairs with their family, you want that experience to be as pleasurable as possible.
There's so much to do here, and we want to get it done before their big adoption event, but I'm feeling good.
Hey, who are you? How are you? Come here.
Come here.
I'm gonna do something right now.
- Grab his leash, put it on him.
- Okay.
I knock on the door, Fozzie just starts going, so I'm gonna start going right here.
I'm gonna knock on the door again.
- Okay.
- The second you hear the door knock, - just make him sit down.
- Okay.
They always say, like, you know, he's this little demon, he's this little monster, he's this little nightmare.
It's like, well, let's not so fast.
Hey.
Fozzie.
Now, watch.
In dealing with Fozzie, the first thing I grab is the leash.
The leash is an extension of our communication with the dog.
They're literally tied to us.
So whatever our tone is is going to be communicated all the way down the leash to the dog.
There's a lot of anxious energy in here.
You guys are tense because he's going so nuts, and it just everything is up here.
I want them to just bring that good energy when they deal with Fozzie, and then he's going to respond.
So, you see, he's still unsure, but he's not having a fit right now.
As soon as Justin took the leash, Fozzie changed.
Fozzie, come here.
From that point on, he was calmer.
It's like Justin sent his dog training guru juice through the leash, and Fozzie was like,"Oh, that's some good stuff.
" My tone with him is like, "Hey, buddy, relax.
" Not, "Stop it!" Not that tone.
Justin says it's all about the tone.
Our tone's usually He's so calm right now.
- He's chilling.
- Yeah.
That was really surprising.
I felt like kind of a fool, because we'd been doing it wrong for so long.
And for Justin to come in and be like, "This is how you do it.
" You know, you can teach old dogs new tricks.
- This is who he really is.
- That's crazy.
We don't ever get to see who he really is 'cause he's amped up and having an anxiety attack all the time.
But look at him.
He's this adorable little Chihuahua whose ears pop forward, and he just starts licking you, and he's, like, that's who that dog is.
Managing Fozzie's a little easier; Managing Gilda's a little more difficult, because she just goes, goes, goes, goes Gilda is fixated on that back door.
Okay, okay, okay, okay, That's got the highest value in the house right now.
The back door, the back door, the back door.
So I wanted to introduce a toy to her.
Now I have her attention.
A toy has high value.
So when I introduce the toy, Gilda's focus goes to the toy.
Value system.
Something she wants.
I got you.
That's some sensei stuff right there.
Come here.
Go get that.
If we create structure, and I keep the play as the focal point for her, she's gonna calm down.
She hasn't been whining.
We can even sit down right now on the couch.
Sit down.
Relax.
You see? She's even facing the door, she's looking at it.
This is the work.
We're asking her to pause.
And then the reward is? I never thought of that before, like, having the play with the dog be the reward.
Her play outside should be similar to the way it was in here.
Now that Gilda's calm, I want to focus on the back door.
First thing is I bought you a head collar.
The nice thing about this is she can open her mouth all the way-- You see, she can eat-- But it controls where her head goes.
So, I get her something healthy, like turkey.
Now is she whining right now? - No.
- What's her priority right now? - That food.
- That food.
Yannis.
Go over to the door, please.
I had the clicker to condition her that when it clicks, she's gonna get a treat.
Touch the door handle.
Gilda.
That was great, man.
I see she's focused on you now.
Just like Fozzie, once I calm Gilda down, I want to stir the pot again.
'Cause the point is that that back door is going to trigger her.
Put your hand very obviously on the door.
Here we go.
There we go.
I'm desensitizing her to you at the door.
She's earning her meal by staying put and doing what I want while you're at the door.
Which is hard for her.
There's nothing wrong.
She's got to protest and get through this a little bit.
I expect Gilda to go absolutely berserk.
That's fine.
She's going to protest.
She's never had that door opened without shooting out of it and going crazy.
Open the door.
Gilda, come here.
Open the door.
- She's gonna get crazy.
- Open the door.
Gilda, come here.
I'm undoing prior conditioning that Gilda had, which was,"when that back door opens up, you're allowed to just go crazy" to "when the back door " opens up, you can be calm and focus your attention on something else.
" Okay, okay, okay.
There's nothing wrong with the door being open.
Good.
For me, it was like watching a drama.
I was, like, how's this gonna end? Right there.
That pause.
I'm really gonna just work on redirecting this dog and getting her to pause.
We've never seen her that calm by the door.
It made the room calm.
That's crazy.
She's so much more responsive to my commands and to the turkey and the clicker, not even caring about the door at all.
So I'm just conditioning her not to go ballistic when the door opens.
That's it.
Now it's time for Jessimae to do this.
And do an impression of me.
What's up, bro? I'm Justin.
I'm good with dogs.
I speak the language.
Go ahead, do what you want to do.
Turn when you want to turn.
Gilda Come on.
Turn around.
Sit her down.
We witnessed the first time that she had never gone crazy at the door.
Our little baby girl! - Come on.
- Walk right back out.
Walk right back in.
Go ahead.
That's insane.
Oh, my God.
Then, when I felt like I was ready, I took the head collar off Gilda, no leash.
- We did it completely free.
- Watch me.
Come here.
Gilda, sit.
Who's closer to the door, me or her? Gilda come.
She's a robot, following orders.
Don't, please.
I cannot believe that she did not run through that.
It feels like a different dog.
Gilda, what we thought was a high-energy dog, she just needed some focus.
I'm gonna make him work for his food now.
I'm gonna put little pieces of cheeseburger on the stairs.
So, now that the exercise is complete on the inside of the door, I want to work on the backyard.
Here comes the test.
Off.
She's off the leash out here.
Okay, she can make mistakes.
Gilda, come.
Now I'm gonna bridge a few things together for you.
- What's this? - Gilda, sit.
Good girl! Oh, she loves that.
What's this? You want this? And watch.
Now we can get her excited and Come here.
Sit.
Good girl! So, instead of the turkey, the play becomes the reward.
You see the structure? Look at her.
Look at her.
Look.
Come here.
She looks the second you get her attention.
She looks here.
You do it.
Every time she got distracted and wanted to go to the fence, we just called her back, redirected her with play.
I don't have to do it.
Look.
She's looking at you.
Not looking up here, not looking to chew the fence.
- This is what we do now out here.
- Sit.
If we create structure, her energy isn't just anxious, rambunctious energy; It's playful, fun energy.
Focused energy.
Right.
In the backyard, - this is the way to play with her.
- Now, after he did his training session, - Gilda was like a Buddhist.
- She felt like a different dog.
She's very calm.
I gave you a lot of stuff today.
It was like dog college today.
It ended up going from total chaos to just being a really nice afternoon with my friends and their dogs, so Yannis and Jessimae have to practice this stuff, but I think they made huge progress, and I hope they keep it up.
Loser east side After hanging out with Yannis, Jessimae and all the pooches, I bounced back to the Lower East Side to work with Riley, Chad and Leigh.
Hello! How are you? - Good seeing you, Justin.
- How are you? We're gonna go to the park and work on Riley's aggressive issues.
One of the clients I work with has two show dogs.
One we're still working with, so she's reactive to dogs.
- Okay.
- The other one is a young, un-neutered male, who is very rambunctious and playful.
I really want to see the problem.
I want to see how he pins on them, I want to bring dogs into the scenario and see if I can work him through the aggression problem.
So to help me with the situation, I called a couple friends.
Nicole works with me, and Julie's a friend of mine.
A lot of dogs are reactive to dogs that are un-neutered.
It's natural for them, right? Here's how I do it.
George, sit.
George, sit down, please.
- They sit first and they get calm, right? - Okay.
It's my job to make the introduction.
So I would meet George first.
By me coming in first, sitting him down, I'm saying I'm gonna negotiate this territory here.
I don't let them greet head to head.
Then, when I feel comfortable, I can walk these two together now.
We're good.
The signs I'm looking for from Riley are that he kind of get really tense and then he lunges at other dogs.
You see how she's a little excitable? Come here.
Let them sniff.
So the first thing I wanted to see was how tense he gets around other dogs.
Let them sniff each other.
She's getting under the hood a little bit.
See? He's very stiff right now.
Riley got a little tense, and then Riley lunged.
And I waited till Nola was calm and in good spirits again, and then she was in an okay state to continue.
This is what happens on leash-- You're tense, right, then he's nervous, and then boom, that's what happens.
You never get past that point.
You're avoiding him lashing out.
You get emotional about it? Upsetting.
- Right.
- Don't be so upset.
He can't learn how to meet other dogs until we introduce him.
Even though they had a spat, I still want to go about having these dogs meet and become friends.
So, she's okay.
Come here, Nola.
Nola, come.
Fine.
So, I want them to go slowly.
They don't have to try to make these dogs best friends, but I want them to just do something other than avoid 'em.
- You want to come here again now? - Me? - Yeah.
- All right.
- Who feels more nervous? - I am the one-- Especially after that.
Leigh gets really, really tense.
When Riley gets tense, she gets super tense.
- I want you to relax.
- Okay.
- Look at me.
- All right.
- Relax.
- Okay, okay, okay.
Now, with control-- Don't let him get too far forward-- - You say hi to Nola.
- Riley, stay.
Be aware of where he is.
- Hey, Nola.
- You say hi to Nola.
Hey, Nola.
Hi.
Are you okay? I want them to start to integrate Riley and show him that he doesn't have to go crazy on these dogs.
Now let's walk together for a second.
Don't be nervous.
Relax your arm.
It's okay for him to walk next to them.
That's just the first step in his socialization.
I'm gonna let her sniff him, and you keep control of him.
- Okay.
Riley, heel.
- Don't be so tight.
Go.
Come on, Nola.
Working with Justin, just the consistency of being in these environments and these situations that I would have avoided, has helped build my confidence.
I'm not 100% there.
Don't be nervous.
Relax your arm.
I've got it.
Relax your arm.
What I want to do is have the dogs side by side, and I just walked them together, so that Riley can see, like, this dog "isn't a threat and I'm not being put in a position where I'm sparring with him.
Is that your new friend? Who's that? Is that your new friend? Look.
It was such a luxury to be able to reintegrate Riley and Nola.
Come on, babies, What are we doing? What are we doing? Come on.
Beautiful! And, you know, lo and behold, three minutes later, they're playing and happy-go-lucky.
So what's the lesson he learns now? - Not to be afraid.
Yep.
- Nothing to be afraid of right here.
Moving forward, instead of avoiding, as we've done in the past, we're gonna slowly build not only Riley's confidence in a situation, but also our confidence as well.
- Thank you, Justin.
- You're very handsome.
- It was nice to meet you guys.
- If I keep on working at this, I have full faith that I will be able to feel confident and calm in these situations.
Today I get to reveal the renovations to Tiffany and the staff.
- Hey! How are you? - I'm good.
Good to see you.
So, Justin told me not to go downstairs to see the renovations, so I've been waiting, and I'm dying, and the anticipation is killing me, actually.
- Cover your eyes.
I want them covered.
- Okay.
They're covered.
Here's what I'm gonna do.
I'm going to direct you here.
I put my hands on her shoulders, and you can just kind of feel her vibrating.
- You cannot open them until I say, "Open them.
" - I will not.
I will not.
I walk her to the top of the stairs, she opens her eyes, and Oh, my God.
No way.
This is really great.
Walk down a little bit.
- Thank you so much.
- You're welcome.
I can't believe it.
I'm I'm still overwhelmed.
- Go slow, go slow.
- I'm shaking.
It's unbelievable what a group of people were able to do in such a short amount of time.
Oh, my God, it's bright in here, too, and you guys put there's different lights! Oh, my God.
Wait right here.
Come here.
- I'm just speechless.
- Look at this one.
Oh, my God, it looks 3-D.
It actually looks like the dog is out here.
I thought Justin was just gonna come down here and do a paint job.
I had no idea that this is what he had up his sleeve.
I can't believe you guys did this.
And this, this is really cool.
See how the dog-walking lane goes all the way up.
That's my dog, Pacino.
I threw him in! It's not life-size, right? Here's more mural.
The mural doesn't end.
Oh, they're playing Look! They're playing with a toy.
This is, like, the dog park.
There they are.
Mason Company really came through in donating your doors.
The doors were a mess.
The dogs were getting hurt.
There was a space on the bottom, so the dogs were getting cuts on their noses.
They also couldn't see, so to view the dogs, people had to put their heads over the top of the doors, which was scaring the dogs, and the dogs were reacting.
Mason Company made these beautiful doors that have stainless steel venting on the top, so the dogs can see out, people can see in.
The baseboards of them go all the way to the floor, and they're made out of a material that dogs can't scratch.
Oh, I've got to hug you again.
Justin didn't just do something for Animal Haven and me; He did it for everybody that's involved with our organization.
It's really incredible.
- Good.
Good.
- It's really, really incredible.
Good.
I get really emotional when I go to shelters, 'cause I got my dogs from shelters, and it's, like This is exactly what Animal Haven, this location, was originally built out to do.
It was to turn the idea of an animal shelter on its head and say to people, it's not a bad place, they're really pretty places, - and they can be, and they shouldn't be dark.
- People think, I don't want to go to the shelter.
- I don't want to see that.
- Right.
Right.
This is This is cool.
This is a cool place.
This is way cool.
I just feel fortunate, in a way, like, the things I do with dogs is the conduit toward making them have better lives.
I just I feel blessed.
That's how I feel.
After all the hard work that everybody put in, they really deserve to celebrate.
I'm so excited to see some of our dogs get to show their great face and get adopted.
Bison, sit.
I really, really want to see this dog go home.
I'm on my way to Animal Haven's big benefit.
This is a yearly thing that they do, raise money for all the animals, they feature all these adoption stories.
I'm gonna see Edie there.
It's gonna be a good time.
If it isn't the one and only.
Hello.
- So nice to see you.
- How are you? - You look lovely.
- Why, thank you.
Tiffany invited me here tonight, and it's great, especially after all the hard work that everybody put in, so they really deserve something to celebrate.
The doors they put in are phenomenal.
- They're in already? - Yeah.
Holy mackerel.
You guys don't mess around.
This crew worked their they worked their tails off.
I, honestly, like from my heart, I really appreciate you including me in this Oh, you kidding me? I was thrilled that you were able to come on board and find people, and you yourself, to help spruce the place up and work with the difficult dogs.
I mean, this is stuff that's important, I think.
You know, there's something about animals that just that goes really deep.
It's primal in some way.
Yeah, it is.
With Justin's understanding of animals and the contacts he has, it was a perfect arrangement.
I'm so glad it worked out for everybody.
I had a great time.
You've really just been the best.
Thank you so much.
And if you need anything, seriously, call me.
- Thank you so much.
Take care.
- Bye.
Great event.
The benefit was a lot of fun.
Animal Haven is having an adoption event in the morning, and I really want to be there, 'cause I feel like, if they're introduced properly, these dogs have a great shot at getting adopted.
Today's the big adoption event at Animal Haven.
Everyone's put in so much hard work, with training the dogs, the staff, revamping the space.
And the reason for all this comes down to one simple thing: Getting these dogs adopted.
- What's up, you? - Hello.
- How are you? - Good.
I'm so excited to see some of our dogs get to show their great face and get out there and get adopted.
You can go ahead.
Put your hand down.
It's okay.
You can let him pet you.
He's a baby.
He's just a baby.
- Do you like him? - Yeah.
- Do you like him? He likes you.
- Yes.
The energy and the spirit here is great.
Like, everybody's here, like, I may meet my forever dog, and the dogs are, like, oh, I may meet my forever home, so it's a wonderful feeling here today.
A schnoodle? You wanna go home with us? One beautiful thing about dogs is their simplicity.
Just like children, they love you unconditionally.
If you treat them the way you want to be treated, - they love you forever.
- Hello.
- Oh, hey.
How are you? - Hi.
This is Biscuit.
She's a little shy, she's, like, a little tentative.
She's a baby.
Like, she needs a mama right now.
Are you gonna take her? Oh, yeah, absolutely.
You're going home, baby girl! - Oh, he's such a good boy.
- Stay.
Wait.
Doing good.
Sit.
Down.
Wait.
This adoption event is going fantastic.
It's a huge success, but my boy Bison's still sitting here, and I got to be honest, I am dying to see this dog go home today.
This guy walks up.
He's looking at Bison.
He's definitely interested in him you could see he's got his eye on the little guy.
- What's up? How are you? - Oh! He loves you! Bison's way into him right away.
Just licking all over his face, and I'm hoping this is Bison's forever home.
He's definitely very vocal, but we did a little bit of training with him, and I mean, in my opinion, and I think these guys'll say, he responded excellent.
This guy needs lots of exercise.
I want to be very up front with Sean about all of Bison's issues so he's aware of the training that this dog's gonna require.
Bison, sit.
Down.
And he'll, like Me and my girlfriend had moved to Williamsburg, so we've been looking for a pet for a while, have a huge yard, want a little guy to have run around in it - Really good.
- I think this match is pretty incredible, and I'd love to see Bison go home with you.
If you'll let me have him, I'd love to have this dog today.
Well, I would say, let's do it.
Want to come home with me, buddy? Oh, Bison, you are one lucky dog.
End of the adoption event, I didn't think it was gonna happen, but the last dog to get adopted was Bison-- I was so psyched.
Hey, buddy, come here.
Come here.
Come here, you.
Come up.
Give me a kiss.
Like I always say with adoption, the adoption story, this is a happy ending, but it's a happy new beginning for Bison and for Sean.
- Here you go, man.
- All right.
Congratulations.
You got your Bison paperwork.
- Got my Bison paperwork.
- Take care, Sean.
See you.
Be in touch with me, all right? - Come on, boy.
- Of course.
Bye.
Come on, boy.
- Awesome.
- What's up? - Look at him go.
- Yeah.
Bye-bye.
He's got it.
He's got it.
Oh, he's gonna be great.
Our experience with Justin has been unbelievable.
What he has done for Animal Haven has just blown me away.
Bison goes home.
Biscuit goes home.
Sprocket goes home.
That's three in one day.
That's pretty incredible.
- That's great.
Thank you.
- Congratulations.
This was a really, really successful event.
Animal Haven, Tiffany's really happy, the dogs are gonna be happy.
- This feels awesome.
I'll see you soon.
- Bye.
See you later.
One secret to a happy life is giving back.
What's beautiful about dogs is: whatever you give them, they give back tenfold.
Dogs teach us as much as we teach them-- They can teach us to find courage or to find peace or even how to find a home.
Giving an animal a home makes life in the city that much brighter.