Dog School

At Dog’s Country Club in Warrington a potential new pupil is arriving, Minnie the Rottweiler. Before she can be offered a place, she needs to have her behaviour assessed. Day Care Boss David, calls on the assistance of his right hand dog, Zeus the Siberian Husky, to help with the assessment. Zeus can spot an antisocial dog within minutes; so will Minnie pass the Zeus test? At Bruce’s Doggie Day Care in Surrey, another new pupil is arriving; 12-week-old puppy Ellie the French Bull Dog. She might be small but she’s feisty and seems to want to rule the puppy nursery. Staff decided to introduce her to Parker the Westie Retriever Cross, a seasoned senior of Day Care, to see if Parker’s serene character will help calm Ellie down. One-year-old pedigree puppy Enid the Italian Bracco is an aspiring show dog. She comes from a family of champion show dogs and with her perfect profile looks set to follow in the family’s paws. But Enid’s lacking in focus and concentration so day care staff set up special training for her. She’s introduced to the joys of ‘Doga’, Yoga for dogs, in a bid to give her inner calm and poise in the show-ring. We find out if the training pays off when Enid enters her first dog show.

In Warrington, we meet Henry the Labrador, one of day care’s livelier dogs. Staff have to restrict his play because he is a little overweight and too much exercise is bad for his joints. They’ve organised some safe exercise for him and we join Henry as he hits the treadmill in his first Hydrotherapy session. If he takes to the water, it could be a good way for him to exercise without putting strain on his joints. Another water baby, Bella the Newfoundland, is booked in for her first Day Care Groom. All staff have to do is coax her out of the lake and into the shower. In Surrey Japanese Spitz Casper has a special training session to enable him to leave Day Care and head out into the workplace with his mum. To get his work-place dog passport he needs to learn to sit and stay on his bed under his owner’s desk. Does he have the discipline? And over thirty puppies come together for an afternoon of mayhem at a puppy party. Will Jessie the Jack Russel venture out from under her mums coat to make friends with Eric, the dashing, tie wearing Cavapoochon? And what chance does anyone stand at the buffet when Frank the French Bulldog’s got his mind on cake?