Channel 4 looking for nation’s naughtiest pets for new series of Dog Academy

Owners and their naughty dogs can now apply to join the second series of Channel 4’s Dog Academy to help them overcome their struggles.

The hit new show, which features struggling humans with misbehaving pooches, is on the hunt for potential new participants to apply for its second series, for which filming will start later this year.

The company behind the programme, Five Mile Films, are now taking applications for people and say they have compiled a list of trainers to help transform the behaviour of their dogs.

The show wants to hear from owners who are really struggling with their pet’s behaviour and how to train them, and they want people to express their interest now in preparation for filming.

The series will see a team of Britain’s top specialist trainers instruct beleaguered owners in dog management skills and dog psychology.

A flyer for the show reads: “Are you struggling with your dog’s behaviour? Would you like to overcome your dog’s issues?

“Our prime time Channel 4 series is back and looking for misbehaving dogs and their owners.”

From The Dog Academy series one, episode two, Kelly Lee, a nurse, and her partner Emilien Borne, a personal trainer, from Tyldesley in Greater Manchester, were struggling with the behaviour of their dalmatian, two-year-old Lupin.

Suffering from anxiety due to a traumatic start in life, Lupin was tearing up their home, chewing through sofas, cushions, floors, walls and even their washing machine. He’d drag the couple on walks, causing Kelly to fall out of the house and pull her arm out of its socket.

Their dog walker even refused to walk the young pet because of the dragging, and the last straw came when Kelly’s friend was also dragged to the floor while walking him.

 It was Kelly’s friend who tagged her in an advertisement for Channel 4’s The Dog Academy, and the couple applied believing this was their last hope to help their beloved pet.

About Lupin’s behaviour, Kelly explained: “He shredded the couch to pieces. If we took him out for a walk, his anxiousness was just so apparent with him pulling at his lead. 

“And obviously, the bigger that he got, the stronger he got. It got to a point where I couldn’t actually physically walk him because he was just dragging me over. He’d drag you into the road and leaving the house, he’d drag me out. 

“On three occasions I actually fell out of the house and hurt my knee, and he yanked me so hard once that my shoulder popped out the socket.

“One of my friends lives around the corner and if me or Emilien were on shift, she’d pop by and walk him. She phoned me one day crying to say she can’t walk him anymore because he’d just pulled her ‘clean out of the house’.”

She continued: “We were like, ‘enough is enough’. It’s one thing it happening to us but when other people are getting injured, we knew we had to do something about it. And it turns out, it was all because he was traumatised.”

Kelly and Emilien saved Lupin, from potentially being euthanised because he is deaf and was struggling as the runt of the litter. The mum-of two drove four hours to urgently collect him.

They already had one dalmatian Ralph and now the two brothers live together with the couple at their home. However, while Lupin was still a puppy he contracted Parvovirus, which can be fatal in puppies, and spent a number of weeks in veterinary care ICU, where he almost died.

Not wanting to have him put down, the couple brought him back home so he could spend his last days with his family and brother Ralph.

Kelly and Emilien took it in turns being by his side around their work shifts and even slept on the sofa.

But with Kelly putting her nursing skills to good use, she fed him back to strength with egg yolks, liver and pureed chicken, and administered IV fluids, pain relief and penicillin suitable for dogs, following the advice of her veterinarian friend.

Surrounded by a loving family and given around the clock care, Lupin turned a corner and was nursed back to health.

But the traumatic experience left the friendly and lovable pet with anxiety and this is where his behaviour issues began.

About being on the show, Kelly said: “The day was broke down where we’d do some learning, and while we were learning without Lupin, Lupin would be with the other trainer learning stuff, and then we kept coming together. 

“Then we’d put it together basically as a team and try and work together to do it. Honestly, I had no hope I was resigned to thinking, ‘yeah, right,’ I was really sceptical. 

“But then the trainer brought him back into the courtyard and he just walked next to them on a lead and we were like, ‘oh my god’.”

Kelly said the trainers told them part of Lupin’s behaviour was also down to the couple mollycoddling him while he was ill and failing to discipline him where needed. They felt guilty for telling their pet off when he was ill and because he nearly died.

The couple are now following a plan they were given for Lupin, and The Dog House checks in with them regularly to follow up with their progress. Kelly’s told them he’s ‘like a different dog’. 

She added: “Lupin is literally by your side on the lead and he’s not pulling. We’ve also not had any chewing episodes at home.”

Lupin now has his own Instagram page where you can follow his progress @lupinandus.

If you’re struggling with the behaviour of your pet dog, you can apply for The Dog Academy HERE. If you have any questions, send an email to dogacademy@fivemilefilms.co.uk.