02x11 - Avocado Aggression

[bunniefuu]

CESAR: When I started my
journey and people started

calling me the Dog Whisperer,

the only thing I wanted to
do is to teach people there is

no such a thing as a bad dog.

WOMAN: Oh, my gosh.

CESAR: Give me the leash.
She's safer with me.

Today, I'm still
doing what I love,

but the world has changed.

(overlapping chatter)

CESAR: Record dog adoptions
have made many packs complete.

But now more than ever,
people and dogs still...

Tsch.

Need...

Tsch.

Help.

WOMAN: We can't live like this.
MAN: Yeah.

WOMAN: The problem is me.
MAN: What do I do?

CESAR: More pooches,
more problems, right?

He needs rehab like ASAP.

So many things you
can fix already.

Tsch!

MARLON: Sorry, I'm sorry.
CESAR: Ignore the excitement.

MEGAN: I just don't
want you to get bit.

CESAR: Do you know who I am?
MEGAN: Yes.

CESAR: Together
with my superhero pack,

our mission is to teach the
world to honor the pack code,

honesty, integrity, and loyalty.

Once you get this, you're
going to have everything else.

ALL: Yay!

CESAR: And that's how we
create better humans and

better dogs one pack at a time.

CESAR: Some cases I'm
called for are true emergencies.

I'm heading to meet a
family with two powerful dogs

and two young daughters.

When packmates fight, it's bad.

But a serious danger
is one day the girls could

get caught in the middle.

As a dog lover, but more
importantly as a father,

I will not let that happen.

JONATHAN: Hi. I'm Jonathan
and this is my spouse...

SENAI: Senai.

JONATHAN: We've been
together for six years.

SENAI: Hold on.

JONATHAN: And we have
two daughters together.

SENAI: Aviana, she's five
and Anaira, she is two years.

Oh, my goodness.

JONATHAN: Okay. There.

We have two dogs.

SENAI: Thano, he is our Rottweiler and
he's three years old.

JONATHAN: And a
Doberman Pinscher, Cypher.

He's three years now.

SENAI: From the beginning,
we wanted to get a dog.

The first one was a Rottweiler.

I always loved that
breed and I just, I said,

"This is the first
one we have to get."

When we initially
brought Thano home.

He was happy-go-lucky,
super excited.

JONATHAN: Super confident.

After maybe three months, we
decided on getting a second dog.

I had always loved
Dobermans because of a movie,

Doberman g*ng.

I saw how smart they were,
how brave they were.

And I said to myself, "When I grow up,
I'll have one of these dogs."

That's where Cypher
came in the picture.

SENAI: Initially, he was great.

They just became
like the best of buds.

In general, the way that they behave with
the girls is just beautiful.

I love it.

JONATHAN: Once they became
a little bit over a year old,

their behavior started to shift.

They constantly
started getting in fights.

SENAI: And I think we
lost count of how many times

they've fought each other.

JONATHAN: When they fight,
it's really aggressive.

It sounds like, you know,
something horrific is happening.

They fought over human food,
especially an avocado.

They love avocados.

SENAI: The worst
fight that they had,

I was by myself with my
little girls at the house.

(screaming)

SENAI: I hear a yell and
then my daughter tells me,

"Mom, they're fighting."

And they just
started with each other.

My daughter started screaming.
I'm trying to separate them.

They wouldn't stop.

I'm yelling.

And seeing my two dogs that I
love so much just fighting and

me not being able to
stop them, it was so scary.

Eventually, I was able to
push Thano to one corner and

push Cypher to the other, and that's
when I just saw all the blood.

And I was just covered in blood.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

After that fight, I, I
haven't been the same.

I'm scared that my little girls,
they were right there with me

and I couldn't keep the
dogs safe and I couldn't keep

my daughters safe
at the same time.

I, I just, I can't shake it off.

I can't shake that feeling off.

It is scary to think
that my kids could end up

getting hurt because of it.

(cries)

It's hard.
It's hard to think about that.

We love these dogs and
we wanted to get them when

they were little so they could
grow up loving each other.

What I want is just for us
to enjoy each other again.

Despite everything,
we know there's hope.

I have to believe that, yeah.

(knocking)

CESAR: Hi.
SENAI: Welcome.

CESAR: Hello. Come on out.

Come on. Hi.

Wow. Two girls.

I have two boys so I
always wanted a little girl.

Okay. So how can I help?

JONATHAN: So we two large dogs.
CESAR: Okay.

JONATHAN: Who
got in, in big fights.

CESAR: How bad is it?

JONATHAN: The worst fight was,
it was, it was a, a bloody mess.

Like there was blood everywhere.

SENAI: Yeah, I was
here home with the girls.

JONATHAN: She
was home by herself.

And she wasn't
really able to separate them.

Our little girl was crying,
trying to go to her mom while

she was dealing with dogs.

SENAI: And big sister
here wanted to grab her.

CESAR: A pack leader?
Such a good instinct.

SENAI: Yeah,
she did so awesome.

CESAR: Yeah. Instincts, yeah.

SENAI: I didn't even have
to tell her, grab your sister.

CESAR: It's awesome that their
older daughter stepped in to

protect her sister, but a child
rushing into a chaotic situation

can be incredibly
dangerous and even fatal.

If the dogs are fighting,

the kids could get
caught in the crossfire.

We must fix this immediately.

I always like to see
people walking the dogs.

JONATHAN: Okay.
CESAR: Okay?

Honestly, if you
don't have the walk right,

you can't really
rehabilitate anything.

JONATHAN: No. And, I mean, we
could tell you that we don't.

SENAI: Yeah.
CESAR: Well, go get the dogs.

I'm gonna watch you
from here and I'll help you.

SENAI: Okay. Let's do this.
JONATHAN: Awesome. Awesome.

CESAR: This family definitely
has their work cut out for them.

The good thing is they have the
willingness in the little girl.

I'm so proud of her.

She's already
protecting the sister.

So we got a good pack.

They just need
the right knowledge.

(barks)

SENAI: Uh-uh.
CESAR: That's. Okay.

Ooh. Ooh. Okay.

Wow. Stop right there.

They're too excited for a walk.

You need to calm
them down first.

Show me how you do it.

JONATHAN: Stop.

CESAR: Cypher the Doberman
is especially worked up.

He's full of
nervous excited energy,

which gets Thano the
Rottweiler excited too.

Even worse, Senai and Jonathan
don't have the right leash or

handling skills to control the dogs
and the girls are just feet away.

I need to step in immediately.

So, can we have some halters?

These leashes will give me
more control than the leashes

the family is using.

Let's get a hold of
the most excited one.

This guy move a lot.

I need to get control of Cypher
first since his high energy,

nervous excitement
makes Thano uneasy.

I'm gonna move back so
Cypher's aggressive energy is

not right next to Thano.

Cypher has an excited
nervous energy about him.

So this is the guy you
have to work the most.

JONATHAN: Oh, yes.

CESAR: See, when Cypher moves away,
Thano is easier to control.

I've seen how restless Cypher
gets around his packmate, Thano.

Now, I need to see how he
handles some neighborhood dogs.

I also want Jonathan and Senai
to begin learning how to use

the leash to better control his energy
when he gets nervous excited.

Your dogs haven't learned
to be guided with a leash.

JONATHAN: Yes.

CESAR: So you haven't
been able, through a leash,

tell the brain
become calm surrender.

So that's what
we're gonna work on.

Okay. I'm gonna
use a short leash so

I have more control
over his nose and his eyes.

Bring the dogs.

Psst!

Give a quick tug to the leash,
redirect his attention and

give space from
what he is reacting to.

SENAI: Okay.
CESAR: There you go.

Psst. See, he looked at me.

Psst.

But now he's right
back into alert mode.

His mind is racing.

Let's do it again.

Psst! Hey.

Psst! Psst! Hey.

There you go. Psst!

There you go.

So this is a good first step.

Even though he's
still a little restless,

at least he's
sitting and calming down.

When they're chilling and
relaxing, leash is relaxed.

JONATHAN: I see.

CESAR: And he's
checking with me more,

not distracted by
everything walking by.

And that's what you want.

It took a few minutes but
finally Cypher figured out

he needed to stay calm.

So now you have to find ways
where you drain the energy.

This guy needs like a good run.

Have you done it?

JONATHAN: Um...
CESAR: Okay. That just said it.

JONATHAN: We done it like once.

CESAR: These are big adolescent dogs with
a ton of physical and mental energy.

And if they're cooped up
in the house most of the day,

that's only gonna make Cypher's
nervous excited energy worse.

But now that Cypher's
calmed down a little,

I wanna do the same exercise
with them together so Cypher can

start to learn to stay
calm in Thano's presence.

Pass it to me, Heather.

(growling)

Psst. Psst.

See, the second they get close again,
Cypher gets worked up.

Psst.

Cypher's locked onto Thano.

That's fight mode.

Psst! No, no, no.

Here, hold on. Grab, hey...

CESAR: Hey! Hey! Psst!

Heather, grab it here.

Psst!

Just like before, when Cypher
gets close to another dog,

even Thano, he
starts to get aggressive.

JONATHAN: That's, that's, that's what I
was gonna ask you right now.

I feel like he
wanted to go after him.

CESAR: That's, that's right.

JONATHAN: Okay.
CESAR: That's correct.

Cypher was about
to attack Thano.

That's why I said
you grab that one.

I grabbed the guy who...

JONATHAN: Okay.

CESAR: His intentions
are not right.

JONATHAN: Yeah. Okay.

CESAR: Cypher's so worked up,

I don't wanna do
any more work out here.

Let's go inside.

I can tell already that
Cypher's nervous excited and

is instigating
fights with Thano,

but it's not clear
what's causing his aggression.

I need to find out
what's going on here.

If your energy is wrong,
would they be affected?

Let's say you're mad.
Would that affect them?

SENAI: Yeah. Yes.
CESAR: That's right, yeah.

SENAI: The big
fight that they had.

My little girls are having
an avocado and I see Thano

and Cypher at
each other's faces.

And then I yelled,
I said, "Hey."

It triggered them.

CESAR: Boom. That's right.
SENAI: Yeah.

And they started fighting.

CESAR: That is
telling them to fight.

You're expectation
that they're going to fight

is what creates the fight.

SENAI: I do feel that my
energy just affect the dogs.

We're just always tense.

Watch the girls.
Watch the dogs.

Are they okay?

The baby's next to the dog.

There's definitely an
edge that we're at right now.

CESAR: Your expectations
are a huge part of this.

But there is
something else going on here.

Once they know that the easiest way
to drain their energy is fighting,

they're gonna do it.

JONATHAN: Okay.
SENAI: Oh.

CESAR: Because they don't
have anything else to do.

They're bored.
They're frustrated.

So when a dog gets in trouble,
it's because the body and

the mind has not received their
daily doses of activiies.

JONATHAN: Okay. Yeah.

CESAR: What they want is
to mentally be challenged.

SENAI: Yeah.
JONATHAN: Yes.

CESAR: But they're
stuck here all day,

so they look at each other
and think, "We can fight,"

just to get rid of some energy.

JONATHAN: Okay. Yeah.

CESAR: "We're
bored out of our mind."

JONATHAN: Okay.

CESAR: "Let's just go after each other.
Yeah, freaking avocado."

(laughter)

CESAR: They're fighting
for a freaking avocado.

SENAI: Yeah.
JONATHAN: I know.

CESAR: That's
how bored they are.

It was clear in the driveway that the
aggression begins with Cypher.

He's a Doberman.

High-performance breed
with a ton of physical and

mental energy that is
often used for police work.

But he's cooped up in the
house most of the day with

his packmate, Thano.

Cypher's boredom and nervous excited
energy create a combustible situation.

But the spark that ignites
the fights comes from Senai.

She anticipates they will fight
and Cypher picks up on her fear

and gets aggressive
again and again.

Jonathan and Senai need to give
the dogs more physical exercise

and mental stimulation
so they're not bored.

But completely stopping the
fight will require a change

in Senai's expectations
around Cypher.

You guys have to
experience the ranch.

You have to come.

JONATHAN: We want to.

SENAI: So great.

JONATHAN: We're so
excited to go to Cesar's ranch.

SENAI: Yes.
Cypher does need change.

He does need
something different, so.

JONATHAN: Kind of realizing now that
we're not really giving him fulfillment.

Being just the same old things,
same routine is not enough for

him to work his mind.

CESAR: So I'll see you guys at the ranch.
You're gonna have fun.

SENAI: Oh, my gosh.

JONATHAN: Thank you, Cesar.
Thank you. Thank you.

SENAI: Thank you so much.

NARRATOR: The next morning,
Cesar heads to Silver Lake to

help a pet parent who
worries her dog is too anxious

to survive their upcoming
move across the Atlantic.

MARIA: My name's Maria.
I'm originally from Sweden.

I've been in
Los Angeles 25 years.

And, stop.

(whining)

And these are my two clowns,
Ollie and Squiggy.

One, two.

Ollie's maybe Jindo-Pit.

He's very sweet.

I feel like he really is a
dog who tries the best he can.

Sit.

(laughs)

And I honestly don't
know what Squiggy is.

I think maybe
he's Doxon-Corgi-Pit.

I call him Eastside special.

I 100% spoil them.

And it's probably become more
pronounced during the pandemic

because I was at
home all the time.

I don't know how
people don't have dogs.

They're the best.

But right now with Ollie...

(growls)

There's something off.

(whines)

Does he look like he's
gonna eat your face off?

He is very reactive
and also very anxious.

He will shake uncontrollably because he
does not like sudden noises.

The leaf blower is
public enemy number one.

(barking)

I'm like, "Are you mad?
Are you anxious?"

Calm down.

And now, um, the anxiety has become
complete obsession with me.

You know, Dory
from Finding Nemo?

She's like, "Hi, how are you?

Hi, how are you?
Hi, how are you?"

Ollie's obsessed
with me to an 11.

I joke that Ollie would
like to crawl into my mouth and

live in my stomach.

I know.

But it's gotten really
intense and unhealthy,

and things are getting worse.

And so I don't even
know how to handle it.

I know he tries very
hard to be a good boy,

but time is of the
essence right now 'cause

I'm planning on
moving back to Europe.

I've decided to move
closer to my family.

I'm really nervous
about flying with Ollie

because with his anxiety.

I do have this fear that I'm setting him
up for the ultimate panic attack.

Worst-case scenario is he has
a heart attack on the plane.

Yeah.

If I had to leave him behind,
he would be so sad.

I mean, even though
he's like cuckoo, he's,

you know, my cuckoo.

You need to calm down, dude.

You have to just calm down.

(knocking)

(barking)

Good morning.

CESAR: Good morning.
How are you?

MARIA: Nice to meeting you.
CESAR: Pleasure. Pleasure.

(barking)

MARIA: Can you hear them?

CESAR: I, I've
been hearing them.

MARIA: Ollie has
very intense anxiety.

If he hears a noise, there's constant
barking with intense shaking.

He's also obsessed with me.

So, um, a lot of work.

CESAR: I agree.

When you say obsessed,
what do you mean?

MARIA: He jumped out of my dog
walker's sunroof of her car to get to me.

CESAR: Oh, wow.

MARIA: He's jumped an
eight-foot fence, 12-foot fence.

CESAR: Obsessed.
MARIA: Obsessed.

CESAR: I heard this
dog was anxious but wow.

A lot of dogs have
separation anxiety,

but I never heard of a dog
jumping out of a sunroof to get

back with his pet mom.

That's not just crazy,
it's dangerous.

MARIA: Let me
show you the backyard.

CESAR: Okay.

MARIA: And we can
see where they hang out.

CESAR: Sometimes anxiety is
a product of unburned energy,

so I wanna know how much
exercise Ollie is getting.

It's a nice
neighborhood out here.

Do you take your
dogs out on walks?

MARIA: I do walk
around the reservoir a lot.

But one of the weird
things that happened,

I was walking
Ollie just recently.

This woman walked past me
without a dog and Ollie just

casually turned and
bit her on the leg.

CESAR: It's one thing for a
dog's anxiety to lead to barking

at loud noises, but now
he started biting humans.

Everything about this dog
sounds more complicated than

I thought it was gonna
be when I first showed up.

I'm feeling the suspense.

Normally, I don't feel suspense.

I can't wait to meet your dogs.

CESAR: All right.
Bring out Ollie.

(barking)

Ollie's bark is chaotic, it's,

it's frantic, right, like...

(imitating bark)

He's alerting but it's firing
electricity at the same time.

Definitely the
anxiety is pretty high.

Tense.

MARIA: Yeah. Calm down.

Sit. No.

CESAR: He does that a lot?
MARIA: Yeah.

CESAR: And
you're into like that?

MARIA: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
CESAR: That's bad. That's bad.

MARIA: That is bad.
CESAR: Mm-hmm.

Ollie's jumping into
Maria's personal space and

she's not doing
anything about it.

She's not establishing boundaries so that
encouraged him to get closer and closer.

MARIA: This is
that shaking panic.

It's all right, buddy.

CESAR: Yeah, but if you give affection,
you end up nurturing that.

He's so nervous, he's shaking.

That's the worst
time to pet him.

That's only going to
nurture the anxiety more.

MARIA: If he's on a
plane for ten hours...

CESAR: Yeah.

MARIA: And shaking like that, I feel like
he'd have a heart attack.

CESAR: But the shaking,

not necessarily is
bad for the heart.

It's just to
remove energy away from.

MARIA: Mm-hmm.
CESAR: You know what I mean?

They don't, they
don't suppress things.

MARIA: Oh.

CESAR: Anxiety alone
shouldn't cause a heart attack,

but a dog that's super
stressed on a long flight could

absolutely hurt himself trying
to chew or claw his way out of

his crate or even biting himself
in a moment of extreme fear.

It's not safe for Ollie to travel until
we get this figured out.

But you giving affection at that time,
you actually ask him to hold it.

MARIA: Yeah. Right.

CESAR: It's best to give
calm confident in a bad state.

Ollie is a sensitive,
nervous excited dog,

who uses Maria for
comfort when he gets anxious.

The problem is Maria nurtures
the anxiety by petting him when

he's literally
shaking with fear.

And so he invades her intimate
space or jumps out of sunroofs

to get back to her
and she allows it.

It's obvious how close Maria and
Ollie have grown during COVID,

but Ollie will never be able to fly safely
until Maria starts offering

calm confident leadership and
clear boundaries that he needs.

Okay. I want you to understand that he
looks to you for guidance

so you need to tell him he
doesn't need to be anxious.

Watch.

Uh, can, can we
do the leaf blower?

(whirring)

(barking)

Now, instead of telling
Ollie it's okay or petting him,

just silently
show him it's okay.

Psst. Hey. Shh. Shh.

Hey. Hey. Shh.

Shh. Shh.

MARIA: I've never seen
Ollie calm down that quickly.

It was pretty amazing.

CESAR: Now, the human is using
the right energy for an animal

to go to calm surrender state.

Ollie's anxiety around
the leaf blower is bad

because Maria never shows him
he doesn't need to be anxious.

When I calmly dropped the leash
on the dogs and made them sit,

that showed them that I'm going to
protect them and they don't need to worry.

This is your turn.
I'm gonna let you do it.

Let's do the leaf
blower again please.

MARIA: When Cesar
says cue the leaf blower,

I sort of did an internal groan.

I'm just supposed to be
Cesar in that scenario.

I did not have
high expectations.

(whirring)

(barking)

CESAR: That's good.
Just like that.

You're doing really well.

Let's push this
a little further.

Sitting means calm.

Make sure he
surrender completely.

MARIA: Sit. You never sit.

Ah. Sit.

CESAR: There you go.
MARIA: Amazing.

CESAR: This is learning.

So there's loud noises but they
have to practice calm surrender.

MARIA: Well, I would never
have had a leaf blower be able

to come and knock on my door.

CESAR: Yeah.
MARIA: Before today.

I'm pretty blown away by how quickly
the dogs settled with my direction.

I did not think it
would be like that.

CESAR: All right.
This is, this is calm surrender.

This is beautiful.

MARIA: This is pretty good.
CESAR: Yeah.

This is quite amazing.

For your homework, I want you to
practice this door exercise over and over.

You have to be calm
confident to achieve it.

Just, you know, make sure that
that makes sense internally.

MARIA: Yeah.

CESAR: But there is a lot more
work to do before he's ready to

fly in a plane for ten hours.

So I'll see you
next week at the DPC.

MARIA: Thank you so much.
CESAR: Thank you.

Thank you, guys.

MARIA: It's a lot to take in.

I realize everything
that I'm doing wrong,

which is always fun
to have pointed out.

I think Cesar has Cesar magic, but maybe I
can have some of that magic.

NARRATOR: The next day, Senai
and Jonathan head to the DPC

with Cypher and packmate, Thano

to work on Senai's fearful
expectations of aggression

that leads Cypher to
pick fights with Thano,

endangering their
family's young daughters.

CESAR: Welcome
to the ranch, guys.

SENAI: Good morning.
JONATHAN: Hello, Cesar.

CESAR: That's good.
How's it going?

SENAI: Oh. Oh.
JONATHAN: Good. Good.

CESAR: When I met you guys,
it was clear we need to

focus more on the Doberman.

JONATHAN: Yeah.

CESAR: But we're still
gonna keep addressing...

JONATHAN: Yeah.
CESAR: You know what I mean?

We have to take them all
the way to calm surrender.

Right away I noticed
how restless Cypher is.

I need to get Cypher fully calm
before he fixates on Thano or

another animal
and turns aggressive.

CESAR: Boom.

See the difference?

SENAI: Yeah.
CESAR: See?

We need to recognize Cypher's
starting to get worked up and

immediately get him to sit.

Cypher is more into the alert, which
brings the fight versus, versus Thano.

SENAI: Versus this guy.
Yeah. This guy's always...

JONATHAN: Yeah.

CESAR: That's why we're
not focusing as much on him.

(snarls)

Watch out.
He's in a fight state.

That's a problem. Hey.

CESAR: See that?
That's fixation.

Psst! Psst! Psst! Psst!

Hey. Psst!

Cypher is your troublemaker.

SENAI: Yeah.
JONATHAN: Right.

CESAR: This is
where you need the help.

Cypher was sitting calmly and the next
second he charged at my goats.

It's the same thing when he
fights with his packmate, Thano.

Cypher's a smart, strong dog but
he's bored and under exercised.

The real problem is Senai's
constant fear that he's about

to fight, which
actually leads him to fight.

This exercise is gonna
give you just what you need.

Cypher needs to
burn mental energy.

Okay. So what we're gonna
do now is gonna be the tunnel.

You're gonna guide him through it and that
will challenge his mind.

More mental stimulation will
help Cypher not be so bored,

which is part of why
he's fighting Thano.

But, more importantly, I
want Jonathan and Senai to see

a different side of Cypher.

Not an aggressive fighter but the smart
playful dog he really is.

The tunnel needs two people.
Pull the leash that way.

Yeah, so the dog is knowing that the human
just asked him to go through.

Shh.

Just give a little tension.
Just a little bit more.

Call him.

(whistles)

JONATHAN: Cypher.

CESAR: See, he's
looking at everything but you.

Pull a little on the
leash to get his attention.

JONATHAN: Come on. Come on.

CESAR: Yes, sir.
That's it. That's it.

SENAI: Good boy.
JONATHAN: Good boy. Yes.

CESAR: Let's do it again.

Every time you teach
something new to a dog,

you're working out their mind.

And for a smart dog like Cypher,
that's exactly what he needs.

Otherwise, he gets bored
and that's when he fights.

So your job is just
with the leash, guide him.

SENAI: Okay. Cypher.

We feel like we got this.

You know, we're not gonna
take no for an answer from him.

CESAR: There we go.
Beautiful. Beautiful.

He's getting it.
You see it? He's getting it.

SENAI: Yeah.

CESAR: See, now he
knows that you guys like it.

SENAI: Yeah.
CESAR: Look.

JONATHAN: Good boy.
SENAI: Look at that thing.

CESAR: This is a huge moment.

Not only is Cypher getting the
mental exercise he needs but now

Jonathan and especially Senai
can see that he can be playful

and not aggressive.

JONATHAN: Look at him.
SENAI: Oh, yes.

JONATHAN: Oh, he loves it.

CESAR: Yes. You did it.

SENAI: Good job.
CESAR: Yes. You did it.

SENAI: Good job, bud.

CESAR: What did
you learn right there?

SENAI: I had to kind
of like adjust myself.

Everything that I
thought I knew about him,

I have to just drop
it out on the side.

Start fresh. Yeah.
That feel good.

CESAR: Right? It feels good.
SENAI: It felt really good, yes.

CESAR: Yeah.

SENAI: It's an eye-opener to know
Cypher could be happy-go-lucky.

He could be this
really great dog.

And, and I feel like I
did overlook that a lot.

CESAR: You have an image about him.
JONATHAN: Yeah.

SENAI: Yeah.
CESAR: Right?

The fighting and all,
what you saw, right?

SENAI: Yeah.
CESAR: What is new for you here?

SENAI: He's a different dog.
CESAR: Right.

SENAI: He's capable
to be, to be this.

CESAR: Right.
SENAI: He's this...

CESAR: Right.

SENAI: He's not
what I thought from home.

CESAR: Right. Right.

JONATHAN: We were thinking, "Oh, well,
he's gonna act out like this."

So to not let fear and
just go with our instincts.

CESAR: Yeah. Your job is just to see
in your mind like who he really is,

not what he became.

JONATHAN: Yeah.
SENAI: Yeah.

CESAR: I have a
surprise for you guys. Come on.

JONATHAN: Awesome.
SENAI: Okay.

CESAR: Okay, I want you to
meet my chickens and my ducks.

Look at Todd.
He's the chicken whisperer.

That's it. It's a new show.

JONATHAN: It's a new show.

CESAR: I want you to
maintain what we achieved.

Your new
understanding of Cypher and

how to keep him focused on you.

The goal is maintain the level
of mental focus we had back at

the tunnel once we bring
back some distractions.

It is especially important
for Senai to be able to handle

Cypher because she is the one
alone at home with the dogs and

the girls most of the time.

It's also her fear that has
triggered fights so she needs to

keep her expectations
positive in order to see

the behavior she
wants from Cypher.

Sit him down.

Yes.

SENAI: Today, I'm seeing
Cypher as who he really is.

This happy-go-lucky dog that
he was not able to show to us.

CESAR: Waiting
for him to surrender.

That's all I'm looking for.

Yes. Take the leash off.

You see the calm surrender?

JONATHAN: Yeah.
CESAR: Yeah.

SENAI: I know we
have a long road for us,

but now it definitely
feels like there's hope.

We could be like this every day.

Thank you. Thank you.

CESAR: You saw today just
how important expectations are.

Jonathan and especially Senai
have changed the way they see

Cypher and that in turn,
changes the way he behaves.

Yes.

This has been a big day
for all three of them.

But for all this work to stick,

they need to
continue practicing at home.

Whatever it takes for
those little girls to grow up

in a peaceful, safe,
loving environment,

that's our responsibility.

JONATHAN: Thank you, Cesar.
CESAR: Thank you for coming.

SENAI: Thank you.
JONATHAN: Thank you.

NARRATOR: The next morning,
Maria heads to the DPC with

her Jindo-Pit mix, Ollie.

MARIA: I'm excited.

I don't know if
you're as excited as I am.

You're more anxious
excited at this stage.

NARRATOR: His anxieties are
so bad he cannot join Maria on

her transatlantic move
without risking his safety.

CESAR: Good morning and welcome.
MARIA: Good morning.

CESAR: So how has it been?

MARIA: Progress not
perfection is how it's been.

CESAR: Yeah. You started it.

MARIA: My homework was practicing calm at
the door with the noise.

Like I've seen
progress being made.

We're definitely not
at the finish line but

I'm hopeful we're
gonna get there today.

CESAR: It's best for us
to always feed calmness.

Who Ollie really is
a happy-go-lucky dog.

MARIA: Right.

CESAR: Trapped with a
whole bunch of anxiety.

It sounds like Maria has made headway
on the anxiety around loud noises.

So, today, I wanna work on
the biggest issue that will

keep Ollie from flying safely,

his dangerous need to be
close to Maria at all times.

So we're gonna give him
a bit of a stress test.

You can wait from the bench
but within sight of Ollie.

I wanna move him away
from you into the dog park and

I wanna see how he reacts.

So this is quite bad that he doesn't
even paying attention to it.

MARIA: Yeah.

CESAR: Meeting strange new
animals can provoke anxiety in a

dog like Ollie, and you can see
he looks to Maria for comfort,

but does exactly what Maria
has thought him to do by always

giving him reassurance and
affection when he's anxious.

He's avoiding the dogs.

MARIA: Right.
CESAR: Right?

He wants to go
back to the human.

It's like you, a
little girl, right?

And there's a whole
bunch of little kids.

And you don't, you don't wanna
interact with your own age.

There's something...

MARIA: Right.
CESAR: Weird about it.

MARIA: Yeah. Thanks, Cesar.
CESAR: So. No, no.

I'm just, I'm just giving you an example,
his unhealthy attachment.

MARIA: Yeah.
CESAR: Right?

So look, I'm not gonna let
him avoid and focus on you.

The dog should
have his attention.

I'm giving more separation
to get him to detach from you.

MARIA: Yeah.

CESAR: The anxiety and then
the attachment feed each other.

I want to see if dropping
the leash helps him relax.

Whoa. That's terrible.

CESAR: Whoa.
He's seriously obsessed.

Incredible catch.

MARIA: This is why we couldn't
be at the training facility

because he jumps the fence.

Maybe I jinxed it because I was thinking
he's gonna jump that fence.

And as if on cue,
he jumped the fence,

and then everyone said, "Oh,
that's never happened before."

CESAR: That's really bad.

Being in a strange new place
just a few feet away from Maria

made Ollie so anxious that he
jumped the fence to get back to

her and that's with
Maria still in sight.

What is he going to do
when they're separated on

a long transatlantic flight?

He could bite or bodily scratch himself
trying to escape the crate.

The only way to fix this is
for Maria to stop being a friend

that comforts and
start being a pet parent,

who gives him calm
leadership and sets boundaries.

The anxiety is too much.

Too much. Come on.

This exercise will teach Maria
and Ollie both what they need

for him to be able
to make a flight safely.

For Maria, it will show her
how to offer leadership and

set spatial boundaries.

And for Ollie, it teaches him
how to be comfortable with Maria

not being close by in
stressful situations.

The goal is for you to learn
to trigger calm surrender and

slowly give distance, so
Ollie learns to comfort himself,

not to use you for that.

Because in the crate, we want
you to practice exactly what's

gonna to happen
to him in the plane.

MARIA: Right.

CESAR: Then we're gonna play
some sounds that are likely for

him to hear it as
he's in the plane.

MARIA: Yeah.

CESAR: So that way we begin to
desensitize and acclimate him to

things that he's going
to hear in the future.

MARIA: Oh, boy. Okay.
CESAR: Yeah.

We're gonna go gradually
before we work with the crate.

First, you're going to make him
sit calmly here on the grass.

MARIA: Okay.

CESAR: We're gonna do
it just on the floor and

then we're gonna
transfer to the crate.

So first, just have him sit
calmly here outside the crate.

Good. Now drop the leash.

Okay. I'm gonna step back,
and you do it.

Move back another ten feet.

Go back. Go.

MARIA: Ah. Ah.

CESAR: All right.
Let's try it again.

MARIA: Shh.

CESAR: Yes.

(Cesar exhales)

Very good.

MARIA: Getting Ollie to
sit down in that calm state,

it felt like it took a while.

But when I walked away,

I was shocked he was
still sitting there.

I'm gonna be honest, but he was.

CESAR: Yes! That's it.

So this is exactly
what I wanted to see.

Maria is getting Ollie to sit
calmly and then creating more

and more distance from him.

And Ollie is staying calm,
not chasing after her.

Now they're ready for the final
step doing the same thing inside

the crate that he'll
travel in on the flight.

So start by getting him to sit.

A little bit more,
there, there we go.

Yes.

MARIA: Shh.

CESAR: Play the airplane noises.

(airplane engine)

Beautiful. That's it.

The good news is the sounds
are not gonna bother him.

Today we completed the
work that we started with

the leaf blower on day one.

If Maria shows him leadership
and gets him to calm surrender,

he's not gonna be
bothered by the loud noises.

Ollie and Maria both took
a big step forward today.

Maria now has the
tools to keep him calm.

But more importantly,
she learned that Ollie needs

her leadership more than he needs her
comfort and friendship.

There is still work to do
but if they keep practicing,

Ollie will get used to staying
calm in every situation with or

without Maria.

And he'll be able to travel safely on the
plane to their new home.

MARIA: I just wanna thank
you because I came into this

wondering if I was even gonna
be able to get him on a plane.

And after this experience,
I feel like we can do it.

CESAR: Oh, yeah.
MARIA: Yeah.

CESAR: Oh, yeah.

MARIA: This whole process has
really reset the relationship

that Ollie and I have.

Starting tomorrow, fresh,
I can leave the house and

he'll be fine.

I can put him on a crate and get
on a plane and he'll be fine.

I am ready.

So cheesy, you guys.

You guys kind of make me
look like a big cheeseball.

CESAR: Come on, Ollie.

You're ready for
the friendly skies.

NARRATOR: Four weeks later...

MARIA: Hi, Cesar.

Get in your crate, Ollie.

We have been doing a lot better,
thanks so much to you.

I feel a lot more confident in this guy
being in a crate for nine hours.

Yeah. Good boy.

Still planning on moving back to
Europe by the end of the year.

Sometimes it still takes a
while to get him to calm down,

but he is a much calmer,
more balanced dog.

Ollie's even made some friends
which is a huge achievement.

So thank you so much.

NARRATOR: Later, Cesar returns
to Downey to check on Jonathan

and Senai, and
their Doberman, Cypher.

Jonathan and Senai must shift
their own fearful expectations,

which triggers Cypher's aggression and
lead to fights with packmate, Thano,

endangering the
couple's daughters.

SENAI: Hello. Welcome.
CESAR: Hi. How are you guys?

Come on out. Come on out.

Cypher's fighting was a condition of his
boredom cooped up in the house

without enough physical exercise
and mental stimulation.

Hey.

But the real trigger for this
fights was Senai's constant fear

that a fight was
just around the corner.

I want to see if they've been
giving him more exercise and

mental stimulation, but
also if they have changed their

own understanding and
expectations of Cypher.

I'm excited to hear the news,
good or bad, or whatever it is.

JONATHAN: We've been focusing a lot
more on that exercising, um,

especially with Cypher.

SENAI: We have been working on him
not just exercising, but mentally.

JONATHAN: It's not 100% there yet,
but I know we got this.

CESAR: All right.

If you're feeling good,
let's get started.

So today's
final challenge, final day,

before we do anything else,
I want you to bring the dogs out

into the driveway like
we did on the first day.

JONATHAN: Right.

CESAR: And then I'll have a
final challenge that will really

put you all to the test.

Get the pack, I'll
meet you guys over here.

SENAI: Okay. Great.
JONATHAN: Awesome. Awesome.

SENAI: The first time Cesar
came to see us, it was a mess.

Cypher just launched at
the dogs that were passing.

CESAR: Wow.

All right. Bring them out.

SENAI: So I'm trying
to make sure that...

(takes deep breath)

Stay calm, but I
am feeling nervous.

CESAR: He looks
like a Doberman g*ng.

SENAI: Yeah.
CESAR: Look at him totally.

All right. So first
time we met, we met here.

JONATHAN: Yeah.
CESAR: It was kind of dangerous.

So just to see how
you guys have improved,

we're gonna put some dogs passing by,
just control the reaction.

Breathe. Okay.

Let's do this.
Bring the first dog.

(exhales)

Okay. Looking good.

There's one more, one more.

That's it.

Feel it through the leash.

A German Shepherd
just passed by.

You see what I mean?

He did great.
He actually looked very calm.

Cypher seemed much calmer.

But it's also clear that
Jonathan and especially Senai,

aren't bring those
fearful expectation which

is also making Cypher calmer.

All right.
So this part is beautiful.

I think we are ready
for the final challenge.

Okay. The moment of truth.

All right.

So this is where the
avocado incident happened.

JONATHAN: Oh, yes.
CESAR: Yes.

That was the worst fight
they ever had, right?

JONATHAN: Yes. Our little girls, they
were eating an avocado.

He never moved his eye
away from the avocado.

SENAI: And that's where he becomes so,
like, I don't know I wanna say...

CESAR: Fixated.
SENAI: Fixated?

CESAR: Yeah.
JONATHAN: And this one growled.

CESAR: Right.

JONATHAN: And that's when,

then Thano reacted and
then the fight started.

CESAR: Right.

But remember, the fight
was actually triggered by

Senai saying, "Hey."

Her expectation and
fear was the spark.

This pack has come a long way,
but for them to truly move forward,

they have to get past
their fear that Cypher's gonna

act out once and for all.

So for the final challenge,
we're going to recreate the

situation behind
their biggest fight.

What we're gonna do right
now is to present the avocado.

I'll be close by to
make sure they stay safe.

But the test will be whether
Senai can stay calm and positive

and her expectations, and
whether Cypher will pick up

on that and stay calm himself.

All right. Let's get
the avocado and then...

SENAI: Okay. I'm
gonna put this guy.

CESAR: And you can put
your boy over here, yeah.

Yeah, they're,
they're comfortable.

Nice.

First, we need them
to be in calm surrender.

JONATHAN: Sit. Psst.
SENAI: Cypher.

JONATHAN: Get down.
CESAR: Okay.

I want you to put the
basket down between them and

don't forget, stay calm.

This is all about your energy.

SENAI: Cypher's ears are really up
and he's focused on the avocado.

Oh, my gosh.

You just gotta remember, don't try to
anticipate what's gonna happen.

CESAR: Now, put the avocado
right in front of him to see if

Cypher fixate on it.

(growls)

Okay. That's not good.

You don't want him to stare
because that's like fight.

JONATHAN: Right.

CESAR: We want him to pay
attention to Senai instead of

fixated on Thano or the avocado.

You gotta snap him out of it.

SENAI: Tsch. Cypher.
CESAR: Good correction.

SENAI: Tsch.
CESAR: Good.

This is perfect.
Look at the difference.

See the difference on this guy?

SENAI: Yeah.

CESAR: Now Cypher is
in total calm surrender.

He's doing it.

Yes, sir. That's it.

This is avocado success.

SENAI: Yeah.

CESAR: Nobody ever
called me for avocado?

JONATHAN: Yeah.

CESAR: I remember in season
one I dressed like a hotdog.

Was waiting for this day
because this is the way you

celebrate with a Winnie dog.

SENAI: You did?

CESAR: On this one, I should've
dressed like an avocado.

SENAI: You should have
dressed like an avocado!

CESAR: I'm so proud
of Jonathan and Senai,

but let me stop
before I get too mushy.

Cesar's in the house.

Well, congratulations.

I can feel that there's a new
trust between these pet parents

and Cypher and that Senai is bringing new
energy and expectations.

I am confident that if
they continue the work,

there will be no issues
with the dogs around the girls.

JONATHAN: How are you?
SENAI: Say, hi.

ANAIRA: Hi.
CESAR: Yeah.

This is my reward, you know, to see
the girls happy, safe, peace, and love,

the whole family.

SENAI: I do feel safer.

I feel more in control 'cause
I know how I have to react.

I know what I have to do.

And I know I'm not gonna let
it escalate like that anymore.

We're so grateful for Cesar.

We couldn't have done
none of this without him, so.

Thank you.

CESAR: Thank you for having me.
SENAI: Thank you.

JONATHAN: Thank you.
SENAI: Yay!

CESAR: Ciao!
SENAI: Bye.

CESAR: Thank you, guys.
SENAI: Say bye-bye.

ANAIRA: Bye.
JONATHAN: Say bye.

CESAR: Bye.

I believe we can
create a better planet

with our expectations.

If you expect
to fail, you will fail.

If you expect that
your dog will fight,

they're gonna fight.

But if you
expect trust, respect,

and love, that's what
your dog will give you.

I meet a dog that is
anxious or aggressive,

I picture that dog trusting or
reconnecting with our instincts

and by the end, that picture
in my head at the beginning

of my work is the real thing.