Master dog trainer Graeme Hall is back on Australian soil for a new season of Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly Australia, armed with his unwavering mantra – “Any Dog, Any Age, Any Problem”.
Before embarking on his season-long journey across the continent to meet with some of the most quirky, puzzling and challenging (yet adorable) canines, Hall sat down with B&T to discuss the season ahead and all things dogs!
With a nation brimming with six million dogs, Hall is determined to bring order to the chaos and offer practical solutions to desperate dog owners grappling with their furry friends’ antics.
“There are more episodes; there are more dogs, therefore more cases, more fun to be had, more corny jokes from me and quips, and then incredulous expressions; we’ve managed to find some very quirky behaviours and some quite dramatic ones as well. So I think if you like series one, you will love series two because it’s more of the same in every way,” Hall told B&T.
In terms of how Hall approaches some of the more complicated cases, it all comes down to asking yourself why this is happening. “You start by asking yourself the question why? And to do that, you’ve really got to put yourself in the mind of the dog. What’s this dog thinking? What’s in it for him or her? Is this behaviour being rewarded in some way? Somehow, the dog must be getting something out of it. Once you’ve realised why the dog’s doing it, then and only then can you set about changing things and perhaps rewarding a different behaviour”.
Hall teased a moment this season with one particular dog who frequently barks at the Postie: “I’m not going to do the spoiler alert thing. But if you fancy seeing me dressed up as an Australia Postie, cycling up and down, being the victim, tune in.”
With so much discussion around banning so-called dangerous dog breeds, Hall challenges the perception that any breed is beyond help. “The show shows how we can change behaviour in all sorts of breeds. Sure, some breeds were born with different tendencies to others. That’s the nature side of the equation. However, the nurture side is the bit that you see in the show; you can make big differences in behaviour if you get the training right. And often, when it’s gone wrong, it’s because we didn’t do the right things all along”.
From a family of cheeky Chihuahuas causing chaos to a hoover-hungry Dachshund, a bad-mannered barking machine Old English Sheepdog, a Kelpie suffering a case of cyclophobia and a dog that humps its owner’s leg, but only the left, never the right… no dog behaviour is too big, too small or too far-fetched. Hall has seen it all.
“I think the show’s success has nothing to do with me; it’s more about how we all like to see somebody else’s mischievous dog. So you can see how it’s quite easy to put the dog’s needs first, and the entertainment just naturally kind of flows from that,” said Hall.
The brand new season of Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly Australia premieres on Tuesday, 23 July at 7.30pm on 10 and 10 Play.
