All language subtitles for Super.Dogs.With.Extraordinary.Jobs.S01E01.1080p.HDTV.H264-DARKFLiX_[English] (SUBRIP)

MEL GIEDROYCI Dogs.

They love and protect us
through thick and thin.

Good boy.
But some are more than just pets.

Some are super dogs.
Go on, show me.

From dogs that hunt out
missing people...

Come on, where is she? Where is she?

...and help our emergency services...

Help, I'm trapped!
BARKING

...to those that sniff out
dangerous diseases...

Correct.
Yes, good lad.

...these incredible hounds
go above and beyond.

MAN: As human beings, we do need
them and rely upon them heavily.

They rescue us...

WOMAN: Without them,
I wouldn't be here.

...and protect us...

MAN: One year,
he helped convict three murderers.

...all while being
our very best friends.

He's a one-in-a-million.
He's a once-in-a-lifetime dog.

WOMAN:
Not all superheroes wear capes,

some of them
actually have four paws.

Meet the super dogs.

Coming up... meet the super dogs.

Fire service search dog, call out.
CARA WHINES

Cara, the fearless Belgian Malinois,

searching out people
in disaster zones.

What sets Cara apart

is her environmental toughness
is just off the scale, really.

jac, the super-sniffing
springer spaniel

hunting down faulty
underground electrical cables.

I wish some of my engineers
were as good as you, jac.

I honestly do.

One, two, three.
Oh, good boy.

Great Dane Bear,

the super-chilled saviour
of tiny Otto.

MAN: Good boy.

Toby, the Border terrier guide dog
for his blind brother Amos.

If he's gonna walk into something,
he'll body bump him or nudge him.

Right, we're ready to go
whenever you are.

And hypervigilant Willow,
off to the rescue...

Go, search.
..of a missing person.

Now dog's pushing hard left
over to that boundary,

going into it.

It's very, very overgrown.

In the heart of Buckinghamshire,

meet a super sniffing dog
with a very important purpose.

Seven-year-old golden retriever
Bumper.

Good boy, off you go.

Bumper is our foster dog.

We've had him now for four years.
He loves to play games.

He loves to go for walks,

and he has his scratchalls,
as we call them.

He's just a normal family pet,
really,

who just happens to go to work.

Like many PLIPS,

Bumper joined the Medical Detection
Dogs training program me

at just eight weeks old,
and trained for two years

before being fostered byjen
and her family.

So we drop Bumper off between
8:00 and 9:30 in the morning,

hand him over to the trainers

where I know he'll be looked after
all clay and do his job,

and then pick him up
in the afternoon.

Hi, Mark. How you doing?
Not bad, you?

Yeah, good, thank you very much.
Here's Bumps.

Hi, Bumps. Come on, then.

See you later.
See ya.

He comes here up to four days a week
to do a very special job.

Oh, he absolutely loves
coming to work.

He's very focused at work.

He has what I call
his important face.

With around 350 million
scent receptors,

7O times that of a human,

Bumper's incredible nose
is helping advance medical research.

Sniffing out human disease

for the Medical Detection Dogs
charity

set up by Dr Claire Guest.

I had a friend and colleague,

her pet Dalmatian dog
kept on licking and sniffing

at a small mole on her calf.

So she went to a GP,
had the mole removed,

and it was a malignant melanoma,
most serious form of skin cancer,

and absolutely undoubtably
saved her life.

The dog had given her
an early warning.

And that's how we started finding
out what diseases have an odour

and whether or not a dog finding
a smell connected to the disease

could result in improved diagnosis.

The charity has trained
over 100 dogs to detect diseases,

including cancer,
type 1 diabetes, and COVID-19.

And Bumper's currently taking part
in a two-year study

into the early diagnosis
of Parkinson's disease

so that life-changing treatment
can start earlier.

My father died very, very sadly
a year ago from Parkinson's,

and he possibly had it
for 20 years prior to his diagnosis.

And the only way that you get
a confirmed diagnosis of Parkinson's

is by becoming unwell.

Now, by that time, of course,
there's no going back.

Unfortunately, the damage
to the brain has already started.

Today, Bumper faces a tough hurdle.

His challenge... correctly pick out
Parkinson's odour

from multiple scent samples

under the watchful eye of trainer
Mark Somerville.

Bumper's very chilled out.
He's got a classic on-off switch.

While I'm setting up, he'll crash
on the middle of the floor.

It's stressful being a Goldie. Yeah.
That's hard work, look.

But when he's ready to work,
he's up and ready to go.

We have biological samples set up
on the counter in little jars,

which we present in the metal stands

and we send him down the line
to find disease.

Come here. Sniff, sniff.

Two.
Correct.

Good lad.

To check Bumper's accuracy,

his Parkinson's sniffing power
is testing multiple times in a row.

And this time...
Two.

No.
Come on.

...he's got it wrong.

I didn't believe him.
No.

As any incorrect readings
will affect the research results...

You know yourself you're wrong,
mate.

...Bumper needs to nuzzle down
and focus.

While saving human lives
is a very super doggy thing to do,

some dogs are doing their bit
to protect their fellow pups.

Over in Surrey, meet Otto,

the eight-year-old
miniature dachshund.

We got him from a puppy at ten weeks
and he's just been the best,

most wonderful, bouncy, happy,
yappy, silly, funny dog.

He's the perfect companion
to ten-month-old Etta.

She finds him hilarious.

She wants to touch him all the time,
and we often do think, actually,

how special this is because it
could so nearly not have happened.

14 months ago before Etta was born,

Otto fell seriously ill
and was rushed to the vet's.

We realised his eyes had gone yellow
and his gums had too,

which meant he was getting jaundice.

It turned out
it was his red blood cells

were attacking his immune system,

and his body
was basically shutting down.

Ancl the vet gave us
a pretty bleak outlook

and said, "His odds of survival
are quite slim."

But then the vet called in
a knight in shining arm our...

...three-year-old Great Dane Bear.

Bear is the biggest flirt
you've ever met.

Bear spends his whole time
trying to get eye contact

with any human being of any size,
any shape.

As long as they can
either tell him he's beautiful

or give him a stroke, it's like
his favourite thing in the world.

But it wasn't Bear's charm
that rescued Otto that night.

Bear is registered with my local
vet's as an emergency blood donor.

So if they get any emergencies
coming in,

we're on the list to be called,
if we're available,

to come in and give it
there and then.

When I got the call originally,

and I knew there was a dog five
minutes away that was so poorly

that it needed a blood transfusion,

to me, it was the same as if they
said it was a human

and could you come and donate blood?

You can't help but think,
"What if it was my dog?"

So in the middle of the night,

Bear was rushed to his vet
to give blood.

We didn't know how it would work.

We didn't know a dog
would be going in that night

to give blood straight away.

Ancl we were just kind of like,
"Wow, that's amazing."

And for the next 12 hours,

Bear's blood helped Otto fight
for his life.

Sleepless night, as you can imagine.

I was pregnant with Etta,
and it was a very emotional night.

It was really emotional.

Yeah, we basically stayed up
all night just sobbing.

just the idea that our baby
might not meet our dog,

and, you know, it sounds stupid,
but that was always the plan.

You know, they were supposed
to be best mates.

And then to think
they might not even cross over

was just something that wasn't even,
you know, on the cards. Yeah.

When I found out
that the dog had pulled through

and he'd been transferred
to a further vet's

for specialist treatment,
but had made it,

just, yeah, overjoyed,
like, so happy.

Seeing how Bear,
one of the biggest dog breeds,

saved Otto, one of the smallest,
Emma wants Bear to be a lifesaver

for dogs all over the country
with the incredible Pet Blood Bank.

But first, he has to pass
their thorough screening.

Hopefully he passes all their tests

and they go ahead
with the donation today.

Wait. Wait.
Good boy, Bear. Well clone.

Coming up...

Cara and Luna,
dogs that deal with disaster.

When you're looking for a person
in an explosion,

there is nothing better
than the clogs that we have.

jac, unearthing damaged electrical
cables to stamp out power cuts.

So, the dog team's away.

And Willow...
Go on. Go on!

...navigating dense grassland
to track down a missing man.

He's working back up.
He's not got any scent yet.

MEL: It's a beautiful, hot
and sunny day in rural Kent.

But reports have been received
of a missing man in his mid-40s...

MAN ON RADIO: 'On our way now.'

...last seen in dark clothing
heading towards this woodland area.

'Yeah, received.
We're all ready for you.'

'For the firemen inside.'

Local search and rescue teams
have been called out to assist.

Right, we're ready to go
whenever you are.

And one of several dogs on task
is search and rescue veteran Willow.

Willow's just turned nine,
and she is a cross-breed.

I have no idea what she is, erm,

apart from being very good
at what she does.

Charlie adopted Willow from
a rescue centre eight years ago.

I decided to actually do something
with her,

and I felt that this was a really
good cause, helping other people.

And also,
it's great fun for the dog,

so it's a win-win situation.

Willow's well-trained nose
has played a vital role

in the Kent team
for over five years.

Willow's done 97 searches to date,

and she loves the game.

She loves to do it.

Do you wanna head over
to the clump of trees

that are directly at my 12?

That's where I was looking for you
to go. Over.

Right now, Willow and Charlie are
allocated a specific search area...

Right, the valley, boundary trees,

and the valley along to, you know,
the middle section, the gate...

Yep. Yeah, yeah.

...that's the far extent
of your search. OK.

...led by search manager
Stuart Kenny.

The wind is doing a fair bit
of swirling.

Yeah, no worries.

Wearing her harness signals
to Willow that she's in work mode.

Go, search.

And the bells help Charlie to
keep track of her during the search.

So the dog team's away.

Willow's expertise in tracking
is as an air scenter.

Go on. Go on.

An air scenter doesn't know
who they're looking for,

so they're roaming around
the search area

being directed by the handler.

They are looking
for scent floating in the air,

hence air scent.

With fewer people
in the countryside,

air scent dogs excel
in rural areas like this.

That's it, go on.

Under Charlie's direction,

Willow crosses the field
hunting down human scent.

'I try and keep her in sight,

'but it's nearly impossible
all the time.

'My job is to just watch my dog.'

Come on, away. Go on.

'I'll see if she gets
any indications of scent at all.

'If she looks back at me,

'that's her saying
that she wants a bit of direction,

'so I'll send her left or right.'

Stuart keeps watch as Willow
searches the woodland edges.

So Charlie's sending the dog
hard off to the right-hand side,

so dog's circled up
and making its way

to what we would call the boundary.
Go on.

Ah, now...

dog's pushing hard left over
to that boundary, going into it.

It's very, very overgrown.

But all of a sudden,

Willow races back
into open grassland.

At the moment she's stationary,

just seeing what she can pick up
on wind.

This is her
being an independent dog, thinking.

And she's off again,

so she's picked up something,
and she's running towards it.

That doesn't mean
she's picked the scent up.

At the moment,
all she's doing is searching.

She's working back up.
She's not got any scent yet.

There's no guarantee that
the missing man is in this valley,

but with time ticking,

Willow must keep her nose
to the grindstone.

The willingness of man's best friend
to help find people is incredible,

but every search environment
requires a very different skill.

Over in Birmingham...
MAN WHISTLES

...at Bickenhill Fire Station...
Good girl.

...meet nine-year-old Cara...

...and three-year-old Luna.

Wait... Yes. Good.

Under the guidance of their handler
Mick Attwood, they're trained

to run into extraordinarily
dangerous situations...

Yes, good girl.
..for the fire service.

Up. Come on. Yes! Good.

We're a specialist response,

so we only turn out
to large-scale incidents

or incidents with a life risk
like explosions,

building collapses,
things like that.

When you're looking for a person

in a collapsed building
or an explosion,

there is nothing better
than the clogs that we have.

Cara and Luna are Belgian Malinois.
Find it.

DOGS BARK AND WHINE

Able to run at up to 30mph,

they're among the fastest dog breeds
on the planet...

Good girl, Cara.
..and one of the most successful

at searching out humans
in disaster zones.

They've got
some brilliant characteristics.

They're very bold.
They're extremely intelligent.

They're very agile.

The speed at which
they can identify that human scent

is what makes them great
for what we do.

They're looking to locate life
as quickly as possible.

Good girl, Cara.

Cara was three-years-old
when she joined the fire service

and became Mick's dog.

We very quickly
built a good relationship,

and we could tell straight away

that she
was going to be really good.

After just six months of training,

she qualified
as a search and rescue dog

in both national
and international disaster zones.

We've been to many incidents

within the West Midlands
and the wider country,

and she's been
to international exercises

in Sicily and Kosovo.

What sets Cara apart
is her environmental toughness

is just off the scale.

Her efficiency has made her one
of the best clogs we've ever seen.

Good girl, Cara.
Ye-e-es, good girl!

In her five years of service,
Cara has found many people.

And her work has been invaluable
in reuniting those people

with their families.

And now three-year-old Luna,
who Mick took on 18 months ago,

is training to follow
in Cara's tracks.

OK.

Good girl. Good girl.

Luna, down.
But Luna is more hesitant.

Wait. And is taking
much longer to learn than Cara.

'She's challenging.'
Wait.

'She's not as bold as Cara.'
Yes.

Good. Good.

And with Cara coming up
to retirement in two months,

time's running out for Luna to prove
she's got what it takes.

Sit.

'This, now,
is the turning point for her.'

Speak.
LUNA BARKS

Meanwhile, 100 miles south-east

in the middle
of the Hertfordshire countryside,

three-year-old Great Dane Bear
is doing something pretty super.

Having saved the life
of sick dachshund Otto

with an emergency blood donation,

Bear is applying to become a donor
with the Pet Blood Bank,

so he can help dogs in need
all over the country.

Yes, it's finally your time, mate.

He's here with owner Emma

to be assessed
by veterinary surgeon Lara Howe.

just like humans, clogs need blood
in different situations.

So, they might have an illness,
they might have an accident,

or they might need blood
during an operation.

Ancl so there is a 24-hour,

seven-day-a-week demand
for dog blood.

Over 15,000 dogs are currently
registered with Pet Blood Bank,

a charity that has teams
travelling around the country,

collecting,
storing and distributing blood,

saving thousands
of doggie lives every year.

OK, are you going
to pop on the scales here, Bear?

New doggie donors
must past a health check,

starting with a weigh-in.

Dogs need to weigh at least 25kg,

and that's clue to the volume
of blood that we take.

So we can't take any clogs
that are less than 25kg.

A lot of people will say,

"That is literally
the biggest dog I've ever seen."

He weighs more than some,
you know, fully grown adults.

At nearly a metre tall,

and weighing a whopping 62.4kg,

there's no doubt Bear
has this superpower in bucket-loads.

So, this is Bear's first time
coming in on his Pet Blood Bank...

Yes.
..Isn't it? Yeah.

This is Amy.
Hi, guys. Are you Emma?

I'm Emma, and this is Bear.
Pleased to meet you, Bear.

But the deal breaker
for a regular donor

is the perfect temperament.

They need to be fit and healthy
and be happy and confident.

Ancl that's a really important bit.

Obviously, the clogs
that make really good repeat donors

are the clogs that really enjoy
coming along to the vet's,

meeting new people,
being in new situations.

That's his only party...
He does paw!

...his only party trick, he'll
shake hands. He does both, though.

He'll do the other one if he's
feeling up to it. What command?

Shake. Shake hands.
Shake. Shake hands.

Shake.
Good boy.

With his charm offensive complete,
it's time for his vital checks.

Good boy.

Must be a lot of brains
in that big head.

Oh, well, I don't know about that.

I think it rattles a little bit
when he runs.

Oh, good boy.
Oh, beautiful teeth. Good boy, Bear.

I'll just listen to your heart.

Come here, boy.
CLICKS TONGUE

Good boy.
Wait here. Good boy.

Good boy. That sounds great.
Well clone.

Passing his health check
with flying colours,

Bear must now face
the blood extraction team.

Oh, come on, then. Let's go.
Absolutely. Good boy.

Come on, then. Good lad.

Come on, then. Good boy.
Meet the team.

Hi, guys.
ALL: Hello.

This is Bear.
ALL FUSS

What we try and do
is lift them and lie them down

all in one smooth motion.
Yep, perfect, OK.

It will be a couple of hands on him,

just to stop him wriggling about.
Yep.

And he's gonna be a strong boy.
Yeah.

We'll give him a while
to settle down... Yeah, no.

Yeah, he's pretty chill.
But we'll just see what happens.

Perfect.

Ready? Are you ready?
One, two, three. Ooh.

ALL: Clever boy.

Good lad!

Good boy.

Oh, wait there like a good lad.

The blood team don't use sedatives,
so just hold Bear in place.

So, we're obviously
not restraining him. Yeah, no.

No. If he decides to get off,
he will. He will, yeah.

In order to extract enough blood,
the team need Bear

to harness his superpower
of being super-chilled.

EMMA: 'For me, yeah,
clogs are as important as people.

'If we can do something
to help them,

'then, 100%,
we're totally here for it.'

just lie there and get belly rubs.

I know that if he could speak,

and I'd say, "Look,
if you go and donate some blood

"and get some treats, and
you're saving little clogs' lives,"

he'd be more than happy to do it.

Oh, look at you. His eyes
are closed, he's that chilled.

Is this what he's like at home?
Yeah.

After five-and-a-half minutes
of belly rubbing,

Bear has donated 450 grams of blood,

enough to save
up to four doggie lives.

Get up. Oh, good boy.
Wait there. Wait there.

Good lad.
Oh, good boy, yeah! Good boy.

ALL: Good boy!
CLAPPING

Do you want to pick a toy?
Do you want a toy, mate?

Go on, then. Which would you like?

Yeah, you want that one.
Oh, you lucky boy.

Thank you so much. So if we could
just take your picture, Bear.

Come on, then. And now
as an officially registered donor,

Bear will be back every two months
to keep the blood bank topped up.

Say, "See you again soon." Oh, yes.
Say, "Thank you for having us."

Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.

Come on, then, mate. Let's go.

In the north-west of Wales

lie the rugged hills
of County Gwynedd...

"home to )ac...

...a seven-year-old springer spaniel.
Good boy.

SPEAKS WELSH
Good boy.

Jac is very lively.
Mad about the ball.

He'll try and outsmart you
every chance he gets,

but I wouldn't do without him, no.

A breed notorious
for their exceptional noses,

owner Ken has channel led
a very specific superpower in jac.

I've trained him to detect
underground cable fluid leaks.

High voltage
underground fluid cables

transmit electricity
around the country,

but when they spring a leak,

it can take weeks or months
to find a fault.

And after more than 30 years
working in the electricity industry,

Ken had a revelation.

Dogs can find drugs, they
find money, they find explosives.

Why not cable leaks in the ground?

It's a no-brainer, really.
HE LAUGHS

And that's wherejac
springs into action.

Nobody took me seriously

when I said I could train a dog
to detect the cable fluid leaks.

So I said, "Oh, I'll prove
you all wrong," and I have.

Jac is much faster, quicker.

He saves a lot of excavating

and having to clig
for no reason, really.

Today,
jac's being put through his paces,

searching the vast, rugged moorland

for tiny traces of the distinctive
cable fluid odour.

This is the scent
jac's been trained to detect.

I'll put out a few drops and,
you know, put him to the test.

Everything's a learning curve,

so just perseverance,
and just keep on trying.

Go on, go on, go find.
COMMANDS IN WELSH

MORE WELSH COMMANDS

'I can tell with his body language
that he's onto something,

'and as soon as he's over it,
he'll sit down,

'and he'll probably paw the ground
until he gets his reward.'

Show me, show me.

Good boy.

COMMANDS IN WELSH
Come.

Passing today's home turf training
with flying colours,

jac's now set to work
as a freelance detection dog,

and Scottish Power have called on him

to track down
potentially disastrous faults

on their multi-million-pound
network.

Coming UP.

Bumper buckles down to work,
sniffing out Parkinson's disease.

People think because they've got
fluffy coats and waggy tails,

they surely can't be as accurate
as any scientific instrument,

but of course,
they are actually far more accurate.

Meet Toby, a devoted guide dog
for his blind brother.

If he's gonna walk into something,
he'll body-bump him, or nudge him.

And Willow digs deep
in her hunt for a missing man.

There we go. Dog's had a strike.

MEL GIEDROYC:
Back in the Kent countryside,

a search and rescue operation
is underway

for a missing man in his 40s.

Go search! Under the direction
of her owner, Charlie...

Away. Go on, go on!

...nine-year-old Willow
is scouring this valley...

She's working back up.

...with search manager Stuart
keeping a close eye.

Not got any scent yet.

Willow is an air-scenter...

...sniffing out human scent
carried in the wind.

So literally crossing
the entire valley. There he goes.

After eight minutes,
she hasn't picked up anything.

Ooh, hello. What's this?

You usually see the nose pick up,

the ears'll pick up,
and the body language changes.

The tail goes into a circular motion

and the speed picks up.

There we go. Dog's had a strike.

Interestingly, he's got a visual.
SHOUTING: Go on!

He's wondering,
"What's that over there?"

Willow has clearly located somebody.

BELLS JANGLE

Ancl you'll notice the dog
does not wait, does not stay.

It basically pounds down
and finds the handler.

When she has found a person,

she'll come running back to me
at full pelt,

and when she catches her breath,
she'll do a bark alert.

WILLOW BARKS
Good girl, show me.

'Ancl then she bombs off
back towards where she's come from,

'to the missing person.'

It's a perfect result for Willow.

Good girl.

But today is a training run.

Good girl. Where is he? Good girl.

Her missing person is Rod
from the Search and Rescue Team.

If you put a foot team
of four people in there,

and they had to search
that thoroughly,

they would be in there for probably
an hour-and-a-half, two hours.

Whereas, you saw Willow cleared off
that bit in about ten minutes.

She just enjoys it so much.

You see her face
when she's found someone.

I think Willow WAS born to do it.

And Willow's prize? Well,
it's the perfect doggie reward.

Willow's reward is a homemade toy,

a bit of sausage and a lot of water.
HE LAUGHS

It's a simple payment
for such a valuable job,

but dogs like Willow
have a greater motivation.

They love doing stuff.
They love using their mind.

So give them
something worthwhile to do.

What better for a dog?

While some super dogs
go through months,

even years of intensive training...

Bed.

...some have superpowers
that are purely instinctive.

And that's certainly true of Toby...

...this 14-year-old border terrier.

His special charge is his pal,

five-year-old Staffordshire
bull terrier cross, Amos.

I was working at the dog's home,

and we had a pregnant dog come in.

She had her puppies,
and of the three that survived,

Amos and one of his sisters
were completely blind,

and we decided
that we would foster Amos.

So, we had him for four months.

By that time,
me and Billy, my partner,

had completely
fallen in love with him,

and there was no way he was...
he was going anywhere else.

When Jess and Billy adopted Amos,

his eyes were removed
to minimise pain,

but Toby's instincts
had already kicked in. Good boy.

I think it took him a little while
to work out that Amos couldn't see,

but then, when he'd worked that out,
he was very helpful.

At first, Jess noticed
the little things that Toby would do

for his new puppy brother.

I think we'd had Amos a clay or so,
and we were quite worried

because we didn't think
Amos had drunk very much.

But as much as we'd tried
to show him, and tap the water bowl,

and he just...
he wasn't going over to the bowl,

and Toby jumped off the sofa,

and then he bumped into Amos

and then trotted over
to the water bowl,

took a really big drink

and then Amos walked
to the water bowl and took a drink.

So ever since then,

Toby will always nudge Amos
into the water bowl

so that he knows where it is.

And now young Amos is inseparable
from his super-protector Toby.

So, out and about on walks,

Toby will always put himself
between Amos and another dog.

Ancl if Amos is a little bit unsure,

he positions himself next to
or just behind Toby

so that Toby can guide him.

SHE WHISTLES
Boys, here.

Amos, here. Good. Tubes, here.

Good boys.

CLICKS TONGUE
Sit. Good. Good boys.

'If he's gonna walk into something,
he'll body-bump him or nudge him.'

'When we come in from walks,

'Toby usually will help him
by opening the door.'

Oh, good lad.

And after five years together,
wherever they are...

Come on.

...Amos knows
he can totally count on Toby.

'If we go somewhere new,

'he very much relies on Toby
to give him confidence.'

Yay! Good lad. Come on.

Good boy.

Even things like
when we go swimming,

Toby will nudge him around corners.

Ancl Toby likes looking out for him,
I think.

He just seems to want to help Amos,
which is really lovely.

If Toby wasn't as helpful
as he is with him,

I do think Amos would have
a lot more struggles.

I also think it's given him
a bit of purpose

because, actually, he now knows
it's his job to look after Amos.

Little Toby is the perfect example
of pooch power.

Dogs absolutely are superheroes.

I mean, he's just my golden child.

You're just an angel, aren't you?
Hmm?

MEL GIEDROYC: Back in Birmingham...

Yes. Good.

...three-year-old Belgian Malinois
Luna is being put through her paces

to prove she can meet
the exceptional standards

of veteran disaster rescue dog
Cara.

We're trying to build up
the intensity of the toy with Luna.

We're trying to make her
absolutely crazy for the toy.

Luna, come. Heel.

Good girl. Down. Wait.

By hiding Luna's toy out of sight,

Mick's testing her ability
to locate it by scent alone.

Find it.

The idea is that Luna's
so desperate to find her toy

that she'll go wherever
Mick asks her to find it.

Good girl. Good girl. Yes.

Good girl. Good girl.

The whole thing with the play
is that we can train the dog

through
the most harshest environments

without the dog even realising
we're doing it.

The drive to go and find the toy
allows them to go

into these environments
and locate scents so quickly.

Good girl. Good girl.

But if Luna's going to succeed
in search and rescue missions,

she must prove that she'll hunt
for her toy

in dangerous environments.

So Mick is setting her
the ultimate challenge.

Help! Help I'm trapped!
LUNA WHINES

Down in Buckinghamshire,
it's a huge day

for six-year-old golden retriever
Bumper,

who must prove that he can pick out
the odour of Parkinson's disease.

In each line-up, there'll be
a positive and three controls

or four controls.

Come on, then. Ready? Sniff, sniff.

After earlier losing
his laser focus,

he must get back on track.

By sitting back
and looking at Mark, his trainer,

Bumper's signalling
that he has detected Parkinson's.

'I will ask Steve for confirmation
whether the dog's correct.'

Four.
That's correct.

'I'll give the dog an audible click
and obviously a reward.'

Good lad, there's a good lad.

The dog's nose is quite incredible.

People think because they've got
fluffy coats and waggy tails,

they surely can't be as accurate
as any scientific instrument.

But of course,
they are actually far more accurate.

And it's this ability
that we're harnessing.

Three.
Correct.

And we're asking them questions
about disease that, without them,

we'd have no knowledge of.

The results from the tests

that Bumper and some
of his doggie colleagues

have done over the last two years

have proved that dogs have
the sniffing superpower

to detect Parkinson's.

So now they're using their noses
for further critical research.

We now know that when somebody
develops Parkinson's disease,

their odour does change.

What we need to look at now is
how early on in the disease process

is the dog able
to detect this change in odour?

The earlier we can find it,

the earlier that medics believe
they can find it

and make an intervention,
the more change we can make.

It's about quality of life
while they have that disease.

These discoveries will help

in the development
of diagnostic technology.

Like portable electronic noses
that could one day be used

to diagnose diseases at the GP.

But right now, as another day
at the office finishes

for Bumper...

Hello, beautiful boy. How are you?

...it's a proud mum who picks him up.

Are you gonna forgive me?

Oh, he's brilliant. I can't describe
how proud we are of him.

To me, he is the dopey idiot
that sleeps a lot of the clay.

But to know he can come to work
and detect Parkinson's disease

is just incredible.

I don't think we have
even scratched the surface yet.

I think, in years to come,

we'll just wonder how
we humans were so stupid, I suppose,

not to recognise
these incredible powers.

And not just that,
they want to do it for us.

Like everyone, Bumper will
eventually retire from work,

but he'll always remain
jen and her family's pet.

Bumper is absolutely a super dog,
without a shadow of a doubt.

Coming up...

Fire service search dog, call out.

Rookie Luna faces
her ultimate test,

an earthquake drill.

We need them to keep pushing on
and keep searching.

And it's barking mad in Esher

when Otto meets his life-saver,
Bean

OTTO BARKS

In Scotland, just outside Falkirk,

it's a chilly day
at ScottishPower's Denny Substation.

We're here today at Denny.

There's enough power going
through the substation

to power the entire city of Glasgow.

It's about 600,000
to a million customers.

So this is a big site,
an important site.

But there's a problem.

This crucial substation is not
currently running at full capacity.

And Scott and his team suspect
an oil leak in one of their lines.

So they've called in Ken...

...and his super-sniffing
springer spaniel, jac.

Dogs have, as we all know,
more sensitivity

in terms of their sense of smell.

So, we thought innovatively,
our engineering team thought,

"How can we deploy clogs
within the network?"

And we've been very fortunate
to find )ac.

Scott's team can't be sure

exactly where
in this massive network

the fault is located.

We have a suspicion,
but not confirmation.

So we're gonna use )ac today

to try and find if we can pinpoint
that very quickly.

All wound up and ready to roll...

...it's time forjac to do his job...

...and prove
he's the brightest spark

by finding the leak.

Three-and-a-half million homes
and businesses

rely on this whooping network of
cables.

But it takes jac literally seconds
to single out the leak.

Outstanding. What a job.

I'm delighted to say he pinpointed
the fault that we were looking for.

The job could have cost
about half a million pounds.

We were able to get that job clone
in half a clay.

I wish some of my engineers were
as good as you, Jac. Honestly I do.

As a regular contractor
for Scottish Power,

it seems jac has the puppy power
to transform the energy business.

We've now had him out
on effectively 15 jobs.

There is massive cost savings.

There's accuracy in terms
of finding the faults.

We love this.
We love it for our customers.

It's a great innovation
within the business.

Everybody that you speak to

is very excited
aboutjac the springer spaniel.

Yeah, Jac loves his work.

I think it's better if you have
a dog that wants to work for you,

rather than has to work for you.

I've seen some clogs,

they work with their tails
between their legs.

Butjads not like that at all.
He's full of beans.

My hope for the future is
thatjac fathers a little of eight,

and we end up with
eight more cable detection dogs

available to us on our network.

And for all those doubters
who laughed at Ken's vision,

jac has undoubtably proved
his point.

I think I've been very lucky.

I think he's unique,
but maybe everybody says that

about their dog. I don't know.
CHUCKLES

MEL GIEDROYC: Over in Surrey,
it's a very special day

as super-chilled Great Dane
blood donor Bear

is meeting the little terror
whose life he saved -

miniature dachshund Otto.

Nice to meet you.
Lovely to meet you.

Great to meet you.

Hello, Bear.
Hello. You're enormous.

This is Etta.

Although gentle Bear tries to make
friends, it takes Otto a while.

OTTO BARKS

Quite a while.

CONTINUES BARKING

A really long while.

CONTINUES BARKING

But eventually...

It's OK.
..he stops barking.

Well, you're a very special dog,
Bean

He says, "I love doing
my little thing." Don't you?

So lovely. So, was that the first
time that you'd given blood? Yes.

Yeah, I didn't even know
blood donation was a thing, really,

to be honest. I had no idea.
Neither did we.

I was pregnant with Etta
when all this happened. Right.

So worried that Etta might not
cross over with Otto. Yeah.

Oh, my gosh.
But Bear made it all happen.

Yeah. You did a good job, mate.
Bear totally saved Otto's life.

Wow. If Otto hadn't received blood
that night,

he wouldn't have made it through.

But that night was what we needed.

That was the time we needed to keep
him alive, so thank you. Gosh.

Oh, bless him. Do you want me
to open these? Yeah, do.

This is for you. This is for you.

SHE GASPS
Look what you have.

Look at the size of that.
It's the biggest rope I could find.

Is that for you?
Aren't you lucky?

Look at that. He says, "I've never
seen a rope that size before."

It's a Dane-sized rope, isn't it?

'Seeing them together,
it was really...'

I hadn't really thought about it
in that way,

but it's knowing that Bear's blood
is running through Otto.

It was special, wasn't it?
Mm.

Forever grateful.

I don't think we could ever
thank Emma and Bear enough

for what they did.

He's my super dog, but, yeah,
he's pretty special, for sure.

Back in Birmingham...

Good girl. Yes. Good girl.
Here, come.

...it's a massive day for
three-year-old Belgian Malinois Luna

as she faces the ultimate test
in her disaster rescue training,

an earthquake explosion drill,

to see if she's ready to take over
from soon-to-retire Cara

on active service.

We've got a tunnel system here
with some rubble

and a casualty at the other end
waiting with a toy.

So, the dog has to decide
where the entry point is

and then they have to make
access through all the rubble.

So, all the time,
they're searching for the scent.

They're running,
and they're searching.

Ancl what we need them to do
is to bark.

Ancl so if the dog goes out of sight
and then starts barking,

I know then we need to investigate

because she's found
a live human scent.

First up is nine-year-old veteran
Cara...

I'm just gonna give her a route.

...who has six years of real-life
rescue experience behind her.

Hello?!
CARA BARKS

Help!

Hello!
Help, I'm trapped!

To mimic a real life rescue,
Dave plays the trapped casualty,

and trainer Mick shows Cara
where to start her search.

Fire service search dog, call out.
CARA WHINES

'|t doesn't matter what we set up,
what environment she comes across,

'she never ceases to amaze, really,
how efficient she is.

'Ancl how quickly she can go
and locate life.'

Obviously, in real life,
the casualty won't have a toy,

but Cara knows she gets to play
after her work is done.

Good girl. Yes. Good.

Good girl.

For Luna, who's 18 months
into her training...

I'm just going to offer her
to the hole first

to just give her an idea
that somebody's in there.

...this drill
is the ultimate challenge.

Hello?!
Help!

Occasionally, we've seen Luna go in
and be a little bit wary.

And today, she has to prove
she's able to cope

in tight spaces
and unstable structures.

We have to be careful
how we're setting things up

because it's really easy
to knock the confidence of the clogs.

Fire service search dog, call out.
LUNA BARKS

It's training the dog to really work
with the environment

to try and make access
to find a person.

We need them to keep pushing on
and keep searching.

LUNA BARKS

So, I'd say that's a success.

Today, Luna has definitely made
the grade,

so Mick can be confident
she'll soon be ready to work

in real life disasters.

Good. Good girl. Good girl.

Good girl.

Hopefully, she'll license very soon

and have as stellar a career
as Cara has, really.

Ancl I think Luna really will follow
in those steps.

And with Luna proving
she's got what it takes,

Cara can hang up her boots
and retire.

I've got mixed emotions,
but, at the same time,

I think it's a really nice thing

to be able to then enjoy
a normal life with her.

And Luna won't be feeling left out
as Mick's not just their handler.

They both live at home with me.
They both live inside my house.

They're with me 100% of the time.

Ancl you know,
they've become my life, really.

We definitely believe
our clogs are superheroes.

Next time...

...the faithful family of
Newfoundlands

using their aquatic skills
to keep people afloat.

Three people have said that
they probably wouldn't be here today

if it wasn't for having the swim
with the clogs.

Endlessly energetic Alfie...

Right, on you go. Get on.

...the English cooker spanielsaving
lives in the wilds of Scotland.

We've made a couple of finds.

It definitely shortened
their ordeal for them.

And Nkosi...
Good boy.

...the Bavarian mountain hound
protecting endangered species

on the anti-poaching front line.

If we can train a dog
to track a human criminal,

why can we not train clogs
to help track down poachers?

And Buddy and Merlyn,

two border collies
with an incredible bond...

The mountain rescue team
were deployed,

and I was stretchered
down off the hill.

...that helped save
their owner's life.

Without them, I wouldn't be here.