[Tia Torres] So I got a tex from a good friend of mine, Stacy,
who runs a small rural shelter here in Southeast Louisiana,
about a dog that was in horrible shape.
She said that the dog was just in the middle of this field, and the video is pathetic.
[Stacey] Hey. What's going on, man? Hey, man. Oh.
[Tia] This little dog in the middle of a field, all by himself,
just didn't know where he was. 'Cause he couldn't see.
-[Tia] Aww. Hi, buddy. -[dog yelping]
Oh, my goodness. He's smaller than I thought. Come here, buddy. [imitates kissing]
Come here, buddy. Come here.
His condition looked way worse in person.
[Tia] Yeah.
He's swollen under here, too. Under here.
Yeah.
[Tia] Within seconds of touching him, things are going off in my head.
Like, this is much worse than we thought.
Yeah.
Oh, crap. Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap.
You know, he was like a cute little... he's just like this cute little dog.
Oh, buddy. Oh, buddy.
You know, he was older. Eight, nine, ten years old.
Obviously someone's dog at one point.
You're okay, bud. You're okay.
I think that what bothers me the most is the condition he was in
is not something that happened overnight. That part really got to me.
The thing that's the most noticeable is his eyes. Just bulging out.
I mean, it could be a variety of things.
Severe infection, some kinda disease.
Um, you know, we weren't quite sure.
You got Lamb Chop? Do you know who Lamb Chop is?
Stacey's grandson is kind of hiding off in the corner with a little stuffed animal,
and it was actually Lamb Chop.
[gasp] Look. Oh, look, we're gonna get you... Look, we got you Lamb Chop.
They gave you Lamb Chop.
Lamb Chop, you know, was the little sidekick on a kids' show.
I said, you know what, let's give him Lamb Chop.
[Tia] Yeah.
If not for a good Samaritan seeing him,
and calling the Sheriff's department and calling Stacey,
who knows?
Come on, little one. Come on, Lamb Chop.
We took Lamb Chop straight to Cypress Lake Animal Hospital.
We're just gonna, you know, hope for the best
and let's see if Dr. Kristen and her team can work a miracle.
-[Dana] Do we need to roll out the red carpet? -[all laughing]
Oh, my God. I haven't seen you guys in so long.
-You look so skinny. -It has been a really long time.
-[Dana] Oh, my God. -[Tia] Hi, Dana.
So today, we have a meet and greet, and it's a special one.
-[Dana] I missed you guys so much! -[Tia] I know!
Because it's actually with one of our producers off the show.
Are you gonna cry?
-Oh, yeah. -She always cries.
She always cries.
Dana has been one of our producers for years.
I'm like, working with all the footage. I'm putting everything together.
[Tia] This past year, she worked from home.
So it's been about a year, actually,
since we've seen Dana in person.
-Do I sit in the middle? Should I sit in the middle? -[all laughing]
[Tia] Dana is like family to us. When she reached out to us
and said that she was interested in this particula dog, we were like,
oh, [blows raspberry] perfect match.
-[Tia] You know the drill. -[Dana] This is so weird!
[Dana] My name is Dana. I live in Louisiana,
about two hours from New Orleans.
It feels really odd [laughing] being in this seat. How's my hair look?
-[interviewer] Great. -[laughing]
[Dana] This is just a reall special day, because I get to see all my friends
and all my work family. And I get to hopefully adopt a dog.
I miss everyone so much. It's like, crazy.
-Really? -Yeah!
I've been on the show for four years.
-[laughing] -But recently, I had a huge life change, and I am working
remotely from home. So it has been rough.
My dad, uh...
-[Tia] I heard. Oh. -[Dana] ...passed away from terminal brain cancer.
My dad's brain tumor was progressing pretty quickly,
and I had to make the decisi to leave the show
in the capacity that I was working in
because New Orleans is two hours from where my family property is,
and I wanted to spend as much time as I possibly could with my dad before he died.
[Tia] How long did your dad have cancer?
It was ten... it was ten months from when he...
[Tia] Oh, yeah, that's still not very long ago. Yeah.
From when he was diagnosed, and unfortunately,
he had a glioblastoma brain tumor, and they're the worst of the worst.
-[Tia groans] -And it was in an inoperable location,
and it was terminal.
I got my love of animals and my love of dogs from my dad.
I brought my dog Juno today, but...
-Oh! -Mmm-hmm.
But my dad was the one who found her for me,
and I rescued her because of my dad.
-Mmm-hmm. -Oh, yeah.
[Dana] My parents have a bi horse farm, and one of the workers at the farm
showed up with a litter full of puppies.
My dad was like, "I know I can help you with one of 'em."
And he sent me a picture.
And then I adopted her. That's Juno.
When, um, my dad was sick, at the end, we would be at my parents' house
and she'd be curled up on the bed with my dad.
-Oh. -And I'd go to leave him, and I'd go, "Come on, Juno,"
and she would look at me and just...
-[Mariah] She didn't want to. -[Tia] Uh-uh. Oh.
[Dana] ...say, I need to be with him.
-[Mariah] Oh. -[Tia] Wow. Wow.
I know. They know.
When I started working on the show, my dad wanted to adopt a dog from Villalobos
and then he got sick and wasn't able to. And so the fact that I'm here toda
makes me feel like I'm carrying out his legacy,
and something that was really important to him.
So I've been looking for a dog and last week, I literally said out loud to my dad,
I said, I'm gonna let my next dog come to me just the way they always came to you.
I'm gonna take a page outta your book and I'm just gonna let them come to me.
I was... I had an assignment.
[Mariah] I think you made me emotional.
[Tia] I know. This is why I wore...
-[Mariah] Damn it. -[Tia] See, I knew I was gonna meet with Dan today,
-so I wore sunglasses. [laughing] -Every time.
So I was supposed to be looking at other footage, and at the last minute,
they said, "There's this Stamps rescue we need you to do."
And I was like, "Okay."
-God, that's how you saw her? -And so I literally pulled up the footage,
and tears started rolling down my face.
-[Tia] Oh, my God. -[Dana] And I was like, there's my dog.
[Mariah] Oh, my God. Look, that's her. Where the tractor's about to go.
So I was watching this footage on the edge of my seat.
[Mariah gasps] There she is.
[Dana] They were plowing down the sugarcane where she was living.
Like, the whole time, I was just like, "They're about to run over my dog."
[high-pitched] Hi, big girl. Come take a treat.
No, no, no.
[laughing] My heart was just... I was so nervous.
[Mariah] Yes. Oh, my God. Yes! Whoo!
That's a great way to...
-[Dana] And I had just... -[Mariah] Damn it!
[all laughing]
I just knew. I looked in those eyes and I saw her tail,
and I just was like, "That's her."
I mean, normally when someone comes to look at dogs to adopt,
we show them multiple dogs. For Dana, it was instant love. Like,
an instant connection, actually.
-She's... -Right? So she's gonna still be... she's gonna be shy.
She is. She's still very shy. Um, the good thing is
just from her being here for a little bit, I have noticed
that she does wanna bond with someone.
So she does come out of her shell. Um, you wanna meet Stampy first?
We can do that. We'll do that.
-[Dana] Yeah. -[Tia] Okay.
[Tia] M2 made the decision to not traumatize Stamps
by walking her out on a leash with all the camera crew around.
-[Dana] Oh, my goodness. -[Tia] She's like a little baby.
[Dana] I'm totally gonna start crying. [laughing]
-[Dana] Oh, my God. Look at that face. -[Tia] Hi, Stamps.
-[Tia] Hi, little baby. -[Dana] My heart is beating so fast.
[Mariah] Okay, my baby. You wanna sit over here?
[Dana] Hi. Hi.
-[Mariah] Okay, we're gonna sit over here. -[Dana] Hi, mama.
-[Tia laughing] -[Mariah] What you think, pretty girl?
What you think, sweet girl?
-[Dana] "I'm a little nervous." [sniffling] -[Mariah] She is.
[Dana] It's okay. It's okay, we can just hang out.
When Stamps came out and I was able to put hands on her and see her,
I almost can't put it into words. It was just so special.
I feel like my dad sent her to me.
-[Tia] Oh. Don't make us cry, Dana. [laughing] -[Dana] I know.
How are you?
And I feel my dad here so strongly. I feel like he's right here with me.
It's hard to explain, but I... I know it.
-[Mariah] She's so fluffy. -[Dana] Good girl.
[Tia] It's... talk about meant to be. Because when we do
get dogs like this that are shy, I...
-[Mariah] It's hard. -[Tia] It's hard to place them.
You know, it's very difficult to adopt a shy dog out.
You're a very, like, nurturing person.
-[Tia] Yeah. -[Mariah] Like, you're the perfect person
-for a dog like her. -Yeah, absolutely.
-[Mariah] She needs that, you know? -[Tia] Yeah.
To have someone come along who is like family to us,
who has that motherly way about her, who's so caring,
want to take a dog from us. You know, that... that is like that.
We're very thankful for it.
-[Tia] Do you have... -[Mariah] Still feel the connection?
[Dana] Oh, yeah.
-[Tia] She's been bawling her eyes out, what do you think? -[Mariah] I know.
[all laughing]
So Stamps was starting to warm up and get more comfortable with me,
and that was so awesome to see. But in the back of my head, I was like,
"She still has to meet Juno."
I'm nervous a little bit about that.
[Tia] I mean, here's the thing. You know what you could do?
Is, I say Mariah just stays here with her
-and you bring Juno out to the grass. -Yeah.
-Let's see... let's see what she does. -Okay.
[Tia] There's always a chanc that dogs don't get along when they meet each other.
-[Dana] Okay, let me go get Juno. -[Tia] Gonna go get Juno.
Get the little wiggle worm.
You know, we've had people that say, my dog loves every dog it meets,
and then... then it doesn't. [laughing]
Hi. Have you been napping?
But we're hoping for the best, 'cause nobody wants to cry today.
-[gasps] Can you see the puppy? -[Tia laughing]
Okay, you ready?
Oh, my gosh, Juno, I hope you like Stamps.
You ready to meet your sister?
[both] Oh!
-[Mariah] Oh, she's... -[Tia] Ooh.
[Mariah] She just jumped down. She's interested. Who is that?
[Dana] Oh, it's okay. What do you see? You just wanna say hi?
-[Mariah] Hey, wanna say hi? -[Tia] If she wants to go see her, that's fine.
-[Dana] Oh, perfect. -[Tia] And they can take a walk together.
-[Dana] Yeah. -[Mariah] Oh my God, look at her.
-[Mariah] She's like, hi, be my... be my sister. -[Dana] Oh, my goodness.
Stamps' seen Juno, and she was instantly interested.
[Dana gasps] Yes, you're doing great! Oh! [laughing]
[Tia] Oh!
[Mariah] I've had Stamps around a few dogs here, and she's done amazing,
but she was never this interested so quickly.
It's almost like she knew, "Okay,
this is gonna be my big sister."
-[all exclaiming] -[Dana] Oh, she wants to play.
[Tia] Oh, look, look, look. [gasps] Nobody move.
Nobody move. Oh, my God, oh, my God, this is so cute!
-[all laughing] -[Tia] Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
With shy dogs, if you have another dog, the bond is gonna be
with that other dog first. That's who they feel more comfortable with.
-Ooh. So cute. -[Mariah] Are you happy?
-[Tia] Okay, now you may cry. -[Mariah] Yeah.
[Tia] Oh, my God. Look at her.
She went from this really scared, guarded dog
that was on alert to a puppy that was play bowing and having fun.
-[Tia] This is amazing. -[Mariah] Mmm-hmm.
Insane.
It was a really amazing transformation, and it reassured
me and Tia and also Dana, that she's... she's ready.
She's ready to go to a home, and I think she picked Juno.
She just wants to be around... she doesn't care about anything.
-[Dana] Is she ready? -[Tia] Yeah. No, let's see if she'll walk.
-Let's see if she'll follow her right to the car. -[Dana] Come on, sisters.
You ready?
[Dana] That literally could not have gone better.
It feels like today starts a new chapter.
-Whoa! Look at this! -[Mariah] Wow, look at you go!
I know with no doubt that my dad brought this dog to me.
-[Tia] We'll see ya, now. -[Mariah] We'll keep her safe 'til we bring her.
-[Dana] Okay. -[Tia] Bye, Juno. Look at this.
It... it was a match made in heaven. Between the three of them.
It was the perfect dog with Juno,
it was the most wonderful human being on the planet with Dana.
And then Stamps needing them both.
The next step is for M2 to get Stamps ready,
and then deliver her to Dana's farm,
and hopefully, we have a happy ending.
So since Lizzy is on her way to becoming
a certified dog trainer and behaviorist, you know, I just wanted
to get us back to our roots, back to what we used to do,
which is really following through with training dogs and working with them.
Do you follow Dog Tales' Facebook page?
I follow them on Instagram, actually, but that's it.
-I don't follow their Facebook page. -Okay. So I don't know
if you saw the story, and it just, it got to me. Really, really hard.
Dog Tales is a rescue out of Canada, and we've become friends.
They've actually taken some dogs from us to help u get them into new homes.
They had a former adopter lose one of the dogs that they adopted from Dog Tales.
-Oh. -Name was Chicho. He's old, he's blind and he's deaf.
-[Lizzy] Oh, my God. -[Tia] The dog wandered off into the woods
-[Lizzy] Oh. -[Tia] The first thing was I text Rob from Dog Tale
I said, hey, is there no one up there with like a tracking dog, a bloodhound, something?
-[Lizzy] Yeah. -[Tia] And he goes, "We've been looking.
Like, there's no one up here that can help us track this dog."
Five days later, they found him.
He was still alive, but barely.
Took him to the vet, and he didn't make it.
It was just sad. And I just thought, "You know what?
I'ma look into this." I wonder if this is something we could do,
to help people find their lost dogs.
Like, Googled, you know, tracking dogs and... and...
and scent training and pet recovery and all this stuff, and the first video
I just happened to come across was of this trainer in Florida
working a bloodhound puppy.
I'm gonna give her the odor. This is Jess. Just a couple turns.
Fetch it. Let's go. Good girl. Attagirl.
[Tia] Scent Evidence is a program out of Florida,
and Paul and his people train dogs, primarily bloodhounds,
for various sheriff's departments around the country.
He's super well established.
Pretty amazing credentials.
He even gives, like, seminars around the world
on tracking and scent work.
So I called him up and I just said, "Hey,
I'm really interested in getting some of our hounds, possibly, some training.
-Yeah. -And he goes, "Yes, I would love to!"
Oh, my God.
So I asked if we could bring our bloodhounds, some of 'em, anyways, to him.
-Yeah. -And he would help train us. But...
-Yeah, I'm sold. -And I know you've always wanted to do this, you know?
-Right? -Always, yeah.
I think that it's really amazing Tia wants to do this.
We see a lot of stray dogs around here, a lot of dogs that get lost.
People steal cars with dogs inside of them, and then we don't know
where the dog ends up. So there's such a huge need for dogs
that have this ability to track. I think she's really onto something with this.
-We have to see what happened with Chicho. -Yeah.
But maybe we can, I don't know, maybe we can do something with this.
-I love it. I'm super down. -Plus, it's great for the dogs, too.
Great for the dogs.
-[dogs barking] -[Tia] They say all dogs are created
for something specific. I mean, not all, but certain breeds.
And hounds are one of them. You know, hounds have an amazing sense of smell,
better than other dogs. And within the hound world, the bloodhound is like,
the cream of the crop when it comes to doing scent work.
-And it's close by. So it's only in Tallahassee, so. -Yes.
-Let's do it. -Okay, let's do it.
[Tia] Come on, buddy. Come see the water.
-[Mariah] Hola. -[Tia] Hark.
-[Mariah] Wow, he looks so happy. -[Tia] He loves going...
he wants to get in everybody's car. Like, he loves going in a...
Look at him, he wants to go in the car. Watch.
[Mariah] You need to go with the truck driver. Can I get out?
[Tia] Come on, Marcelo. Come on.
Shortly after we dropped Lamb Chop off at the vet,
I got a call that he wasn't gonna make it.
They had to humanely let him go.
-He definitely had lymphoma. -Okay.
But like, extremely advanced lymphoma.
That's why his eyes looked that way 'cause, you know, it attacks the organs.
Ooh, really?
-Mmm-hmm. -Oh, my God.
It can attack certain organs.
-Um, really nothing that they could do. -Wow.
Although, I wasn't horribly surprised,
you know, that little part of you hopes that, you know
"Okay, I love being wrong about things like this."
It's kinda heartbreaking to know someone...
-Allowed it. -...actually loved him enoug to put a collar on him.
But then, dumped him becaus he looked like that, you kno
That dog didn't break out of anything...
-No, no, he can't see, yeah -...he can't even walk.
They probably just didn't want to deal with it.
That's exactly what happened.
-And they just dumped him. -Yeah.
This was a really bad case. This was one of the worst ones.
It sucks, it's heartbreaking. I mean, we didn't even have him long enough to
to, you know, give him love.
-Yeah. -But, at least he's not in pain anymore.
At least he was found.
What keeps me from falling down after something like this
is knowing that if that Good Samaritan hadn't spotted him
and they hadn't called Stacey and she hadn't called us,
he would be still sitting in that field near death and would've died alone.
And no one would have ever known.
Now, he has a name and he's not in pain anymore
You know, I did a little tribute on social media.
Now, the whole world knows who Lamb Chop is.
My old hood.
[dogs howling]
[Tia laughing]
Knockity-knock.
I drove to New Orleans to pick up Lizzy and her dogs.
Oh, my goodness.
We're gonna load 'em up to Florida and do training classes.
[dog howling]
[Tia] All right, we're gonna go on a road trip, buddy.
[Lizzy] No, no, no, Neil, we're leaving, we're leaving, we're leaving, we're leaving.
[Tia] All right, son.
[Moe] Bye.
[Tia] Grandkids. Toodaloo.
[Moe] Bye, Grandma!
[Tia] Toodaloo, everybody.
[Lizzy] All right, here we go.
[Tia] Okay.
She will be taking her two bloodhounds, Neil and Leroy
I will be taking my bloodhound, Twang.
[Lizzy] Okay, watch his head.
[Tia] These are your people.
[Lizzy] These are your people, come on!
Twang, nice to see you again.
There were some concerns for some of the dogs.
Neil is terrified of cars.
She had to carry him. We got him in a crate and put him inside.
Twang, my issue is that he's not the most people friendly.
He's got some unpredictable behavior.
The one thing that I will say is going in his favor is he's super-duper dog-friendly.
And smart.
Just, ultimately, with us going to Scent Evidence, it's for Lizzy and I
to learn as much as we can and continue the training with our dogs.
I just think it's a really cool thing to do.
[dogs howling]
[Tia] All right, all right.
[dog barking]
[Tia] So, we finally got to Florida
and we are about to train some hound dogs.
-[Paul] Hello! -Tia, Lizzy.
Hi. Paul.
[Tia] We're meeting up with Paul who runs Scent Evidence.
And his wife and a couple of his dog handlers.
To help us see what we can do with our dogs.
[Paul] Ready to play with some hounds?
[Tia] Yes.
I've been doing search and rescue work for about 15 years.
Search and rescue is a life and death situation
every time one of the teams are called out.
And, if you think about a child of yours or your mothe or father going missing,
there's nothing that compares to that.
So, having this tool there to protect our communities, to save lives
and it gives these dogs that are bred to do this wonderful task
an opportunity to give back to our communities. It's a win-win for us all.
We'll take them out, then we'll run them through some drills...
-[Lizzy] Okay. -...just to see where they are.
-[Tia] Mmm-hmm. -[Lizzy] Okay.
[Paul] And then we'll start making adjustments.
-It's so much fun working with these animals. -[Tia] Yeah!
And seeing how they progress. But, they're all individuals.
Despite Lizzy and I bringing our hounds, it wasn't a given that they were gonna wanna
do what was asked of them.
So, it was a little nerve-wracking because it's, like,
ah, is this going to be so embarrassing, like, if they don't do it?
[Paul] Ooh, you're beautiful.
[Tia] One of the biggest concerns was Neil
and he's being super shy, super...
...very not confident.
[Paul] We want them to match the scent from the jar to the environment.
-[Lizzy] Okay. -[Paul] And then follow the trail to the target.
[Lizzy] Okay.
[Donna] Who do you want to be the target, baby?
[Paul] I'm thinking while he's right to me, maybe I'll do it.
[Donna] Okay.
[Paul] Would you grab my odor out of there?
[Tia] They have their scent jars and in the scent jar is like, like a gauze
with the scent of whatever it is you're looking to find
When it's time for the dog to go, open the jar, dog takes a whiff
and you hope that the dog starts to follow the scent that was in the scent jar.
[Paul] All right, give me the odor.
Come on then, Neil! Come on, buddy! Come on! Come on, Neil!
-Oh, that a good boy! -[Donna] That's a good boy!
[Paul] That a good boy! That a good boy!
Oh, yes! Oh, yes!
You did so good!
Paul and his handlers put in a lot of, like, positive stuff.
Just really making it a fun game.
Using treats, toys, a lot of praise.
[Paul] Come on, Neil! Oh, that a good boy!
At a good boy! That's the way to use that nose! Ooh!
[Tia] It was really cool to see Paul and his other handlers use these technique
It's just great stimulation, it's great exercise for the dogs.
[Paul] I think he's gonna be okay.
[Lizzy] Yeah, bud!
[Paul] Beautiful!
The more we did with Neil, the more confident he became.
I was surprised because he can kinda be a bit shy at times.
[Paul] I liked what I saw. I think we're gonna be able to do something with him.
[Lizzy] Yay, okay! [laughs]
[Tia] Good boy, Neil! Good boy!
-[Lizzy] Oh, my God. Holy crap. -[Tia] Good boy!
[Lizzy] I could cry right now.
[group laughing]
I think, overall, his first impression of Neil was good.
He felt really hopeful about him and that gave me a lot of hope and more confidence.
Good boy, Leroy.
-[Paul] Oh you're handsome! -[Donna] Yeah!
-[Tia] Hi, Lee Lee! -[Lizzy] Lee Lee!
[Handler] Hey, man! Hey, man! Oh, my goodness!
[Paul] If he looks back at her, let him go.
-[Lizzy] Oh, there he goes. -[Paul] All right, go.
[Lizzy] Yes! [laughs]
[Tia] Leroy's the man!
-Leroy's the man. -[Paul] This dog's gonna be good.
[Tia] Didn't I tell ya? He was my number one vote.
[Paul] Leroy came out, he was a natural.
He did really well with the first few exercises.
Focus.
[Lizzy] That's a good boy! That's a good boy! That's a good boy! Trail?
-[Paul] Oh, nice! -[Tia] Oh! [laughs]
[Paul] Look at that driver there, yeah!
[Lizzy laughs] Yes!
[Paul] That's what you wanna see, right there.
[Tia] That was a good one. You saw how he just stayed focused?
[Lizzy] Aw!
[kisses Leroy]
[Paul] There's a kennel open back there.
[Tia laughs]
Both of Lizzy's bloodhounds, Neil and Leroy,
you could tell they were super excited. You know, they're really into it.
They wanted to please.
Now, the one that's... [laughs]
[Paul] Leroy?
[Tia] If you see me hit the ground, just grab the leash, 'cause this one gets wild.
My bloodhound, Twang, was the more of the challenge.
[Twang barks]
[Paul] Oh, he's limber.
You are a gorgeous!
[Tia] All right, just get to know everybody.
He's very smart, but Twang was very serious.
And I explained this to Paul and everybody and said, "He's got some issues."
[Paul] Nah, he's not having it.
[Tia] Well, no, he wants attention, this is, he's in...
[Twang growls]
[Tia] Oh! Oh! Oh!
[Twang growls]
[Tia] Oh! Oh! Oh!
Woah.
[Donna] Yeah, he didn't bite me.
[Tia] Did he get ya?
[Donna] No, but when I rubbed his left thigh.
[Tia] He's, he's, he's a resource guarder, but he didn't, did he get ya?
[Donna] No, he didn't. He didn't bite me. I'm good.
He's normally very good, you know, out in public.
Not overly friendly, but not aggressive.
All of a sudden [gunshot], like, he went for it.
He's got weird issues. And, um...
[Donna] Yeah.
[Tia] ...he'll take a treat. Like, he's not that food aggressive, but, like,
if you come into his kennel, when I was telling Paul, he will come after somebody.
[Donna] Gotcha.
[Tia] Of course, I was reall discouraged. I felt horribl that it happened,
but it was Paul, when he came up to me, like, specifically to say...
"I see something in this dog. I can feel it.
I'm, like, "Really?
Okay."
[Paul] Hey, Twang! Twang! [whistles] Hey, bubba!
[Tia] Yeah! Yeah!
[Paul] Come on! Pup, pup, pup, pup! Come on!
Pup, pup, pup, pup! Come on!
Yes! Come on!
Here, pup, pup, pup, pup!
Here we go! Here we go, Twang!
Come on, pup, pup, pup, pup!
[Donna] Aw!
[Tia] He does everything in slow motion, thankfully. [laughs]
[Paul] Oh, that a good boy!
My first impression of Twang was, first of all, he was a beautiful dog.
Gorgeous bloodhound.
Let's do another one, that weren't too bad.
I could tell he was really bonded with Tia.
Oh, come on! Come on!
Come on, Twang! Come on, big boy! Come on, big boy!
Yeah!
[Tia] You know, he did pretty good. But, he was very locked into what he was doing.
Not really into taking a treat, not really into getting a reward.
It was like he was there to do a job.
That, he's got that, look how confident that tail...
Yeah, it's like once you get in the mode.
[Donna] He did well.
Get it! There we go. Oh, nice! Whoa, that's like a...
...I love the look of this dog in the drive.
For me, I love the feel of the line with them, with the lead...
Uh-huh.
...and it felt like I was running one of my dogs.
[Lizzy] That's amazing.
[Tia] He's got a lot of issues.
So, I was hoping just to, kind of, iron some of them o by focusing and having him
do something, you know, and, uh, maybe we could wor some of that stuff out.
The next step was to take us and the dogs out of Paul's front yard.
Over to this beautiful park and, kind of, you know, challenge them a little bit.
He would rub a scent off of a human, let the dog take a whiff...
[Paul] Yeah, is that good?
[Tia] ...and then, they have to go look and follow the scent.
[Paul] All right, give him the lead. There you go.
Oh, that's a good boy!
[Handler] Good boy!
[Tia] Paul had his dog handlers, you know, hide.
[Paul] Little... Oh, nice!
[Lizzy] Good boy. That's a good boy.
[Paul] Look at this! Holy crap! [laughs]
[all] Good boy!
[all cheering]
[laughter]
[Paul] That a good boy!
Yeah! Good boy!
[all laughing]
He, like, went here and then he went here.
[Paul] Did you see that, "No"?
He, like, checked and he's, like, "Wrong one."
Seeing him make that distinction between Courtney and what his target was,
was just, like, oh, my God, he got it. He got it.
[Tia] You the man!
-[all laughing] -Holy crap!
You could actually see him make the decision,
and that was a really, really amazing moment.
Yes!
I was really excited. I mean, any time I see dogs
perform well and answer their calling,
it really gives me energy.
[Tia] Well, cool.
Well, let's see what tomorrow brings.
[laughs]
[Mariah] Hi, pretty girl!
I'm gonna need you to get the car door, Rhonda.
Today, I am loading up Stamps
to take her to her potential new home.
Hello, how are you?
This is amazing.
[Mariah] Uh-huh.
Are you ready to go bye-bye?
[kisses]
She's still extremely shy on-leash,
and she is very scared of cars.
I know. Come on.
You can do it. You can do it!
Going in to the home check today,
I am a little worried...
All right, sweet cheeks!
...because Stamps is still very shy,
and just curious to see
how she does in a new situation.
All right, Rhonda!
Catch you later!
I'm hoping that it will go well.
All right, pretty girl! Let's go!
This is Raynelle. She's seven and a half years old,
and we've had her for seven years.
She came to us as a stray,
just kind of wandering the streets.
She was pretty thin when she came in,
but she is an absolute love bug.
She loves to snuggle.
[chuckles]
Raynelle prefers to be the only dog in the home.
and she would do best in a home
with children over ten, just due do her energy level.
If you're interested in adopting Raynelle,
or any other Villalobos dog,
or donating to Villalobos Rescue Center,
visit animalplanet.com/pitbulls.
So, it's day two, and Paul is raising the stakes.
So, we're gonna actually give some scenarios today.
-Okay. -So, here we are in a park, where kids play.
-Okay. -They're gonna walk off.
Like, exactly like it happens in the park!
-Like it happens in the park. So... -Okay.
Today, Lizzy and Neil and Leroy
have to look for lost children.
Eek! Even though I know they're not really lost,
it's really, like, scary.
Feeling a little stress?
-[both] Oh, yeah! -Okay! [chuckles]
I'm sweating right now, and it's not because
-of the weather. I'm sweating. -You got this.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. -You got this.
So, I was... I was hopeful.
I was hopeful that it was gonna be a good day.
We'll see you guys soon!
All right, superstar!
Let's go find these baby girls, okay?
-[Lizzy] Come on, Neil. -Check it.
Check check check it. Okay.
All right. Neil, go find.
[Paul] Put a little pressure on him.
There we go!
Paul gave them quite a distance to track,
and I'm like... Honestly, I was like,
"It ain't gonna happen." [laughs]
"You know, he's just...
This is like, you know, his second day, and..."
-Good boy. -[Tia] He's picking it up.
-Good boy. -[Tia] He's picking something up, right?
-[Paul] Good boy! -Good boy.
[Paul] He's got it. Watch his head pop up.
Do you see it, Liz?
[Lizzy] Yep. [chuckles]
-You almost got it! -Good boy. Good boy!
Neil and Lizzy did a fantastic job.
We ran a trail today in a nature park
with a lot of contamination
and Neil worked it really, really well.
-I thought you would be... -[Lizzy] Good boy, Neil!
No, he's not bad.
Yeah! Love him, love him!
Good boy!
-Love you! Oh, that's a good boy! -Good boy!
Yeah, that's a good boy!
[all cheering]
[all laughing]
-Pet it. -[Paul] Do you want to pet him?
[Tia] I mean, Lizzy's a natural.
She was so... It was like, this constant smile.
She just kept saying, "Oh, my God
Oh, my God! I love this! Oh, my God!"
That's all she kept saying. She just loved it so much!
-Yeah, I saw you. That was a really good job. Yes, yes. -[chuckling] Yeah.
Yes, kissing up to the teacher half of all the time!
-Oh, my God! -[chuckles]
When he realized what he was there to do,
and he had this really cool job to do,
it was like a different dog.
[Paul] Good job, Neil!
Leroy's assignment is to find Sawyer.
Sawyer is one of our special deputies.
He comes out and lays trails with us.
He's in a wheelchair.
He loves what he's doing, and he loves these dogs.
Get it, get it.
Good, good, good.
Go find!
[Paul] Gives our dogs an opportunity
to experience some different types of trailing.
Feed the lead and keep your feet still
Let him... Watch him, now, come up. There's a negative.
And he'll back to you.
[Lizzy] Good boy.
[Tia] They took Sawyer, and hid him
in a picnic area at the very end,
and it was a good distance.
[Lizzy chuckling] Built up speed. Good boy!
-[Paul] Look at that! -Oh, my God! Good boy!
-[Paul] Look at that! -Oh, my God, Paul!
-[both laughing] -[Lizzy] Oh, my God!
[Tia] When the wind and the breeze starts flowing,
could you see? He kind of went whoosh,
and then just veered to the right.
-Oh! -[Paul] See the tail wag?
Yeah. Oh!
Good boy!
I'm like, "Oh, my God! He caught it!
He caught the scent!"
It was pretty cool.
He did right about Neil's time.
Good job, Sawyer!
[Lizzy] I loved every part of this.
You're just going, and your adrenaline's pumping,
and then, when you get to the target, it's like,
"Oh, my God! We did it!"
-We look professional right now, okay? -[all laughing]
[Lizzy] I thought I was gonna have a heart attack!
It's such an indescribable feeling.
I wish I could put it into words,
but I don't think that I could.
And then, for you, we're gonna do the lost pet.
[exhales]
-We got this. -No Twang.
-Oh, Twang! -No Twang! [laughs]
Paul, he knows.
He knows dogs.
And he said, "I got something for Twang."
And, Paul brought one of the other dogs
that he was training, and he goes,
"Twang's gonna look for a lost dog,"
and I was like...
[whimpering] Oh! Thank you!
[Paul] No pressure, Tia, but two for two...
[Tia exhales] Yeah, no pressure!
[Paul laughs]
To save my what!
-You got this. -[Paul] You got this.
-Oh, yeah. -[Paul] He's gonna make sure.
-Aren't you a... -Good boy!
-Good boy. Good boy! -Look at this.
Watch him. He'll get a negative,
and then come right back to it.
[Tia] Good boy, Twang!
See it drift right there? And you want to send line out.
Let it drift a little bit more.
We look for a lot of behavioral cues when we're doing this.
We feel like we're talking with the dog the whole time
and they're talking with us
So, their body is telling u what they're saying.
[Tia] Good boy!
-[Paul] He's focused on his job right now. Look how... -[Tia] Good boy!
-[Paul] See him leaning into the turn? -Yeah.
-There she is. -So that's why he was going that way!
[Paul] There she is!
[Tia] Go find her, buddy! Find her!
Once you're out there, you become a team.
You, as a dog handler have to put all your faith
in your dog.
He hasn't seen her yet.
It's all nose right now.
When you become a well-oiled machine,
you and your dog do become one.
Perfect! Very slow!
[all chuckling]
-[Paul] Aw, that's a good boy! -[Tia] Come here.
Good job, buddy.
This trip was amazing.
Are you gonna keep your nose on the ground the whole way back?
-[Pau] He loves it. -[Tia] Come on. [makes kissing sound]
It gave me another outlet
on how to work with hounds.
Bye!
[Tia] Tracking dogs, pet recovery.
You know, ultimately the goa is to come home,
and keep working with our dogs,
and who knows? Maybe apply it to other Villalobos dogs.
[Mariah] Ah, it's so pretty
I think we are here, Stamps.
Today, I am at Dana's house coming to bring Stamps
to hopefully, her potential new home.
It's gonna be scary at first,
but your friend Juno's here.
Some of my concerns going into today
are her shyness,
and just seeing how she does in a new home.
You hang tight, okay?
I'm gonna go check it out.
I'm also concerned to see how Juno reacts towards her
knowing that this is her tur and her area.
[knocking at door]
[chuckling] I got to look through your windows!
-Hi! -Hi!
I am feeling a lot of emotions today.
-Hi, Juno! -Come on, baby!
[Dana] I am super excited to have Stamps come home.
This is his shirt. My dad always wore flannel.
[tearfully] I'm also missing my dad a lot today,
and I wish that he was here
to experience this with me in person.
Hi, Juno! Are you excited?
Do you know something's going on today?
[Dana] She's gonna walk this land that my dad walked
That feels really special.
Oh, yeah, that's gonna be plenty of space!
Yeah. So, I have her crate set up in...
-That's so cute! -...in this corner, just so she has her own thing...
-Mmm-hmmm. -...and it's a lot
of toys, and I'll get more in, because, like,
Juno's already trying to steal those off her bed.
[Mariah] Dana is just a very genuine person,
and she's the perfect perso to give her the time
and the love that she needs.
[Dana] Come on, Juno, let's show 'em around.
[Mariah] It's so pretty here!
-It's so nice here. -[Dana] The horses are right in this.
-Look, you can see them right in there. -Oh, yeah. I can see 'em.
Juno will, like, run under the fence,
and say hi to them,
-and they just... -[chuckles]
They don't care?
-Like, "What is this tiny, tiny creature?" -Aw!
The really great thing about where Dana lives,
she lives on a farm with a lot of property,
and it's mostly livestock and horses,
so it's really quiet. There's no loud noises,
or hustle from the city.
All right, I'm gonna grab her.
-I'll meet you back right here. -Okay.
[Mariah] Stamps already met Juno.
Juno, be super sweet to Stamps, okay?
She might be a little shy.
[Mariah] But it is importan for them to meet out front.
Want to get out?
Inside the home is Juno's area.
Dogs can be a little protective
welcoming a new dog into that area.
-Oh, my gosh, I knew this. -[Mariah] Hello! Hi!
I am concerned about how she's going to act here,
and if she feels comfortable...
[exhaling] Okay.
[Dana] ...and I just hope th she loves it,
and knows immediately that it's her home.
What do you smell?
Oh, no, no, no. Hey, I'm sorry.
Oh, baby.
[Mariah] What do you smell?
Oh, no, no, no. Hey, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. I should have just left it open, huh?
[Dana] Hi, baby! Hi! You want to come here?
Look, you want to go see? [makes kissing sounds]
-Can we go to meet Juno? -Come here. Come on.
-[Dana] Hi! -Want to go see Juno?
-[Dana] Oh, hi, welcome home! -[laughs]
-Hi! Oh, hi! -She's like, "Sister!
-Sister!" -Hello! Hi!
-Oh, it's okay. -It's okay, baby.
She ran right up to Juno!
I didn't think she was gonna walk!
[Dana] Welcome home!
To see her come around the corner,
and Juno was so excited to see her.
It was really a surreal moment.
-Hi! -[giggling]
-Look at that tail wag! -Hi!
Oh, my angel!
It was just, really awesome.
Are you so happy, really?
You know, whenever you want to,
-so they don't get tangled, just drop Juno's leash... -Okay.
...'cause she's so happy to see her.
You know, let's test something.
We already did the long leash training with Stamps.
Grab Juno and just start walking in that direction.
[Dana] Okay.
[Mariah] Like, right over here,
and I just want to see if she follows you guys.
Okay. Come on, Junie!
But I wanted to make sure she was gonna follow Juno,
and not still try to run off.
Come on!
Oh, my goodness. Come on!
-[Dana] Oh! -That's what I thought she wanted!
[Dana squealing] Oh, she's running!
Oh!
-Good girl, Stamps! -[Mariah] Oh, hi, good girl.
-Hi! -That's what I wanted!
That's good. That's really good.
She did really well.
[Dana] You ready? Let's show Stamps her new house.
[Mariah] Oh, you got a new house?
[Dana] Let's show Stamps her new-- Oh!
-What do you think? -Should I go check out the...
-Do you want to go check some things out? -...the digs there.
Stamps immediately followed Juno right into the home,
which is a really great sign
Once in there, she was a little shy.
A little cautious.
-It's initiated. -[gasps]
Play initiated.
She looked like, "Come on! Come on, let's go!"
[Dana] Look, she completely doesn't run away from it!
"Let's party! Let's party! I wanna party!
-[laughs] -It's so cute. I love play bout.
She's definitely getting...
[chuckles softly]
It's so cute how just, like, a little bit of time,
she becomes this different dog.
[chuckles]
So, I think her initial reaction
went really well overall.
[gasps] She did it!
[chuckles]
[Dana] I really wanted to se if she'd get on the couch,
because my dogs are my kids.
They're my furry kids, and they get to go everywhere.
Look at you, big girl!
I just wanted to see if she would be comfortable,
and then she jumped right up.
Oh!
[chuckles]
Oh.
-She wants to lay down. Let's move over. -I know.
-[chuckles] -[sniffles]
[Mariah] You know, I don't know the feeling
of losing a parent, and I don't think there's anything
that can ever make it feel better.
My dad sent you to me, and then my people found you...
-[Mariah chuckles] -...so you could come here.
[Mariah] But I do believe, at the end of the day,
Stamps may fill some of the hole that's in Dana's heart.
-It is pretty... pretty magical. -Uh-huh.
She's gonna help heal her, and they're gonna heal together.
Are you gonna watch out for me, now?
You know I'm gonna watch out for you, okay?
Deal?
The last six months, since my dad died,
it's been [tearfully] so rough.
His loss has been very heavy to carry,
but he's still looking out for me,
and taking care of me,
like he did when he was aliv
Come on, girls! Come on.
-She's doing it. -Oh, good!
Having another dog in the house
is gonna bring that joy.
It's time, now, for the next chapter.
She is now yours.
-Yay! -See? I've been waiting a long time for this!
[Mariah] I'm really close with Dana,
and she's one of the most phenomenal people
I've ever met.
You are literally gonna have the best life, Stamps. [kisses]
Everything played out like it was meant to be.
It was already aligned.
-[Dana] Okay, come on! -Bye, Stamps!
Come on, girly!
Something that, you know, you can't make this up.
They were meant to be.
Oh, look at this!
[Dana] Stamps is gonna have an amazing life here.
She is already part of the family.
This whole experience of adopting Stamps
has been very healing for me.
[tearfully] I feel so grateful.
Even though I am crying,
I have so much joy in my heart.