When packmates constantly fight,
it can be overwhelming for any pet parent.
But when that parent is in a wheelchair,
breaking up a violent dog fight can be truly dangerous.
I am on my way to help a pet mom with two English bulldogs
who are injuring themselves and their pet parents
with their nonstop brawls.
This pack needs my help immediately.
I'm Chelsie. And I'm Jay.
And this is our six-month-old daughter Jaelyn.
We're the Bloomfields.
I design and fit wheelchairs
for people with disabilities.
I run a all-women's wheelchair dance team
called the Rollettes.
I started a wheelchair dance team
because I wanted to prove to everybody
how normal my life can be.
And now I run a women's empowerment weekend
for women and children with disabilities
called the Rollettes Experience.
Chels and I met at a work conference.
We locked eyes from across the room pretty much,
and we've been together for the past nine years.
We got married about a year and a half ago.
My wife has so much confidence, and she crushes it,
despite what odds are thrown against her.
We got Stella as a puppy.
She was about this big.
I remember she could fit in the palm of my hand
when we first got her.
But now she's seven years old.
And we've realized that Stella
probably would benefit from a friend.
She seemed lonely.
Yeah.
So, we got Bailey,
and she is a bundle of energy.
I'll wrestle with you. I'll wrestle with you.
She loves people.
She just wants to play all the time.
Okay.
She gets really excited very easily.
She loves me. She's more attached to me, I think.
You're a stinky girl.
You're gonna get a bath real soon!
Stella was always very gentle with Bailey.
But then about eight months in, we saw the first fight.
Hey! Hey!
Obviously it scared us.
We were like, this has to be a fluke,
like maybe they got scared.
Babe, babe, babe, babe, babe!
Eh, no, girls!
Hey! Hey! Hey!
But when it started happening more frequently,
we would do everything we could to break them up.
Hey! Hey!
I mean, I have scars on my hands from getting bit by mistake
in the middle of a fight.
I mean, they draw blood all the time.
When I do see them fight, I don't know what to do.
I've literally fallen out of my chair forwards
and even fallen off the couch
in order just to break up a fight.
It's been really scary.
Ah! Bailey, stop! Stop, Bailey!
Bailey! Bailey! Bailey! Bailey! Bailey!
Taking these dogs for a walk is like a circus.
Bailey! Bailey! Bailey! Bailey!
And I really don't like having to rely on other people
to help me, but with the dogs, it's gotten to the point
where I really want to cry, like, I just want to give up.
Hey! Bailey, come here!
I'm on the road quite a bit,
and it's always in the back of my mind.
I'm worried about how the dogs are gonna be with her,
and is she gonna get pulled out of her chair,
and especially now that we have a daughter, I'm terrified.
They do good with like an able-body pulling,
like holding them.
It's probably hard for you because of the wheelchair.
Yeah.
It's crazy because in my entire life,
I am very confident in what I do.
I'm confident in my day-to-day routine.
I'm confident with my business.
And then for some reason, with the dogs,
it's like this whole new layer of dependence,
and I just don't know what to do.
Wait!
Hey!
I think the worst-case scenario that I'm terrified of
is one of them is gonna really hurt the other one
or even kill the other one,
so it's gotten really scary.
Something has to happen,
or we're gonna have to get rid of the dogs.
They are part of our family,
and I don't want to give up on them.
This is definitely like our last straw,
and we don't want to have to give them away,
but it's gotten to the point now
that I feel extra disabled...
Aah!
...because I can't handle my own dogs.
That's a lot of excited barking.
Hi, I'm Chelsie.
Nice to meet you. Oh, my God!
I'm Jay. Nice to meet you. Welcome.
Come on out so we can talk a little bit.
Woo!
So, tell me, how do I help?
So, we have two English bulldogs.
Okay.
One's seven, called Stella.
Seven years?
Uh-huh. Okay.
And one is about three, called Bailey.
Okay.
Our older one, Stella,
she was pretty calm when it was just her.
And then once we introduced Bailey, the younger one,
it's like gladiators, they're going after each other,
especially when people come in the front door.
Yeah.
Someone could get hurt, because I've gotten bit,
and they inevitably will end up bloody at times.
Luckily I'm able to pull them apart,
but I'm gone quite a bit for work,
and I don't feel confident with the dogs when I'm not there.
Chelsie, how do you handle the fights?
I am alone a lot during the week,
and I've fallen multiple times trying to break them up.
Because I have no use of my legs,
I have zero balance, so trying to keep them apart
and have no balance and on the floor, it's really scary.
If I'm not here, and it's just Chels and the baby,
I'm dreading that she gets hurt.
No way in the world.
Now, with Jaelyn thrown into the picture
and our attention on her and her safety,
we literally have a very separated house.
The dogs are always in the crate
if Jaelyn is like out on the couch
because our daughter comes first,
and it's just not worth the headache of what's gonna happen.
The goal is safety.
Yeah. You know?
Yeah.
Anything you can do to help.
That's what I do for a living.
Awesome.
This is an extremely dangerous situation
for Chelsie.
I need to find out why these dogs are fighting
and put a stop to it immediately.
I'll start by assessing what's causing the aggression
at the front door.
So, what I would like to do, I would like to see
how you guys do it when Jay comes in the door.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna monitor from here.
Don't try to make anything different,
just your regular day.
Okay. Okay.
Put the baby down for the nap and let's do this.
Okay, thanks.
Knowing that these dogs
could break into a fight at any moment,
I'm gonna be close by
so I can step in quickly and keep everyone safe.
Hi! Hi! Hi!
Okay, tell them I'm ready.
Let's see what causes the fight.
Hi. Hi.
So, Chelsie's giving a lot of affection to Bailey,
the gray one.
Love you.
That's getting her really excited.
Okay, Bailey, stay down. Whoa.
Uh-oh, Chelsie's signaling that she's nervous.
Bailey, hey!
And she's feeding nervous energy to Bailey.
What's up, guys?
All this excitement
combined with Chelsie's nervousness,
these are the perfect conditions for a fight.
Babe, babe, babe, babe, babe, no, wait.
Hey!
Yep, I got to get in there!
Hey, hey, hey! Girls! Girls!
Tsch!
Bring them in, bring them in.
Tsch! Tsch! Tsch!
Hey! Tsch!
This one, Bailey, started it.
Tsch!
Tsch! Tsch! Tsch!
Tsch!
Anytime they fight like this,
I teach that they should go on their side
in full calm surrender.
Tsch! Tsch!
Hey!
Tsch!
Stella's in calm surrender already,
but Bailey's still fighting it.
Tsch!
Hey!
Stella already got it.
There you go. Tsch!
This is good, this is good.
Right, so what I like to do when two dogs fight
is put them right next to each other,
wait until the dog calm surrender,
and give affection when they're calm surrender.
Gotcha.
So, I have a question: Why do the dogs fight?
It's because you, Chelsie, gave them
a bad combination of excitement, affection, and nervous energy.
You understand?
Mm-hmm.
The most important part is the energy.
It's pretty much what I tell people
that have the same problem at the door.
It might seem like it's Jay's affectionate greeting
at the door that triggers Bailey's aggression.
What's up, guys?
Oh. Oh.
But the fight was actually caused
by Chelsie's words and energy before Jay even walked in.
Hi! Hi! Hi!
First she showered excited dogs with affection,
which made Bailey overexcited.
Hi! Hi! Love you.
But then Chelsie moved her chair back as though afraid.
Okay, Bailey, stay down.
And started giving Bailey uncertain body language
and worried words.
Hi. Whoa.
Bailey saw this and thought,
"If Mom is nervous, I should be nervous, too."
This turned her overexcitement
into aggression against the closest target--Stella.
Hey!
There you go. Bring 'em in, bring 'em in.
I have a feeling that lack of exercise
could be a contributing factor to these fights.
How's the walks?
Pff! Walking?
Ah, Chelsie,
she barely makes it down the end of the block.
Okay.
Yeah. So, to be honest, we just don't walk them.
All right, so that's a problem.
I'm just very nervous to take the dogs on walks
because I can't handle them,
and so I feel extra disabled because I have to ask for help.
That's like the, the reality of it.
That's right. So, that's honesty.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Right? The good news for you is I can help you.
I love that Chelsie is so honest with me and with herself.
That takes a lot of strength.
She's home alone with these dogs much of the time,
but she doesn't have the confidence
that she can handle them without help.
I need to change that for her.
So I want to start by showing Chelsie how her words and energy
create conditions for fighting.
I'm gonna ask Jay to enter the house again,
but this time, Mom must not give the dogs
any affection or nervous energy.
The results should be drastically different
if she can remain calm.
So, Jay, you're just gonna come in the door
and greet the dogs like before.
Come on, man. Do it for your lady.
Go for it.
I don't know where Bailey is.
Bailey, come here.
Thank you.
Come on, Chel.
Okay, Chelsie, but your job is to do nothing--
no affectionate talking, no petting--
because once you do that, your energy goes softer and excited.
And look, Bailey's excited now.
Yeah.
And you're petting her.
No touch, just quiet calm confidence.
Got to tell them no.
Yeah. Gotcha.
Now that's better.
Yeah.
Bailey has to be completely calm.
All right, you can come in.
Stay calm, Chelsie.
Stay quiet and just watch how the dogs react.
That's perfect.
Wow, okay. Love that.
You see, so if you can do it,
she should be able to do it.
See, Chelsie, you were quiet and calm,
and so Bailey was, too.
This is amazing.
Once you teach them they have to stay calm,
then anyone can enter, no problem.
I've never seen someone come into this home
with Stella and Bailey so calm.
I was really shocked,
to see that they're capable of listening.
Yeah.
They want to listen. We've known that.
But just to see it in front of our eyes,
I didn't think it was possible.
Can you see how you created the conditions
for fights before Jay even comes in the door?
Yeah, I'm learning a lot.
It should be your energy,
and your body language should be plenty.
So, no more saying, "Mom's home, Dad's home"
because that's what gets them excited.
Yeah, that gets them riled.
It's truly amazing to see what's causing the fights.
It's kind of like a sigh of relief.
What Cesar saw today
is basically our reality every day.
Tsch! There you go. Bring 'em in, bring 'em in.
And the energy thing,
we just didn't really know how to control,
and now that we know it's just my energy,
I feel a little bit more confident.
But I'm also nervous as to,
if they're gonna be able to, like, keep it up.
If you practice this calmness at the door,
eventually they'll learn to just stay calm
when anyone comes in the door.
Gotcha.
At this point, I would like to invite you to the ranch
because I want you to see them meeting new friends.
It's almost like a rebirth for them.
Okay. All right, gotcha.
Cool. Awesome. Thank you.
Today was an important first step.
But for us to end these fights permanently,
this pack is gonna need exercise.
That's key for any dog to stay healthy and happy.
So I need to come up with a solution for Chelsie
to easily exert the dogs' pent-up energy on her own.
And I need to get to the bottom of her nervous energy
that is sparking this aggression.
There is much, much more work to do here.
We appreciate you, and you're really--
You're more confident than you think.
Yeah, I feel it, so thank you.
Yes!
The next day, Chelsie and Jay
visit the DPC with their bulldogs.
Oh, man.
Tsch, hey!
Good morning! Welcome to the ranch.
Good morning! Thank you!
We need to continue working
with all the issues I saw yesterday.
I want you guys to meet here 'cause I want to keep
getting to know them a lot more.
Wait, wait, or don't wait.
Stella's good, Bailey just goes.
Uh-huh.
Can I change the leash?
Right now Bailey is too excited.
I've seen firsthand how quickly her overexcitement
can turn into aggression,
so I need to take action right now,
and I can't waste any time.
I'm gonna do an exercise that teaches Bailey
to stay calm and avoid overexcitement,
even as we give her more and more stimulation
with my barnyard friends.
Okay, so come over here.
Bailey is really pulling.
First, I need to get her to calm down.
I'm gonna get her calm and sitting,
and the point is she must practice calm
instead of overexcitement.
Yeah.
Tsch!
Hey, Bailey, calm down.
Stella! That's good.
And, and my job right here is just to supervise just in case.
This is calm surrender. This is good.
This is the energy Bailey should have shown exiting the car.
Now I'm gonna introduce the macaw.
Boom, boom. See it?
A very exciting new friend,
but they still have to stay calm.
I'm just gonna add more to it.
Yeah, okay.
Pass me the goat.
We are increasing the sources of excitement,
but Bailey must stay calm.
So now the association of, while a goat was in front of us,
while a macaw was in front of us,
we can still stay calm.
Yeah, wow.
And you're helping them stay calm, Chelsie,
because you're staying calm yourself.
I know that I need to have a calm energy
because that will just create
a very, like, safe space for them,
but for them to be around other animals
and be pet at the same time
gave me a lot more hope than I thought going into today.
So I petted Bailey, and she stayed calm.
Now it's Jay's turn.
Chelsie, you support with calmness.
Um, yeah, I'm a little nervous.
No, Bailey needs your calm.
Yeah.
When Cesar told Jay to start giving the dogs affection,
it made me nervous because even when they are calm,
they could still attack each other,
so I was honestly just terrified
as to what we all were gonna witness.
Specifically Bailey.
We're gonna take it to another level.
But you have to stay calm, Chelsie.
Oh, no.
That's all right. You stay right there.
Tsch! Tsch!
Bailey!
Tsch! Tsch!
Tsch!
There we go. Bring them in.
Tsch!
After a fight, they must both get
into full calm surrender on their sides.
Tsch!
There you go.
Chelsie, this happened because of you.
What I just did 'cause I got nervous for a second.
That's correct.
This is the second time I've seen Chelsie's nervous energy
trigger Bailey into instigating a fight
with her packmate Stella.
Oh, no.
That's all right. You stay right there.
Tsch! Tsch!
Bailey!
It's only when they come to you,
and then you get nervous, they get into a fight.
Yeah.
I was very nervous because I just knew,
even when they are calm, they could still get into a fight.
But again, it's just my energy,
so the more that we work on it, the easier that will be
and the less nervous I'll become.
So, it's best to remove the emotion
and just be mechanical about it.
Okay, you can easily do that,
but I wonder, like, how I would do that.
Once again, I'm seeing how Chelsie's nervousness
is not only triggering fights, but it's also stopping her
from giving the dogs the leadership they need.
I want to talk with Chelsie one-on-one about her story
and find out where this nervous energy is coming from.
All right.
Nice shade over here.
Mm-hmm.
I want to hear your story.
Okay. I grew up as a competitive dancer
and started competing nationally and regionally when I was five.
That's kind of where my passion of dance really formed.
I competed until I was about 15,
and then when I was in high school,
I was part of the high school dance team.
I loved it. It was everything in my life.
But my whole life changed when I was a senior in high school.
I was out with friends at a party,
and I needed to go home because I had work the next day.
Seven of us piled into a five-seater car.
I remember we passed my house and the driver said,
"Oh, hey, do you want to get out?"
And so I was like, "No, it's fine.
You can let me out when we come back into town."
And we never made it back into town.
We ended up hitting a tree going about 35 miles an hour.
My back snapped, and I was paralyzed instantly.
So, that's kind of how my life changed.
Hmm.
Chelsie's story is heartbreaking.
At a young age, she faced a challenge
most of us can't imagine.
But today she's a mom, dancer, and successful business owner.
She's thriving despite the enormous setback
she has overcome.
There is something about going through that,
the deepest low, the lowest low,
and being able to fight through that,
whether it's emotional or physical.
Yes, yes.
And a lot of people look at me and they go,
"Wow, I could never deal with what you're dealing with."
I didn't want this life, but if I was supposed to be this way,
then I'm going to own it
and I'm gonna make it the best life possible.
That's the power of the mind.
There's something really special
about when you can find that confidence within you.
And I feel like the more that I've done that,
the stronger I've gotten.
Before my wedding day,
I trained for months with my leg braces
so I could walk down the aisle.
I know if I put my mind to it, I can do anything.
You blow me away every single day, every single day.
I think I just have shown myself
that I can have a beautiful life without walking.
It's pretty remarkable.
Thanks.
But you clearly have such a confidence
and independence in other areas of your life.
What makes you so nervous about controlling two bulldogs?
For me, when it comes to living life
with a spinal cord injury, living my day-to-day life,
going to dance classes, running a business,
being a mom, I'm like, "Oh, I got that."
Okay.
But then handling the dogs,
I'm like, I feel so extra disabled.
Right.
Because it was like I was re-paralyzed again.
Wow!
I don't feel independent with the dogs,
and in my real world, in my life,
I am very independent and I am very confident.
But for some reason, around the dogs,
it's like this whole new layer
of relearning how to just live a life
with a disability with the dogs.
I am so inspired by Chelsie's spirit.
After her accident, she fought hard to regain her independence
so she wouldn't be reliant on other people.
But with her dogs, she feels so totally dependent on others
that she compares it to how she felt after her accident.
Even worse, she's home alone with the dogs much of the time,
which must be incredibly stressful.
We need to take that independence that you have
as a dancer and a mom
and give you independence with the dogs, too.
Yeah.
So, we don't have to build nothing.
Yeah.
'Cause it's already there.
We just have to transfer everything.
Yeah, and apply that to the dogs.
That's it.
Chelsie is one of the strongest pet parents
I ever worked with.
After her accident, when a lot of people would have given up,
she never did.
I need to tap into that incredible spirit
to give her the independence with her dogs
that she needs.
Let's go.
Okay, let's do it.
Let's do this.
And we're gonna start doing it right now.
Let's go!
Thank you.
Stopping Bailey and Stella's fights permanently
requires that they get much more exercise
to burn off their extra energy.
But on day one, Chelsie admitted that the dogs are not getting
any walks at all because she feels unsafe.
Ah! Bailey, stop! Stop, Bailey! Bailey!
All dogs need exercise, but especially when they're
channeling their extra energy into fighting.
Hey!
Eventually I'll teach Chelsie how to walk the dogs
outside on her own, but right now,
I'm gonna give her some basic handling techniques
and a tool that she can use to walk them by herself
inside the house.
So I want to show you guys how to put them on a treadmill.
The importance of the treadmill is not to avoid the walk
because you're going to learn that eventually,
but in the meantime, we don't want to miss a day
removing physical energy from a dog.
It's important for them just to drain their physical energy.
Totally.
All right, so it's just easier.
Can I get on the treadmill?
Yeah, you can, you can.
Treadmills are a great way of giving exercise
without leaving the home,
but it takes dogs a moment to get used to a moving floor.
The human must project calm confident leadership
to help them through that initial struggle.
I'm gonna start with Bailey, then you'll do it, Chelsie.
She has no idea that the floor is about to move.
Get back out.
Just to see how the brain reacts.
There you go.
There you go, there you go.
This is good, this is good, this is good.
Aw.
Oop. Oop.
No, Chelsie, this won't get aggressive,
unless you're nervous.
Hey.
Shh, shh, shh. Stay calm.
Stella is here to help her, not fight.
This is good, this is good, this is good,
because she's trying, she's coming to soothe her.
Oh.
Gotcha.
Wow.
There you go. Can you see it?
Mm-hmm. This is really great.
See what I mean? Yeah.
It honestly really shocked me
that they didn't get into a fight
because I didn't realize what that body language means.
That made me feel like, okay, I'm not as nervous.
This is what we want.
That's it, you can do it.
And now she's great.
Right.
Just now we saw how Chelsie is misreading the dogs
and anticipating fights when she shouldn't.
Hey.
But Chelsie is starting to realize
that if she stays calm, the dogs will stay calm, too.
When she reads her dogs better, the fights never develop.
This is a great start, but now I need to test Chelsie
by having her bring her second dog, Stella,
onto the treadmill next to Bailey.
All right, Chelsie, so now it's your turn.
Let's put a leash on Stella so she can come and join us.
Remember, calm confidence.
Right?
I don't really know what to expect
when it comes to the treadmill,
but I'm thinking it's not gonna be that easy for me.
So, pull her over in front of the treadmill
and present the treadmill to her.
Yeah, make it easy for your girl.
Up, up. Come on, Stella. Up, up!
Come on.
Apply slight tension on the leash
so she knows what you want.
Come on. There we go.
There we go.
There we go! There you go!
Wow!
Good job, guys.
Hi.
This is amazing and super easy for me to do.
That's cool to see you like, "I can do this."
You're learning how to be more confident with the dogs.
I think that's really cool.
Yeah.
Oh, my gosh.
I just like...
Sorry, I feel like--
No, no, share.
'Cause I'm thinking that I can actually do this
independently without having to ask someone for help.
It's cool I finally see that as an option,
because I didn't think it was possible.
It's just really cool.
I got emotional because going on a walk with the dogs
as a wheelchair user has always been hard for me
to do by myself,
and I always feel like I'm letting the dogs down.
Should we call makeup over?
My gosh.
So, that really meant a lot to me.
Good job, guys.
This is amazing.
This is huge!
Chelsie's a big step closer to real independence with her dogs.
But there's still much more work to do here
before I feel confident
that Bailey's aggression has stopped completely.
That was very mental.
Yeah. Right.
The homework is the treadmill
and practicing your calmness.
Mm-hmm.
I'll see you in a few days.
Happy dogs!
Awesome! Mm-hmm.
Wow, it's cool.
A few days later, Cesar asks Chelsie to meet him
for one-on-one work with Stella and Bailey.
Chelsie admits that with her dogs,
she still feels reliant on other people.
Handling the dogs, I'm like, I feel so extra disabled.
Right.
Because it was like I was re-paralyzed again.
I want to prove to her that she can handle her dogs
completely by herself, so I invited just Chelsie today.
And we're meeting in a place where Chelsie has developed
a powerful sense of independence and confidence:
the dance studio.
We need to tap into that energy for the next part of our work.
Hi! How are you?
Good. How are you?
Really good.
I want to focus one-on-one with you.
Okay.
So you can learn to control them on your own.
Yeah.
Today I'm gonna teach Chelsie how to do
something she's never done before,
walk both dogs at the same time by herself outside.
I'm gonna begin by showing her
that when it comes to controlling the dogs,
her wheelchair isn't a liability,
it's a secret weapon.
Actually you have a lot more power
because you have a vehicle.
So if you know how to use it, which is my goal,
you become more powerful.
Yeah.
I'll start by having people enter the studio,
which will get the dogs excited.
I'll show Chelsie how to get them calm
using just the leashes and her wheelchair.
And as always, it's critical that she stays calm confident
and does not feed the dogs nervous energy.
Distance equals respect for dogs,
so hold them on either side of the chair
so there is a distance.
Okay.
Now come on in, guys!
Come in!
Hi.
Bailey's getting excited,
so I'll correct her and make her sit.
I can see Bailey's like, doing some--
Bailey! Hey! No!
No, she's excited. Don't feed her nervousness.
Tsch!
Bailey! Come! Hey, tsch!
Bailey, Bailey, Bailey!
Hey, hey, tsch!
No. Stay quiet. Stay quiet.
Hey! Tsch! Bailey, no, tsch!
Bailey, no! Hey!
Tsch!
Tsch! Tsch!
Bailey was a little bit excited,
but then she started feeding off your energy and words.
Bailey's like, "But you told me to fight."
Yeah.
With your worried words and energy.
That's what she's used to.
Yeah, wow.
So, now it's your turn.
First get them calm and keep calm yourself.
Okay.
And then use your chair to create distance, okay?
Cool.
So, you want me to not move around?
You can. Okay.
Whatever it takes, whatever it needs.
Tsch!
I was nervous
because that's just what I'm used to doing,
just always being cautious.
Sit. Thank you.
Come on in!
Tsch!
Hi!
Hello!
Tsch! Tsch! Ah ah!
Bailey's really getting excited. Get her calm.
Bailey! Stella!
Hey! No!
Bring them in, bring them in.
She's going away from you.
Hey!
You're using your words when all you need is
to shorten up the leash and use your chair.
Tsch!
Let's do it again.
Okay.
Yeah.
Use your wheelchair to create a separation.
Let me show you. So, she's here, right?
Okay.
So, instead of me saying, "Come on," just move in.
Move in. Move her out of the way.
Boom.
Okay. Okay.
Come in!
Tsch! Tsch!
All right, good correction.
But now get them on either side of the chair.
Uh-uh. Stella, no!
Hey, come here, Stella, no! Tsch!
They need to be next to you with your chair in between.
Sit.
There you go.
You spoke less and used your calm confident energy
to settle them down.
You handled that really good.
I feel really excited
because I'm realizing that I can control the dogs,
so I see the light at the end, and I see how the dogs can be.
Like today was a great example of how the dogs can be,
and that just, like, makes me want to cry happy tears.
Okay, now it's time to put these skills to use
with a solo dog walk outside.
All right. We're going outside. Okay.
Yes.
On day one, Chelsie told me she was not comfortable
walking the dogs by herself.
Ah, Bailey, stop! Bailey, Bailey, Bailey,
Bailey, aah!
By using the skills I just showed her,
she should be able to fully control this pack
and walk them by herself.
And I'll give her one more tool that will help her as well.
Bailey will totally benefit with a weighted vest
to drain a lot more energy.
We're gonna do the same thing we were doing inside,
except we're gonna be walking.
Yeah.
Start with them calm and then use the chair
to keep the dogs on either side of you.
Okay.
All right.
Okay, let's go.
I usually don't walk them together, so.
Make sure you use your chair.
See if you can switch Bailey on the other side
'cause they're finding their spot.
I just don't want to roll over her.
The leashes are too long,
so let's shorten up Bailey's to get more leverage.
Since Stella is more calm and well-behaved,
we can give her more leash and just tie it to the wheelchair.
Bailey is more reactive, so Chelsie must keep
a short leash in hand for more control.
Now you're gonna have way more control.
And it keeps them right here,
because this is where they should be,
right there, right next to you.
Okay, let's go.
You see what I mean? There you go, see it?
Yeah, that's better.
Yeah.
That I understand now 'cause then, 'cause then
they're next to me instead of in front of me.
Exactly.
Okay.
It's only one choice,
the choice of follow you or to take you somewhere.
Okay.
That's much better.
Wow! It's really nice.
So, the more you do things like that,
the more they learn to believe this is life.
Yeah.
This is what we do with her.
They're doing good.
If you were to ask me to do what I did today a few weeks ago,
I would have probably wanted to cry.
Hey, that was a good one.
Okay.
Yeah, that was a good one.
But now I feel a sense of freedom
and a sense of confidence
that I never really thought I could feel,
so I'm, like, shocked.
But this is something you should have done
a long time ago.
I know.
Chelsie is doing a great job.
Instead of excited pulling from Bailey...
Bailey, wait, wait!
Aah!
...now she walks calmly beside her pet mom,
and there is no sign of aggression
between the two dogs right now.
There we go, we did it!
We all sure did it.
But Chelsie is far from mastering the skills
I taught her these past few days.
To truly stop these fights,
she must continue practicing at home without my support.
She has a lot more work to do,
and she'll have to do it on her own for the first time.
Definitely we have to do a little bit more work.
Mm-hmm.
Okay? Okay.
The follow-through with the homework
is extremely important for you to see this at home
'cause that's the end result, you know?
Yeah.
So keep practicing what we did here today, okay?
Okay, cool.
All right, let's go.
All righty. Come on, Stella.
For the next week,
Chelsie continues her work with Bailey.
Hi! Hi!
Come on in! Tsch!
You don't need to touch them unless they're, they're calm.
The last few weeks training with Cesar
blew everything out of the water for me.
She can do it, she can do it, she can do it.
Cesar has given me a new sense of independence
and confidence with the dogs.
Awesome!
But the homework
has been hard and easy at the same time,
especially with the treadmill.
Tsch!
Sometimes they're great, but it depends on
if they really want to be on the treadmill or not.
Calm and confident.
I'm calm and confident.
It's been really frustrating because Bailey sometimes
does not want to go on the treadmill.
I literally want to cry.
She cannot stay on it, does not want to be around it,
and gets freaked out anytime she hears the buttons.
Hopefully, it'll be okay.
But I do have more things to work on.
After a week of work at home,
Cesar returns to check on Chelsie's progress
with her bulldog pack.
The last time we worked together,
Bailey was still lashing out at Stella.
Hey, hey!
But by the end of the day,
Chelsie achieved a new sense of independence with her pack.
I can't wait to see how the work has been going.
Ah, nice and quiet.
Good morning. Look at you.
How we doing? Good to see you.
Hi. How are you?
Come on in.
Right off the bat, I notice a big change in Chelsie.
She seems calm confident and not as nervous,
and that has a big effect on the dogs.
On day one, they were barking and excited
when I knock on the door.
That's a lot of excited barking.
But now they're super calm because Chelsie is calm.
This is a great start.
So, how's it going?
It's been night and day difference.
I mean, they're not barking anymore, really, at the door.
And they're not fighting.
I don't think we've had a fight...
We haven't had a fight, yeah.
...in a while now.
Yeah.
That's amazing, that's good.
How are things going with the treadmill?
The treadmill, we were having issues
with that for a little bit.
Bailey was like fine, and then all of the sudden,
she was terrified to get on it.
But we've made adjustments, and we'd love to show you that.
Yes. Let's see the treadmill.
Okay.
Let's see.
Okay, show me what you've been struggling with.
Tsch! Tsch!
Up, up. Good job.
Tsch!
Yeah, it takes her a second.
Tsch! Tsch!
It's the beeping that she's, you know, doesn't like.
You just have to be patient
because sometimes we think that the chaos lasts for a long time,
but if you just ride the wave and just give it some time,
she'll get used to it.
No.
There you go, there you go, there you go, there you go.
There you go. Ride the wave, baby, ride the wave.
That's it.
Well done.
Yep. Yep, you got it.
Chelsie's calm confidence is calming down Bailey,
whereas before, Chelsie was too nervous
to walk the dogs by herself.
Now she has the skills and tools to walk alone
whenever she needs to.
Everything that you did right there was precise.
And also, Chelsie has the independence
to handle her dogs completely by herself.
I've been able to use this tool
to make it work for my life.
Yes, ma'am.
And make me feel more independent with the dogs.
You know, having two dogs and a child and have a disability,
it's, it's a lot.
This has been a game changer for us.
All right, well, let's go for the final challenge.
All right. Okay.
Over the past few weeks,
I've shown Chelsie how to practice calmness
to prevent excitement and fights,
especially at the front door.
The ultimate test of this pack's progress will be
if anyone can come in the door at anytime
without excitement or aggression from Bailey.
There was a really difficult time, you know,
bringing people through the door.
So the final challenge is I want to see Jay coming home
through the front door.
I just want to see you in action.
Do your thing, man.
All right.
Just show me what you have done.
Okay, bye!
Going into the final challenge,
I am feeling very confident, but I'm also feeling like,
is there gonna be something that messes this up?
So I'm really actually holding my breath.
On day one,
this situation led directly to a fight.
Hey!
Bailey! Bailey!
If Chelsie has been doing the work
by feeding calm energy to the dogs
before anyone enters the home,
then Jay should be able to come in without any issues.
So, I am looking for Chelsie to be calm and confident
right now around these dogs.
Be calm.
There you go.
All right, come on in.
Here he comes.
Hey.
Very good.
How you doing? Hi.
There you go.
I love the greeting of the queen
and the calm confidence.
Wow!
Did we pass?
My God, beyond.
Did we pass the Cesar Millan test?
Yeah!
Oh, my gosh!
That was perfect.
Before Jay came in the door,
Chelsie fed the dogs calm confident energy,
which got them perfectly calm.
Be calm.
Then when Jay entered the door,
she continued to feed the dogs calm energy.
Here he comes.
Hey.
And the dogs never got overexcited.
There you go.
This is an amazing transformation by Chelsie.
Everything that we've implemented has definitely
made them way more calm, and I feel more confident, like--
Tsch! Tsch! Hey!
I saw Stella and Bailey kind of look at each other for a second,
so I just wanted to use my chair to get...
Get it out of the way.
...to break up the eye contact.
You did it, girl! You did it!
You take care of the business,
so, it was like you didn't even--
I don't want to be nervous, bam!
That is amazing!
Yep, using the tools that I have.
You did!
You did it without even thinking!
That was even better than the final challenge.
For so long,
I was holding my breath around the dogs, and now
I'm not as tense because we know how to correct them,
we know how to stop them ahead of time.
I finally feel like we can breathe.
It's been a beautiful shift.
Thank you.
I didn't know what to expect going into this.
We were ready to give up the dogs.
Yeah!
Like, we were full-on ready, like talking about it.
For a long time, I felt like the dogs ruled me
and the dogs ran my life.
Stop! Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey, Bailey!
But I've learned that it doesn't have to be my reality.
Thank you.
I appreciate it. Thank you.
There you go. Thank you.
This process has given me back an independence,
and now I really do feel like it is possible
to have a happy life with two dogs.
Hello!
It's what we've always wanted,
and we did it, right?
Hi, Mr. Cesar! Yes!
And it really is true.
Better human, better dog.
You have to train the human in order to have a good dog.
Bye!
Yay!
That was awesome.
There are some pet parents you meet
that are truly, truly special.
Whether it's the challenges they've overcome in their past
or the grit and determination they show in their life today,
their spirit shines so bright,
you can't help but see life
in a brand-new way.
I always say the dogs I work with
make me a better human,
but it's the pet parents sometimes
that inspire me just as much.