This Case Challenged Me Like Never Before | Better Human Better Dog S05E01

Many dogs with behavioral issues have what I call triggers. A particular obsession that really sets them off. It could be the mailman, the squirrels, the vacuum cleaner, the TV set. These are just a few of the most common ones. But right now, I'm on my way to meet a dog with one of the most extreme triggers I ever heard of. My name is Adriana Castaldi. I have a six-year-old boxer. I'm sorry, he just farted. Those are horrible. Oh, it's horrible. I'm so sorry. It's all day long. So Brunello's my boxer. I got him in Naples, Italy. What drew me to Brunello, he's really sweet. And he's big. You know, he's got the squishy face. I love, I love all the skin right here. He was born to play. He's all love, full of energy, but he's just crazy. Stop! He just gets so excited. Just the moment we leave the apartment, he turns into a little terrorist. But Brunello's at his worst, just lunging for everyone's bags. He loves purses, shopping bags, with or without people attached to them. Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! It can be a gym bag, designer bag, doesn't discriminate. I live in West Hollywood, next door to Beverly Hills, so this can turn into a very expensive problem for me. He'd be the perfect thief, honestly. I know a lot of thieves would pay a lot of money to have someone like him on their side, because Brunello the purse snatcher will snatch any purse, and once he grabs it, there's no letting go. He gets in this trance, crazy. Even his eyes change, he gets like the crazy eye, his face turns red. Once he's got that crazy eye, there's no stopping him. It's a big issue, because he can hurt himself, and I've been hurt a few times in the process, because he's trying to rip my clothes off. He's almost left me in underwear a few times. I mean, I'm kind of used to it, but... I know he's not aggressive towards people, but people get terrified. They don't know, I mean, immediately, he's jumping at them with the crazy face. People think he's trying to attack them, but he's not. He's not. But it's scary. It's scary for everyone. I don't trust him outside at all. No. Absolutely not. Hell no. No. Nope. When Brunello gets crazy like that, it's very stressful. I feel if I were to give him up... One, he wouldn't get adopted. Two, if they did adopt him, he would probably be put down, because of some bad situation he would put himself in. Yeah. So it's either me or nothing, is the way I see it. He needs... He needs help. Brunello! I have arranged to meet Adriana in a local park, so my crew and I can witness Brunello's troubling behavior. And I have extra handlers standing by, if needed. All right, let's see our four-legged purse snatcher. Espera. Deja ir. Deja ir. Deja ir. Deja ir. Jeez. So he attacks cones too? Deja ir. Okay, Neil, approach him with the bag. This is horrible. Brunello, suelta. Suelta. Suelta. Suelta. So this is literally excitement, but it turned into an avalanche. He's not trying to go after humans, but what happens often is they can redirect, you know? So it's actually also dangerous for her. He's not going to let go until he, like, tries to get a better bite? Okay, Neil, back away. It's very easy to make a dog bite. The hardest thing is to make a dog let go. Careful. See? Deja ir. He's not going after the human, he's going after the bag. But unfortunately, humans like to carry a lot of stuff. Hola. Hi, Cedar. ¿Cómo estás? It's like a bull. He's looking for something to bite. Your jacket, that looks appealing. My jacket is attached to me, though. Yeah, that's why I have to have, like, form-fitting stuff. Otherwise, he's almost left me half naked outside multiple times. We have to bring it down because he's in red zone world. Like, he's gone. He's not even here. That's a first. Normally, he doesn't like metal. Hey. Really? He's desperate. Yeah. Bags may be his biggest trigger, but he's going after everything. Cones, benches, and worst of all, clothes with people in them. Someone can accidentally get hurt. Well, I gotta help you. I gotta get that leash away from you. Who has the ball? Neil has the ball. Give him a pacifier. Yeah. Swapping Brunello's leash must be done very carefully. He almost bit me once already, so this ball will distract him from trying to grab me again. Are you sure? I've never really let anyone hold him with the leash. I need to take Brunello for a walk to try to calm him down by having him connect with my calm, confident energy. Come on. It's brave of Cesar to walk him with a jacket on. I'm sorry. His chain leash is not ideal. Brunello's starting to calm down a little, but his leash is a problem. Chain leashes are often heavy and uncomfortable, and that discomfort can irritate a dog and make him harder to control. So I'm going to start a fresh, proper connection with him using my sleep leash. The leash needs to represent total calmness. Has Cesar had a crazy dog like mine? Look how he's still resisting my clear direction. It's like he's confused. Grab the bag, Neo. Now walk with me. So when a dog attacks objects, that dog needs to learn to be next to the object without attacking them. A little closer. He's starting to get it. That's crazy. He's not used to being around so many people. So right now he's calm, that's fine, but he doesn't stay calm for long. Now he's doing a little bit of avoidance, which is good. Okay, let's go back to Adriana. Brunello is not totally calm, but we are seeing a dog that is no longer in bag attack mode. Adriana needs to understand what's going on inside this guy's head. So what you have is an extremely excited dog. Mm-hmm. Right? And... So what I'm going to teach you is how to control his excitement. I always thought he was going to grow out of it. Mm-hmm. When I could have done things differently, but he grew up stronger and never grew out of it. I want to invite you to the DPC, the ranch. Okay. Because he definitely needs... Balance. Yeah, so this guy doesn't have the balance. Mm-hmm. Let's go to my ranch and let's do it in a safer place. Because there's a lot of kids here. Okay. Vamos. Adriana thought Brunello will grow out of this bad behavior, which is a classic mistake a lot of pet parents make, unfortunately. Often the behavior only gets worse if it's not addressed with proper rehabilitation. I see Mr. Brunello. Bring him out. Chain leash is back on, I see. So what I want to do is to see him with my dogs. I want to see how he is with his own frequency friends. Mm-hmm. Okay, so let's go do the work inside. Okay. Brunello is stuck in an overly excited mindset, which causes him to attack bags and anything near him. Andre, come on. So the first thing I need to do is to teach him how to ignore his negative impulses. Whenever he makes a mistake, I will give him a clear correction, and my balance bag will help by serving as role models. And extra handlers will join us to keep everything safe. Drop the leash. Oh, drop it? Drop it. That's what I wanted to see. This uncertainty, borderline submissive. Mm-hmm. Right? He's uncomfortable, but he should get acquainted with my dogs. It's been about 3 1⁄2 years since we last went to a dog park because he either gets bullied by the big dogs, aggressively attacked, or he aggressively attacks backpacks, jackets. So I'm constantly on edge because I know what can happen in half a second. This is already out of my comfort zone big time. Watch your cameras. He's getting excited. Brunello's triggered by all the gear and bags from my crew. There's a lot of people. See? I don't trust him. But that's why you're bringing him here. I'm not sure yet what sets him off, honestly. Give him a space. At least he's not human aggressive, so he's not trying to attack the crew. I got it, I got it. But honestly, it does not matter what this confused dog's intent is. People can still get hurt when he quickly gets excited and locks in on a bag or object. Hey, I need to figure out what's triggering this. It is not normal. Hey, hey. I don't trust him. So be careful with that because at the moment you say, I don't trust him, and then how can he change his frame of mind when your energy is not about helping him? So how can he learn when you don't trust? I knew it was just a matter of time until Brunello locked eyes with some kind of bag or equipment. I saw him about to rip your fanny pack. You got saved. That's why I don't trust him. Because I've seen how crazy he gets and what a liability he is. So a little something that makes me nervous is maybe your gloves. He's looking for something to grab. But watch how I tell him that he cannot take my gloves. So here is more. Hey. This is the most important part, look. The brain has to learn calm surrender. So that's the part he does not have. Seeing Cesar correct my dog, it makes me feel good because if my dog's responding to someone else, it means he has it in him to respond. It's promising. I'm not saying he can't smell it. What I'm saying is you can't touch it with your mouth. So now that the brain is in a calm surrender state, then you bring stuff that you normally would attack. You see it? That's when you do the introduction. To see my dog actually surrendering to Cesar is a huge deal because I didn't think my dog had it in him, but it's like he knew for a fact that he can change him. So he's moving on really fast. It seems like it. It's real. I know, I know. It's hard to believe. Can I have a bag? Let's put a sleep leash back on him too. I think my pack and I are starting to get through true Brunello that he cannot act on his sudden impulses. So now I need to test his energy with bags because dogs have been so triggering for him in the past. Hey. He's thinking about it. Yeah. You can see his brain is thinking. There you go. Moving away. Backing down. You can see it's like, this guy is blocking my desire of moving forward. What other desires do I have? Avoidance, calm surrender, moving away. And he has to come out on his own. So what are you waiting for exactly for him to do? For him to move away. There he goes again. Come on, Bison, get him. Get him, Bison. Hey. I had him calm surrender, but this guy switches back really fast. He feels like a horse. Hey. Good boy, Noske. Brunello's energy is staying elevated, but my pack is helping me keep him from going totally off the rails. I brought them in to be role models, but now they're acting as my backup. They know he's breaking the rules. And so they're giving corrections. Let's go for a walk over here. Brunello is so stuck in his impulses to attack bags, we need to try to switch him into a different mindset by putting him in a different setting. So this is more redirection. Blocking didn't work, so now we're going for a walk and redirecting his energy. And I'm going to keep the bag on my shoulder. So I have a question about that. Because he was just going crazy, what took off the focus from the bag right now? Because we got out of the environment, so you're redirecting the energy into just simply going for a walk. We can turn around. Come here, cutie. Hey. The walk does not seem to be working either. He's bleeding a lot in the mouth. Yeah. He bit himself. He's biting his tongue. Okay. Let me get some water for you. Not even one of my calm, confident walks can settle Brunello down. There might be something deeper going on here. Crazy, right? This is truly bizarre behavior. Something is definitely off with this guy. He's okay. It's just the tongue. He's got some stuff going on here. Something is wrong with his eyes because his pupils are very open all the time, you know? That doesn't scare you? Your face was so close to his. If I was scared, I wouldn't do it. But I want to get his eyes checked out. Good job, Liza. He's calming Brunello down. He needs, like, intense work. We should go talk. Brunello can stay here with my pack. Okay. My dogs are backing me up again with Brunello, and over 20 years of rehabilitating dogs, I have never had a dog that I couldn't snap out of their fixation. Good job, Liza. But I don't think I can remember a case like this where my pack has been so active in trying to help me calm down a troubled dog. They can see that Brunello clearly needs a lot of special help. All right. I am pretty confident this dog's issues stem from someplace deeper than his pet mom's energy. But Adriana's lack of faith in him is not helping the situation. All right, so let's go about trust. And that's the one thing we got to work on with you. It's hard for me to trust Brunello because I've seen what he's capable of. I didn't realize he was going to grow out of this, out of control, and not respect me. It wasn't my plan. It just gradually happened until it was out of my control. Right. I know what to expect from him. I know how far he can go, and this is the first time physically he's out of my hands, literally because you have the leash, you have the control. So it's a scary situation because he's never been out of my control, even though he's out of control. Right. All those energies takes away the confidence because it's trust, respect, love. And trust has to come first. Eventually, I'm going to show you a dog that you can trust again. Yeah. And we'll make sure you are a calm, confident pet parent. So with your blessing, I would like for him to stay. Take him, take him, take him, take him. I need some serious one-on-one time with Brunello here at the ranch. Okay. His condition is different, more extreme than most I have ever seen. You just have to wait until we bring it down, and then you maintain, you help me maintain it. Okay. All right? I also need to take him to the vet to get his eyes checked out. I will let you know how that goes. Okay. All right. Come on. Thank you. It is definitely validating for Caesar to tell me that he's going to keep Brunello because it's letting me know that Caesar sees how extreme Brunello's behavior is, how big of a problem this is that we have in our hands. Hey. Something very unusual is going on with Brunello, and I think it might be more than just psychological. One of the first thing I need to do with this dog is to pay a visit to my vet, Dr. Garcia. Boxers like Brunello can be prone to eye problems, so I want to get him checked out. Hey. Good to see you. Come on. If Brunello's problem is simply behavioral, I can fix that. But if it is something more, this rehab might become much harder than we thought. Let's have a look here. No response. Yeah, and the pupil should shrink, so that's an issue. Something, right? Yeah. He has poor vision there. That's a poor menis reflex. You know, that should be like... Yeah, every time. Every time. So I don't think he's completely blind, but I think he's pretty close to being completely blind. Let's check his hearing. See if his ears respond when I clap, okay? No. His hearing is bad too. As well? Very, very little. Almost no response. A little bit. Do it with the... Okay, I'll do it with this. See? Yeah, that's interesting. Just keep him there. I want to see if he does respond. See it? I think his hearing is not great, but he can hear the high metal pitch. So you've noticed that when there's something clinging like that, like a high-pitched metal sound? Well, that's what he wears, right? He wears a chain leash. That could be triggering him, and that's what he's attacking. That's like saying, attack! I mean, the aggression is triggered by his poor eyesight on the objects and the noise of the leash. Yeah. And that's what's triggering him to attack. Then it's a possibility. So it makes sense. So he's probably 90% blind and 80-90% deaf. So this looks to me like it's probably something congenital, and also it could be something permanent. Yes. In my opinion, I think that's where you're at. At least knowing that, I think it's going to help you. I've got to get creative with this guy. Well, this is a first for me. Working with a blind, deaf, and aggressive dog. But this could explain a lot, including why my normal methods have not really worked on him yet. The high-pitched noises that Brunello hears through his metal chain leash could be triggering him on walks. So I am glad we already moved him onto a rope leash. But also, anything that eventually comes into his limited eyesight, whose scent he does not recognize, like a bag or a cone, could also be a trigger. Deja, deja, deja! That's a first. All right, Brunello. Hey, Cesar, good seeing you again, man. You're welcome. It now makes more sense why Adriana has not been able to trust her dog. But think about Brunello. This poor guy has suffered through a hard, hard life, blind and deaf, possibly since birth. So he has not been able to trust the world around him or his pet mom to lead him through it. Everything that comes near him is viewed as something to attack. I'll need to bring Adriana back to my ranch tomorrow to share this diagnosis. But right now, I need to rethink an entirely new approach because never in my life I have had to rehabilitate a dog who is blind, deaf, and a red zone aggressive. This is my first. All right, mister. I'm getting an early start with Brunello this morning, every minute counts because it's definitely a dog with major, major problems. One of which I have never seen before, the metal leash was such a big trigger for him. Now he fights back against being on any leash at all. So you have to learn to listen to the leash like this. A blind dog should welcome guidance from a human through the leash. But for Brunello, it is a symbol of aggression. I have to figure out how to erase this connection he has between the leash and attacking things like backs. Hey! So I'm still learning how to heal him. I have to trust him that he can learn. He definitely needs a special care, a double special care. Yeah. Look at him, almost in calm surrender. He's starting to get it. Your mom will be back soon, Brunello. Hola. How are you? Good, how are you? Really good, good to have you back. Good to be back. Brunello's up the hill getting some water, but I took him to the vet, and he's 90% blind and 80% deaf. Oh, God. That's crazy, but the deaf part makes sense. Finding out Brunello is deaf and blind, I think that's a big deal. It was a little surprising just because I've had, like, three other trainers, they just told me, you have to exercise more, or, oh, it was just nonsense. So just knowing it makes him even more special in my eyes. Do you think him being deaf and blind accentuates all his aggression, or? Well, some things have to trigger the mind, not only to be aggressive, but also to be peaceful. And because he's blind and deaf, he probably feels everything around him is a danger, so he needs to trust that his human can guide him to a peaceful, calm, surrender mindset. You see what I'm saying? Mm-hmm. But his nose is amazing. Mm-hmm. So I can teach you how to use his sense of smell to guide him on a leash? That makes sense, though. Being blind and deaf does not mean Brunello is destined to attack backs or fight his leash. Hey! But it does mean we need to use his strongest sense, his sense of smell, to create healthier connections. We're going to put all this stuff there, and then you've got to practice my silence, my calmness, my confidence. Okay. Adriana has to learn to guide her dog's nose to smell and then ignore any backs. So in Brunello's mind, there is a direct link between her direction and his own state of calm surrender. Relax the leash. There we go. Don't look at him, just feel it. You're giving him the freedom to use the part that works best, his nose. Don't let him go in front. So here. So you're guiding him. You're telling him to ignore this. He has to move away from the object. We want him to be super chill and then learn to calm surrender in front of what he used to be excited about. Short, not tense. Go for it. Exacto, así, así, perfecto. Don't look at the ground, feel it. He can smell the bag, but you're asking him through the leash to keep moving. Move, there we go. La señora del perro. You have no idea how big this is for us. Learning that my dog is blind and deaf, it's more than motivating because I can feel my dog next to me. I can feel, like, a little more in control. This time it wasn't even about the bags for him. It was just having that peaceful, more enjoyable walk with him. I want you to do it one more time. Okay. Try to relax even more. Okay. Come on. There. We're about to lose him. He's getting excited. Let me get him back for you. So here, I'm gonna show you how to make a halter. A halter is not just controlling the dog, it is controlling his nose, and therefore what we allow him to focus on. That way he does not get overexcited by the objects and continues to follow his human. We have to do it perfect. He's powerful. My boy is powerful. He's not a fan of my halter. Robert, leash. As I went in to make Brunello a halter around his nose, he got a little jumpy and started resisting because he cannot see or hear very well. I think Brunello has more distrust than the average dog, so his rehab is like two steps forward, one step back. So now I'm taking him on my balance bridge. I need to remind him that he can trust me. I am his human leader. There you go. So you took him up there to reset him. Uh-huh. This gives him access to trust me. He has to crack at one point, and I'm pretty sure he's miserable living like this. He's living in a constant alert by things that he can barely hear or see, and because of that, he trusts nothing. All right, then from here, I go back and do it again. Very gentle. We're going around. It's working. I see that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's go on the other side. Using the balance bridge to foster trust has calmed Brunello, so now I need to help Adriana build on that trust. She needs to forget about the chaos that just happened so she can safely use the leash without her dog getting triggered. You're doing great, buddy. I also want to introduce some tools that Adriana should learn how to use. A tie vest around Brunello might allow for an added calming effect on him, kind of like a swaddle does for a baby because a calmer dog is less likely to fight the leash or attack annoying objects. This vest should help us reduce his red zone potential. Let me put goggles on him. Like the vest, goggles are another great tool that Adriana should learn to use. They do not completely block his vision, but for Brunello, they will help reduce distractions in the 10% of his eyes that can see, kind of like blinders on a horse. Go for it. Yeah. There you go. See it? He's following your lead. Go zigzag right there. The more he has on, the more his focus is removed from attacking the bags or the leash and back on you. Can you feel it? I like the goggles. Yes. It just gives you a leverage, you know, and then you get used to the peacefulness, the safety, the calmness. I feel like I'm meeting almost a new dog. Adriana is now seeing a dog that she can start to trust, and she's becoming much more relaxed. Brunello will feel that calm confidence, and eventually they will find peace together as a pack. Put her over there. Don't hesitate, don't hesitate. Yeah, that's it, and then come over here. Avoidance is good. The goal is calm surrender. Look at how he's avoiding the bag right next to him. Possibly for the first time in his life, he's not threatened by a bag. It's like he can finally relax for the first time ever. So this is what I call 50-50. He's 50% rehab. 50's huge. 50's amazing. Yeah, yeah. 50-50 is that full for me. I like him with the goggles. Yeah. At this point, it's a matter of time, but we're gonna get there. Okay. We have to create more peace versus war. And so at this point, it's just repetitions. Yeah. So let's keep him here with me for a little while longer. Okay. And I'm gonna have a handler visit you with a balanced dog so you can practice dog walking just to embrace more the calm confidence of what walking a calm surrender dog feels like. Okay? Okay. 50% doesn't sound like a lot, but living with Brunello and seeing how far he's come, it's a huge number. I'm leaving very happy, very, very happy. Let's go to work. I thought I saw everything. This guy right there, I am very happy to have him because I have never done a blind and deaf, aggressive dog in my life. Do not try this at home. This is something that you have to be very careful because he does want to go after anything that moves. Very slow. This is a very, very slow case. I am putting my heart and soul into this dog as much as I am helping him. This is the kind of rehab that helps me. Look at this. We should not stop mopping the floor just because he might attack it. We have to show him, you know, that some toys are for him and some toys are for us. No matter how many setbacks he has, I must not show weakness. I cannot lose the faith because what he needs right now is a calm, confident coach who is always in his corner. A boxer has given me the fight of my life. This is the object, you know, like the equivalent of the backpack or things like that. I'm calming the beast down. You never know when the breakthrough will happen. At this point, it's a matter of time. There's nothing this guy can't do. Nothing. My biggest challenge! We made a lot of friends here. A lot of friends. After six weeks of intense work, we have finally done it. This has been the greatest and most rewarding rehab of my life. Slowly but surely, with a lot of silence, a lot of calmness, a lot of repetitions, I have managed to lower the intensity. Completely ignoring the bag. Good boy! And to have Brunello here, 90% blind, 80% deaf, 100% hot. That's very profound. It touches, it touches your spirit, it touches your instinct. It touches your heart, but your mind, it gets blown away. It gets blown away because you think you see everything. It's 20 years on TV. I think I saw everything. This is the raw. This is the beauty. This is why I love dogs so much. And for a long time, I wanted to cry. It's a good way to cleanse the soul. A blind dog cleaned my soul. Come here. I think it's almost time for your mom to see how far you have come. From black to white, huh? I guess so. How you been? I've been good. Good. What's going on? Good, good, good. Brunello's resting over in the Serengeti. Amazing. I miss my boy. I miss my boy a lot. I do notice my home a little bit more silent, not as happy. So even though I like peace and quiet, I do miss his fun energy. What I love about him is his willingness to keep living. Yeah, he likes to live. He likes to have fun. And you, how you been? Have you been practicing your calm confidence like I show you? Yeah, I've been practicing dog walking. So I've been having peaceful, calm, very calm walks, normal walks, which I haven't had since before Brunello. I'm able to enjoy my surroundings a lot more versus just having to stare at people's belongings and outfits. Yeah. Well, I want to definitely show you his progress. And I want to put you to the test so you can see it. We created something really fun, but very chaotic. OK. So I'm going to go get Brunello. My team is going to set up what we have as a surprise. A circus. I'll be right back. All right. Oh, goodness. I know this has not been the most traditional of rehabs, but I still want this pack to do a final challenge, one that is filled with Brunello's kryptonite. It has been several weeks since Brunello last saw Adriana, so I want to show her something she's never seen before. Oh, my god. Seeing Cesar biking with Brunello is really cute. He looked adorable. Plus, it wasn't just his outfit. It's him running next to a bike. I've never seen that before. He's all decked out, even got some bike riding boots. He looks cartoon. Fashionable. We say fashion. It's creating the distraction. So the same thing as when people have food or toys. That's a redirection. So it gives us that attention or removes the attention to something else and away from the triggering bags. All the tools are in place for a successful reunion here. Finally, a proper healthy connection between dog and leash. Goggles preventing Brunello from being distracted or afraid of unfamiliar objects. Vest and boots to help to redirect his focus back to mom, who must use his nose to guide him and keep him calm. All right. Come on, give me one good walk. Come on. Eso. This is how I want him to walk in the city. So the boots, the glasses, this was helping him to focus. So then his world of triggers disappears. Turn around, yeah. Better, better. Mm-hmm. You're getting used to it. Yeah, he's more controllable for sure. How do you feel? Yeah, it feels amazing. Good, but that was just part one of the challenge. Fashion people, everybody ready? Brunello and Adriana both seem calm and relaxed. Oh, my God. But I'm going to add to the difficulty now and have my crew step in and pass by with all of their triggering bags and loose clothing at Brunello Fashion Show in honor of his makeover. Your focus is not the people. You focus on your breath, okay? Focus on your breath. That's it. Don't even look at the people. The people are there. Just look at how you feel inside because that energy helps them. Okay. The boots help, the goggles help, but the energy is the most important. Okay. Let's do it again. Very good. He's totally calm right now. He's in a good state. When I first met Brunello, he violently attacked a bag out of my producer's hands. During my rehab, he resisted the leash and put up the biggest fight of any dog I have ever helped. Now he can definitely smell the swinging bags, but he's making very little attempt to approach them. So this bag has come a long way. Now the challenge is going to be more real, right? Okay. So people are going to be moving, and you're going to pass by. To truly prepare Adriana and Brunello for their neighborhood walks, it is time to get them even closer to the action. There you go. Don't look at them. Yeah. Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Prada. Very good. That's New York right there. That was a lot. Sit him down. Eso. Uh-huh. There you go. Even better. Calm surrender. There you go. Ready? Let's go. There you go. A little smile, a little bit, no? I mean, I did a good job. A little bit. Thank you for not giving up on my boy. So imagine yourself already in West Hollywood. Don't look at him. Yeah. Feel it. I think it's kind of amazing that in order to get this deafblind and overexcited dog to calm down, I have to take away maybe the only thing that he could hear, his metal leash. But after Brunello's date at the vet, I knew I had to think out of the box on this rehab. Everybody ready? Heidi Klum had nothing on me. Naomi Campbell, nothing. Wow. Yeah. I don't see my dog as handicapped. I just see him as special. I'm in this situation for a reason, and I'm just right in the way. I'm not looking to undo any of Cesar's work. I'm gonna do the work. I'm not looking to take a single step back. I don't care if Brunello fits in or not. We're gonna make it work, and he's just the special, cool dog that gets to wear all these cool gadgets now. Well, so we took him from below zero. Mm-hmm. We brought him back all the way, and then it was 50-50, and then right now we're 85-15, so I feel like... That's amazing. I think you're ready to take him home. Do you trust him more? Definitely trust him more. Good. It's your turn now... I'm ready. ...to close that gap. I'm ready to take him home. I personally want to thank you for the challenge. No, thank you. It really showed me what life is all about. Mm-hmm. Thank you. I mean, thank you. Honestly, thank you. This is gonna change my life for sure. Mm-hmm. It's amazing for me. It's amazing, yeah, because this is a new dog. He's a lot calmer. Mm-hmm. He looks cool. Mm-hmm. So everything that I bought for him, he gets to keep it? All right, mister? That's right. But you gotta go home now. Okay, buddy? Thank you for the challenge. Thank you. No, thank you for everything. Vámonos. One of my most memorable lessons is, you do not always get the dog you want. You get the dog you need. I usually teach that to inexperienced pet parents, but today, that saying applies to me. No case has ever challenged me like this with deaf and blind dog Brunello. A dog's companionship should make us feel good, but the truly special one forces us to grow as a person and remind us to be grateful for the gift of life. We call the mission Better Human, Better Dog, but Brunello is a rare breed who flipped the playbook on me. By creating a better dog, he has made me a better human. Good dog.