![Season two of Graeme Hall's Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly Australia has returned to our television screens. Picture supplied Season two of Graeme Hall's Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly Australia has returned to our television screens. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/37hLjTSaqSzzPeeWNnNkKKB/3f205501-5926-4279-ae31-fce4d88aad64.jpg/r0_195_2600_3021_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The Dogfather himself, Graeme Hall, has returned to Australia to help some of our quirkiest pups work through their behaviours.
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Series two of Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly follows the dog trainer as he offers solutions to the most puzzling canine behaviours that have left Aussie pet owners scratching their heads.
His mantra is "any dog, any age, any problem" and he uses his expert techniques to provide practical insights and take-home tips for dog owners. With a proven track record of helping more than 5000 people and their dogs in the UK, can Hall replicate his success and weave his magic on the unique challenges posed by Australian pups?
It appears so.
"In order to put a training plan in, you have to first understand why the dog is doing what it's doing. We cover that in the show," he says.
"Some cases are a bit like a detective novel: there are clues here, there and everywhere, and I have to piece them together and come up with an answer.
"And then at the end we see a great result, invariably. It's amazing what you can achieve when you understand what the dog needs."
All dogs exhibit similar traits, he says ("Collies are still as bonkers excited in Australia as they are in England, beagles howl, labradors are famously hungry all around the world") but there are differences between dog owners in Australia and England.
"Australians are very positive people, they have that 'can' do attitude," Hall says.
"There are a lot of English people who are the same but that, for me, is the defining phrase in Australia - 'I'll give it a go' - and that's all I ever ask from owners.
"If you're prepared to give it a go, and go into it with positivity, believing you will make it work, you know what? You probably will. I love that about Australia."
The most common dog behaviours he addresses are the "bread and butter problems" like dogs pulling on a lead, or not coming back when their owners calls them. Then there's the quirkier, trickier behaviours, such as the dog on season two that barks incessantly at ceiling fans.
"We do see discrepancies between dog breeds when it comes to behaviour because they were all bred to do a job: collies are on their toes all the time, as are kelpies," Hall says.
"Aussie cattle dogs are a bit more steady because they're dealing with cows. Pomeranians tend to be cute and not too demanding as they were bred to be companions.
"The cleverer they are, the more likely they are to get themselves into mischief. One of the reasons we love dogs so much is that they remind us of ourselves, I think."
And yes, owners are to blame a lot of the time.
"It's very common for us to send out the wrong signals by mistake," he says.
"Imagine you've got a dog that is doing your head in because he's barking all the time, and then he stops barking.
"We have this bad habit, us humans, of hanging on to emotions. Two or three minutes after he's stopped barking, we're still pointing at him, saying 'Bad dog', and the dog's thinking 'When I'm barking you tell me off, and when I'm quiet you tell me off. Humans are weird'."