Dog trainer breaks down in tears watching 'cruel' owner smack pooch and pin her to the ground - before issuing damning five-word verdict

Daily Mail​

15-06-2025

A dog trainer broke down in tears, watching a 'cruel' owner smack his pooch and pin her to the ground - before issuing a damning five-word verdict.
The shocking moment came on a resurfaced episode of It's Me Or The Dog, which sees trainer Victoria Stilwell help dog owners struggling with their pet's behaviour.
The show, first aired on Channel 4 in 2005 for three years before a Really reboot in 2021, was inspired by Supernanny, which offers similar help but with children.
This particular episode sees British-born Victoria head to assist American couple Joe and Mandy, who are having trouble keeping control of their dog Dakota.
An upsetting moment sees Joe strike the dog on her nose and hold her down after she will not stop chasing his broom as he sweeps his patio.
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Referring to his pet's behaviour, Joe explains to the camera: 'When Dakota is in the backyard, she kind of makes it miserable if I have to do yard work.'
Victoria asks how he would normally try to get the dog to stop - after which he grabs Dakota's collar and turns her on her side so she is lying on the floor, with him holding her down.
He says: 'Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.'
But the trainer is visibly distressed at his approach, putting her head in her hands: 'When you hold a dog down like that, people think that dog's calming down but actually, the dog's not calmed down at all.
'What they do is they shut down, they learn, instinct tells them they're being put in a compromised position so in order to survive, they shut down.'
She could not have been more right - as Joe soon slaps Dakota round the face, after she managed to wriggle free from his grasp and grab the broom in her mouth.
As the dog yelps in pain, Victoria winces, with her pre-recorded voiceover saying: 'When Joe gets angry, he slaps her and he doesn't just tap her.
'I heard the connection of his hand to the bone on her nose and it was hard.'
She delivers some hard truths to the violent pet owner: 'That's a pretty hard whack.
'It's not so much the hardness of the whack, it's the action of the whack that concerns me. That could actually backfire.
'God forbid one of the children goes to touch her and she just sees this hand coming towards her, thinks back to when she was hit and bang, goes for the hand.
'And I've seen it happen a lot.'
After Joe's violent display, it is clear Victoria has a lot of work to do - so she takes them to a dog training centre to introduce them to clicker training.
The approach has owners use a clicker every time their dog successfully responds to a command - making the animal associate the noise with a reward.
Joe's wife Mandy tries it with almost immediate success, with Dakota responding quickly to her attempts to make her sit and stay using the clicker.
But things are not so smooth when Joe tries it out - as the dog flinches even when he tries to reach out to give her a treat.
Victoria says: 'She flinched because she's used to you hitting her. When you do that, it just really does not build trust. You get angry when she doesn't respond to you.'
The trainer then delivers her damning five-word verdict on his behaviour: 'That's your fault, not hers.'
She explained this tough love approach to the couple elsewhere in the programme: 'I see this dog getting blamed for so much negative behaviour you could have prevented.
'It's very, very difficult, when you are correcting a dog, but you haven't actually taught the dog how to behave. So, it's really actually not the dog's fault.
'You brought this dog into your family, it is therefore your responsibility to train this dog to be able to succeed in your family.'
Her tough approach finally got Joe to face the truth: 'Dakota doesn't really trust me as well. It's mostly my fault.
'The relationship I've had with the dog is going to take some time to fix.'
Alongside the clicker training, Victoria also gets the couple to take Dakota to an agility centre.
She explained: 'When you give a dog a sport, not only is it getting rid of all that physical energy and the dog is thinking but also, it's creating a really good bond between you. It's teamwork.'
Dakota turned out to be a natural at it, flying around the course after the trainer encouraged Joe and Mandy to give her enthusiastic praise to motivate her.
Even Victoria was shocked by the dog's performance: 'That's amazing, that's quite advanced, that's impressive.
'When I came in that first day, there was no praise on this dog but now you're getting that connection and she's just really listening to you.'
Joe was a new man after it: 'It made me feel great to see Dakota do so well on the agility course. It would be fun to bring her down and do it together.'
And when Victoria returns to visit the family two weeks later, she is able to see all her hard work paying off.
At the start of the episode, things had been looking bad, with Joe saying: 'Has it put strain on our marriage? It's just an extra added stress we really don't need.
'We've only had her a year - I've tried to get rid of her twice already.
'I've gotten to the point with Dakota where I've posted her on the Internet while Mandy is at work, to see if I can get rid of her quickly.'
But his relationship with Dakota had completely transformed by the end of the episode.
Joe and Mandy are seen calmly clicker training their pooch, who is herself noticeably calmer, less agitated and better behaved than before.
Dakota is treated less as a problem and more as an active, loved member of the family, with praise lavished on her out on a walk with the kids.
Joe is even seen out cycling alone with Dakota, who runs happily alongside him: 'I think Mandy is definitely happy Dakota and I are starting to form a bond.
'I feel like she's become more of my buddy, she's actually becoming my dog now.'
Victoria was very happy with their efforts: 'I'm really impressed with the success they're having with Dakota.'