Dog Friendly Sussex: Ferocious pup goes from ‘grizzly’ to ‘dream dog’ after Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly appearance

Cheryl Mockridge has owned Hair to Stay in Hastings Old Town for more than 20 years and has built a dedicated client base, but this was all put at risk by her ‘ferocious guard dog’ Baer.

Baer has been a familiar face in the window of the salon for four years, appearing deceivingly cute and cuddly to passers-by – until they approached and were scared away by his vicious barking.

Unsure what to do, Cheryl turned to Graeme Hall and the team at TV show Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly for help.

A few weeks later, Graeme arrived in Hastings to put an end to – as the TV show called it – Baer's ‘reign of terror’.

Baer’s display of ferocity was so convincing, he even caused the ‘Dogfather’ to jump back in surprise as entered the salon.

Cheryl said: “He barks at anybody that comes through the door and lunges at them.

"It puts you off coming in.”

One passer-by even said he would ‘definitely put her off going to the salon’.

Graeme’s expert eye quickly allowed him to pick up on what was going on in Baer’s brain, and he soon began to work his magic.

He said: “What we’ve got here is not the most ferocious guard dog in the world, although he would have you believe that…

"He’s scared.

“I feel sorry for him, because he’s just living in this scary world.”

Graeme concluded that Baer was putting on an act and needed to be told there was nothing to be afraid of, which Cheryl began to do each time Baer barked at someone from the window.

Within just a few tries, the ‘ferocious guard dog’ had already quietened down and, instead of barking and growling at people approaching the window, he panted happily before rolling on his side for a belly rub from Cheryl.

Graeme left Cheryl to continue teaching her now ‘dream dog’ that there was nothing to be afraid of.

He said: “I think what I’ve managed to do today is get across to Baer that all you need to do is just hang around and be cute.

"And as it turns out, he’s really good at being cute.”

The experience has ‘made a huge difference with Baer’ and Cheryl no longer has to worry about the dachshund scaring off clients.

She said: "It’s much quieter than it used to be.

“Baer used to sit at the window and look at people and, if they looked back at him, he would really attack the glass trying to get to them.

“But now he doesn’t bark at all at the window.

“With the people coming in through the door, he will do an initial couple of barks now but I tell him to stop and he stops.”

Cheryl said the experience ‘really opened her eyes as a dog owner’.

She added: “Graeme’s such a lovely man. He’s even more lovely than he seems on TV.

“He seems to look at dogs in a completely different way than we do.

“As soon as he explains things you think ‘yeah I get that, I understand that now’.”

Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly is on Channel 5 on Tuesdays at 8pm.

See also: Here are 8 adorable dogs for adoption that are looking for a new home