Josh and Douglas - Honiton, Devon

• Josh– Project Manager for a Civil Engineering firm
• Douglas (19 Months) – Labrador X Springer Spaniel

How did you choose Douglas?
To be honest, I had always been a cat person. Don’t get me wrong, I liked dogs but didn’t see myself owning one. However, my wife Emma persuaded me that we should get a dog when a perfect litter became available in a local village. After a year and a half of Douglas being by my side, I think I'm well and truly in the dog camp. Looking back, I can’t believe I was ever without a dog, and Douglas being such a legend is the reason why.

Why did you both want to enter?
I have always played rugby for my local club and generally live an outdoors lifestyle. I love getting out and about with Douglas. We enjoy beach and woodland walks, swimming in the sea, playing Frisbee, climbing, running and cycling. When Emma came across an advert for active, outdoorsy dog owners for a new contest, it seemed tailored for Doug and me. Like most dog owners I think Douglas is the best dog in the world but I wanted to actually prove how exceptional he is. I was also intrigued to find out what Doug was capable of physically and mentally as I just knew he had something special about him. Also, because he’s a cross breed, I felt it would be interesting to see how he would compare to other pure breed dogs.

What was your favourite and least favourite challenge?
I really enjoyed all the challenges and couldn’t believe how much we were taught to get out of the dogs. Every time we were told the aim of the task I didn’t think the dogs would have been able to pick up the discipline at all, let alone in a single day. Nonetheless, the dogs and trainers amazed me every day. My favourite challenges were the caniteering and the cycling. Douglas was unbelievable in both and was only held back by his lumbering owner. He loved the cycling as he could go against the rule of not pulling on the lead and be out in front really going for it! The caniteering was great and Douglas was perfect at sniffing out the cheese.

The activities Doug and I found most challenging were the Gyhll Scramble and the swimming. The whole format of the scramble went against what I have been doing with Doug for years; me being on the bank throwing the ball into the river, Doug shooting into the water to get the ball and running back to start again. The fact that I was in the river confused him. You will see from the footage that he did what he always has and waited on the bank looking at me like I was mad!

What did you get out of the contest?
The programme has made me even more proud of Douglas than I was before. I couldn’t imagine what he was capable of and, thanks to the trainers, we have put a lot of the training into our everyday life. Douglas still recognises different toys by name and regularly shows off his learnt agility on walks.

It also taught me different ways of entertaining Douglas on a walk, although Douglas is still at his happiest chasing a tennis ball. The only bad trait that we have taken home is Douglas believes he must pull us along on the lead, canicross-style!

Lastly, I enjoyed being part of the other contenders’ journeys. Each dog and their owner had special relationships of which I had a glimpse into.

Any amusing anecdotes?
Douglas and Monty had a great relationship and were inseparable during the filming of the show. Monty had an obsession with a certain intimate part of Douglas but he didn’t seem to mind!

On one of the evenings the show organised a BBQ down by the lake to reflect on the day’s activities. However, the weather was not playing ball so we ended up huddled underneath blankets eating soggy burger buns and trying to look like we were having a nice time. The joys of a British summer!

Biography

Naturalist and broadcaster Chris Packham has had a long and successful career on TV, beginning with The Really Wild Show in 1986 and more recently Springwatch, Autumnwatch, and Winterwatch, Nature’s Weirdest Events, World’s Weirdest Events, Inside the Animal Mind, Operation Iceberg and Secrets Of Our Living Planet.

In 2010 Chris was awarded the Dilys Breese BTO Medal for his outstanding work in promoting science to new audiences. He was voted Conservation Hero Of The Year (2014) in the Birders’ Choice Awards (Birdwatch magazine). In 2015 he reached second place in The Wildlife Power List featured in the BBC Wildlife Magazine. In October 2016 Chris earned the top honour at the Wildscreen Panda Awards - The Christopher Parsons Award for Outstanding Achievement - in recognition of his significant contribution to wildlife filmmaking, conservation and the public’s understanding of the environment.

Earlier in 2016 he was made honorary Doctor of Science by the University of Southampton, where he had graduated 30 years before.

Programme Information

• Episode one
• Episode two