I recorded yesterday's programme and watched it this evening and tbh I think I must have been watching something different from some of the posters on here.
The whole problem with the lab and the food bowl was created by the owner who seemed to think that when a dog is eating it's a good idea to be some sort of 'alpha' member of a pack who has the right to remove food from under the dog's nose.
Frankly, I'm not surprised the poor bloody confused dog was growling at him; give me my food and then take it away while I'm eating and I'd more than growl at you.
However, at no point did Graeme Hall advise the man to touch the dog's bowl or take it away. The only reason the man's hand was near the bowl was in order to build up trust in the dog that the bowl wasn't going to be removed.
The dog's face and body language the first time the owner went to feed the dog was very nervous and showed very strongly that the dog was wary of the whole issue of food and being fed.
Where this idea that you should be able to remove a dog's bowl while it's eating came from is beyond me; it makes absolutely no sense, doesn't teach the dog anything, other than that it can't eat in peace and is just going to lead to frustration and aggression on the dog's part.
And as regard the research being done before Graeme Hall goes in to train the dogs, of course it's done like that. It's not real life, it's a television programme.
The programme needs to entertain and time is money. Everything needs to be in place beforehand for filming and making an interesting programme; it would be pretty tedious to sit and watch training sessions in real time.
Of course they don't use dog's with difficult ingrained problems for the programme, those sort of issues can take months to unravel.
We see only a tiny snapshot of a days filming, or however long they film each section for. I very much doubt he actually goes in, gives a few commands and the dog is trained, which is what the programme makes it appear he does.