TV Review Pages

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Greatest American Dog: Teresa and Leroy Leave Canine Acedemy

Andrew the Wonder Maltese
Proves His Loyalty
CBS 8/7c 9/03/08


Tonight the contestants of Greatest American Dog had to prove their loyalty. The dogs' first challenge was for a reward and 'leg up' for the later competition. Each dog had to stay on a tree stump without laying down, while owners stood on a stump about 15ft in front of them.

Laurie would have an immediate problem with Andrew. The little Maltese almost always lays down. It seems the floor is just too close to resist! Sure enough, just minutes in Andrew laid down and was eliminated.

After a close brush with injury last week, Galaxy was back in great shape this week. Though she quickly laid down after Andrew, eliminating herself and owner J.D.

Travis is just so funny to listen to. He talks in such a cute baby talk to Presley and says "GooBoyyyyyyyy!" It works well for him now and he will learn better voice inflection later. But for now, he is my favorite (not to win, but for personality).

Teresa actually managed to get Leroy to stay on his stump the longest. Winning the Dog Bone Challenge.

The Best In Show Challenge was all about the bond between owner and dog. Each trainer in the house got to play with each dog alone. The idea was to make a bond with the new dog so it would follow your commands over the owner's.

All of the dogs were quite comfortable with the new human friends. All except Andrew. The little Maltese wanted nothing to do with any other human, he wanted Laurie. Andrew did not stress about it, he simply ignored the new person and went calmly to the door. When he found the doggy-door, he went right over to her and walked around.

There was no doubt from the beginning who would win this challenge. Andrew was up first and simply yawned as every other trainer tried to lure the Maltese out of the circle in front of Laurie. He looked directly into Laurie's eyes as she stood motionless and saying nothing but "Good" very quietly.

J.D. took an overbearing stance in his attempt to control Galaxy during chaos. It worked of course. Galaxy is a great Border Collie mix and J.D. is a great trainer. She has submitted completely to him. The judges think he has trained the personality out of her as well.

Travis and Presley had a good old time. It took J.D. all of 2 seconds to call Presley out of his circle to play with him. All J.D. did was call Presley in the same playful manner the Travis does.

Teresa and Leroy actually had the hardest time. Though Leroy did stay technically in his circle, he was completely stressed. His constant barking seemed to clearly sound like "I'm going! I'm going! You better release me, cause I'm going!" Teresa's voice becomes more stressed and he seems to think he is closer to being released.

After weeks of not much progress, Teresa and Leroy the Border Collie were expelled from Canine Academy. The top 3 dogs are Andrew (Maltese, owner - Laurie), Galaxy (Border Collie Mix, owner- J.D), Presley (Boxer, owner - Travis).

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