The Greatest American Dog is Presley the Boxer Puppy

Andrew and Laurie Finish Second
in a Toss Up
CBS 8/7c 9/10/08

Travis and Presley won The Greatest American Dog competition tonight. Presley, a 16-month-old Boxer puppy, showed character and personality throughout the dog competition. It doesn't hurt that Travis, the owner, is a cutie himself! The winners of The Greatest American Dog receive a check for $250,000 for their efforts.

Andrew, the Maltese, gave it everything he had. Even taking on Suzy the Elephant again. Andrew ran right under the elephant's foot to retrieve his toy as part of a Challenge. He acted like he didn't even see the elephant!

The night started with a bit of a surprise when J.D. and Galaxy were expelled from Canine Academy first, finishing 3rd overall. J.D. has had run-ins with Laurie and the judges about training styles. J.D. trained Galaxy to be an excellent hunting dog. It is a different style because it is used by hunters. This is strictly my opinion, by the way. A hunter is completely dominant, it is a matter of life and death for his dog. J.D. obviously learned to train this way, which is fine, but does not look as good to observers.

Victoria Stilwell, one of the judges, jumped all over J.D. for his dominant style of training. I hope she got paid extra for being a bitch. It really wasn't necessary.

Travis and Presley will represent America well as the winners of The Greatest American Dog!

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).

Greatest American Dog: Bill and Starr Are Expelled

Andrew the Incredible Maltese
CBS 8/7c 8/27/08

Laurie has established that small dogs, namely Andrew the Maltese, can do anything that a big dog can do. Sometimes a lot more. The Reward Challenge involved an elephant. Each dog had to remain in a circle drawn on the ground while a trained elephant came right up to them. Andrew the Maltese never even flinched. Travis and Presley were also successful with this part. To break the tie between Andrew and Presley, the elephant would charge (a very slow run) at the dogs, first butt off the ground lost. Presley chickened out first. What an incredible feat for both Andrew and Presley (a Boxer pup).

Laurie won the dog bone suite and a leg up in the final competition of the night, a major obstacle course. The hardest part was the end jump on a zip line, so the dog had to essentially jump into nothing. Man, that's tough.

First up were J.D. and Galaxy (Border Collie mix) with a stellar, as always performance. Galaxy did everything she was asked, even the jump on the zip line to J.D.

Next up were Teresa and LeRoy (Border Collie). I was worried for this pair, only because Teresa tends to worry and get Leroy worked up in a barking frenzy. Her 'play' voice always works better (which is weird). But Leroy did every trick, including the zip line (finally!)

Bill and Star (Brittany Spaniel) were up next and took a shallower ramp set up for Andrew. Completely understandable for a 12-year-old dog. Star would not jump off the zip line either, also understandable for an older dog. Star seemed to look at Bill from the top like, "I'm not jumping this. Those puppies might, but they are stupid!"

Travis and Presley did well, and Presley completed all of the course. It was hysterical watching the bulky Boxer pup jump on the zip line. He did marvelously, but Travis was chastized for getting him too excited during the course. Praise is necessary, but the dog must remain in training mode.

Laurie and Andrew went last. Andrew went up the extremely high climb (for the 5lb Maltese), but refused to jump. Laurie did well not to stress him too much, though the judges said he still exhibited 'stress behavior'. Well, duh.....he was looking for an easier way to get to Laurie.

This was obviously the toughest elimination for anyone, as they all knew Bill and Star were the obvious choice. When it happened, all cried and the judges said they loved both Bill and Star. We all do, and wish both Bill and his 'orange' dog the best of life!