Those “Greatest American Dog” people really did make a HUGE mistake when they eliminated Ron & Tillman. I, like many GAD viewers, were furious when they got kicked off but you can’t keep a good dog down.
Tillman, and his buddy Tyson, appeared in the Tournament of Roses Parade yesterday. For those who didn’t watch GAD, Tillman is a skateboarding bulldog. Tyson is also a skateboarder (and bulldog) and the duo had their own float in the parade complete with a rink for them to demonstrate their skills.
Check out their story on this morning’s “Today Show”:
After presenting a recap of the season, the show picked up immediately following last week’s elimination. J.D. was still steaming over judge Victoria Stilwell’s statement that he threatened his dog, Galaxy. As he vented to Travis and Laurie, Laurie spoke up in agreement with Victoria. In listening to their arguments, it seemed clear that no one was in favor of being threatening or abusive to their dog. It was more a disagreement on what constituted “making a threat.” Laurie and Victoria seem to think that it is anything evoking fear – even to a minor extent like raising your voice or being stern. J.D. seems to see it as something that implies more of a physical threat. I will give Laurie credit because, in this brief scene, she made me understand her training philosophy better than Victoria ever has. Laurie and J.D. were passionate about their positions, but Laurie was calm and reasonable in her discussion whereas Victoria always seemed to be having temper tantrums. Actually, the only one of the three who lost some of my respect in this scene was Travis. He was playing both sides until J.D. left the room and then he turned on him. That struck me as very hypocritical considering how much we saw Travis studying and copying J.D.’s training techniques. Anyway, at the end of the scene I had to chuckle because, while they have different training styles, J.D. and Laurie are kindred spirits when it comes to ego.
Best In Show Part One
Host Jarod Miller informed the three remaining teams that they would each be interviewed by the judges and then their dog would be given an impromptu challenge. At the end, one of the teams would be eliminated.
Laurie & Andrew: Victoria asked Laurie in what way has she pushed Andrew in the competition and Laurie replied that she didn’t feel that many of the challenges were designed for little dogs. Despite that, she still had him do them. Judge Wendy Diamond alluded to past discussions about Andrew being overly attached to Laurie and asked if his world would fall apart if anything happened to her. Laurie acknowledged that Andrew was raised to prefer being with her, but insisted he’d be fine without her. Wendy also asked for Laurie’s opinion of Travis & Presley and she said they were off to a great start but were like a couple in the honeymoon phase. She felt that if you were going to give an award for a relationship, you would probably give it to the pair that’s been together longer. Finally, Victoria asked whether all of this has been about Andrew’s happiness or Laurie’s and Laurie showed great self-awareness by replying that Andrew couldn’t care less about any of it. He would prefer being home on the couch. He’s been indulging her and she’s been participating because she wanted to show that you can have a well trained dog without using aversive methods. Needless to say, the judges lapped this up. Andrew’s “challenge” was to be placed with Wendy’s dog, Lucky, to see how he would interact – without Laurie in the room. True to form, Andrew’s first action was to run after Laurie. After Wendy brought him back, Andrew did do a little sniffing and playing with Lucky, but then went back to looking for Laurie.
J.D. & Galaxy: As expected, this wasn’t quite the love fest that was Laurie’s interview – although it was very polite. Victoria asked J.D. how Galaxy had grown at the K9 Academy and J.D. replied that most of it came from the challenges. Wendy asked what he’d learned from the other trainers and dogs and J.D. responded that it hasn’t been much. He mainly just observed the kind of problems the others were having, but let them do their own thing without intervening. Oh, J.D. At least you are honest and consistent. Victoria asked him to describe his training techniques and J.D. stated that his tone of voice is stern and he means what he says but, that’s all he needs to do. There’s no forcefulness at all. Judge Allen Reznik (who I thought had dozed off) finally spoke and asked why Galaxy should be the “Greatest American Dog”. J.D. said it was because she’s not just a Frisbee dog. Her obedience skills shine. Things were actually looking somewhat good for J.D. until his impromptu challenge. Wendy came over to give Galaxy a physical exam and asked J.D. how often he bathes her. You could tell immediately that he knew he was busted. He replied that it was not often – specifically a few times a year. He quickly added that she plays in the river a lot so she cleanses “naturally”. There was a bit of good-natured ribbing from Wendy and she clarified that a dog should be bathed once a month. J.D. was very cheerful about the whole thing. I think he was probably just relieved that Victoria hadn’t tried to rip him to shreds again.
Travis & Presley: Wendy asked Travis what he’d done right in the competition and he replied that it was watching the others. Allen asked what had surprised him the most about Presley and he said it was realizing how much his emotions impacted Presley. Finally, Victoria asked why they were in the competition and Travis responded that it was a beginning for their relationship. It showed him how much potential Presley has as long as he (Travis) puts in the work. Presley’s challenge was a “leave it” training session with Victoria. Presley performed well and learned quickly.
Oh, in case you are thinking the Travis section is a lot shorter than the others because I left something out – I didn’t.
It seemed pretty clear to me that J.D. & Galaxy were on their way out after this. There was no way Victoria would let everything she’s been saying be undercut by J.D. winning the competition. At the elimination, Victoria told Travis that he needs to be better at keeping Presley focused. Wendy told Laurie that her love for Andrew is reflected in his spirit but that he does have separation anxiety. Victoria praised Galaxy’s gentle nature but said that she thinks the relationship is based more on control and domination than on cooperation. As expected, J.D. & Galaxy were eliminated but he didn’t go quietly into that dark night. He described himself as very affectionate with animals and thought it was a shame the judges didn’t see that and their talent and experience. Victoria made a rather sour expression and didn’t seem to applaud for them when the other judges did. It ticked me off but then, it did kind of look like it might have been an editing trick. Before exiting he made one final shot by saying that he definitely wouldn’t call it dominance training – while he held Galaxy’s doggie butt up in the air. It wasn’t subtle. There is no doubt J.D. has a gigantic ego but in the end he met his match with Victoria’s even bigger ego.
Travis and Laurie returned to the house to find Champaign and a photo gallery of all the dogs as puppies. They had a wonderful time patting themselves on the back for having been victorious over J.D. which I suppose was only fair. He most definitely would have done the same thing.
Best In Show Part 2
The final challenge was divided into two parts – outdoor and indoor. The outdoor challenge was a long obstacle course that included a return of Suzie the elephant. For some inexplicable reason, Jarod introduced the three judges again – as if Travis, Laurie and all of us wouldn’t know their names by now! Anyway, first up was Presley who had no problem with the course itself but faltered at the end when he had to retrieve a toy from underneath a standing Suzie. The poor baby was very freaked out by that. Andrew, on the other hand, struggled a few times with the course, but the elephant didn’t bother him at all. Victoria told Travis that she liked Presley’s tenacity but she thought Travis made it harder for Presley by doing things that stressed out the elephant and, in turn, stressed Presley. Allen thought Presley was frequently distracted. Wendy praised Travis for having gone underneath the elephant himself to show that he wasn’t asking Presley to do something he wouldn’t do. The judges all thought Laurie and been too close and “mothering” during the obstacle course but agreed that Andrew ended it well, especially with the elephant.
The indoor part involved another interview session with the judges, this time attended by all the former contestants. It was certainly nice to see them all again but I’m not sure why the show bothered because none of them did or said anything. They just sat there. Except for Brandy – who cried.
Victoria asked Laurie how a dog that is a bit over-mothered and attached could be the “Greatest American Dog”. Laurie replied that Andrew really wasn’t that clingy and she wanted to prove that little dogs are “real” dogs. Victoria then asked Travis why the title should go to a 16 month old puppy and he replied that it was because of Presley’s intelligence and energy plus what their relationship stands for.
After gushing about both of the teams the judges announced their final decision which did actually surprise me. I thought it would be Laurie & Andrew, but they declared the winning team to be Travis & Presley. Travis said their victory showed that the “Greatest American Dog” didn’t have to be perfect – it was all about love for the animals.
My final thoughts on this show are that, if it does have a second season, there need to be a couple of major changes. First off, they wasted their money hiring Jarod Miller to be the host because he never actually did anything. This show needs to be hosted, and narrated, by Ron & Tillman. Secondly, the judging was – how do I say this nicely – capricious. I don’t know whether that was because of the judges themselves or because the rules and goals for the show were not clearly laid out, but it got very frustrating to watch them constantly contradict themselves. Oh, and one last thing. There was way, way, way too much talking in the finale. Good grief! This was supposed to be about the dogs and we really didn’t get to see much of them at all.
The finale, and all previous episodes, can be viewed at CBS’ website here:
Upon returning to the house after the elimination of Bill & Star, Laurie summed up the situation as “bittersweet”. J.D. came in carrying Galaxy and it was not looking good for her injury. J.D. left no doubt that if Galaxy was really hurt, he was not going to continue with the show. Laurie admitted that J.D. & Galaxy were the biggest competition that she & Andrew faced, but she didn’t want them to leave by default. As the difficult day came to an end we got a sweet scene of Galaxy giving J.D. doggie kisses.
The good news is that by the next morning Galaxy was walking normally. J.D. still wanted her to be thoroughly checked out by a vet and the verdict was that she was fine to continue with the competition. J.D. was even told that his 9 year old girl had the joints of a two year old! I’ve pretty much done a complete 180 on J.D. In the beginning his arrogance was off-putting, but watching him now with the dog he calls “sister” is rather heart-warming.
We were also treated to scenes of the dogs playing in the water and little Andrew (pictured above) is absolutely adorable when he’s soaking wet! Leroy, meanwhile, was barking his head off and biting at the water. The other owners were getting irritated with Teresa because she wasn’t correcting him. Teresa thought it was just Leroy being a border collie. She said he was trying to herd the waves and it actually did kind of look like that’s what he was doing.
Dog Bone Suite Challenge
Host Jarod Miller arrived to inform the group that this week’s theme was ‘loyalty’ and each dog had to demonstrate focus and a strong desire to please their owner. For this challenge each dog and owner had to stand on stumps facing each other. The dog could either sit or stand, but could not lie on the stump. Whichever team lasted the longest would win. Laurie & Andrew lasted for less than two minutes before Andrew lay down. Next out were J.D. and Galaxy when Galaxy laid down at 2 minutes 53 seconds. J.D. said he was still too happy about Galaxy being fine to be bothered much by the challenge. It came down to a battle between Travis & Presley and Teresa & Leroy. As the clock ticked away, Presley was getting increasing fidgety and Travis was starting to feel guilty about making him stay. Travis tried to negotiate with Teresa about quitting together and then sharing the “leg up” reward. She didn’t go along with it because she felt that it was too close to the end to give up the advantage and Leroy didn’t look as uncomfortable as Presley. At 17 minutes and 50 seconds, Travis pulled Presley out of the challenge. Travis said, “This is supposed to be about loyalty and there’s Presley being so loyal to me. Where’s my loyalty to him?” In the end it wasn’t worth it to Travis to keep making Presley do something that wasn’t making him happy. Teresa was pleased that Leroy trusted her to make the right decision for the two of them. As the winner, Teresa & Leroy were given the key to the Dog Bone Suite. When they got to the room, Leroy found the bed covered with his beloved tennis balls and Teresa got to have a video chat with her boyfriend. It was actually nice to see Teresa’s cute and giggly side.
Best In Show Challenge
Jarod met with the contestants again, this time to inform them that they would each be given an hour with each other’s dogs in order to try and form a bond. Laurie did not like the idea of turning her baby over to someone else. Teresa found out that her “leg up” was a note back at the suite that would explain the entire challenge to her. In the challenge, each dog would be placed in a semi-circle (within a large triangle) and their owner would stand a few feet in front of them. The owner would try and keep their dog in a sit-stay position while the other owners tried to distract the dog and lure it out of the triangle. Knowing this, Teresa waited until everyone else went to bed and then she worked with Leroy to try and get him used to obeying amid distractions.
Each owner got to spend an hour with each dog and Teresa used her hour to try and get the dogs to like her while she taught them to be disobedient. Laurie used affection and play to form a bond with each dog. J.D. used play and, with Presley, tried to act and speak just like Travis does. For his part, Travis was feeling a bit nervous that his inexperience was going to give him problems. The dogs actually seemed to respond well to the other owners – except for little Andrew. All he wanted was his mama Laurie and he ignored the other owners and waited by the door for her return. At one point he actually broke out of the house to go look for her. J.D. thought the attachment was too much.
Laurie & Andrew: Andrew could not have cared less about the other owners running around yelling. He never moved or even gave an indication that he was thinking about moving. He just looked at Laurie, yawned and lay down. Judge Victoria Stilwell commented that everyone should take a page from Laurie’s book because there was nothing threatening about her movements and she used a lot of praise. Judge Wendy Diamond, on the other hand, was concerned that Andrew might be too attached to Laurie. Laurie said that she didn’t think Andrew was nervous to be away from her, he just preferred to be with her. J.D. responded to this with a sarcastic “yeah”.
Teresa & Leroy: It should come as no surprise that Leroy barked through the entire challenge. He moved around the area a lot but managed to stay in the triangle. Once the challenge was over, he headed straight to the treats the other owners had been tempting him with. Judge Allan Reznik said that Leroy seemed frantic and Teresa seemed frustrated. Victoria felt that Teresa’s body language was threatening and she clearly wasn’t pleased.
J.D. & Galaxy: Galaxy looked very tempted by the food as well and stared at everything with big eyes but, she never moved from her spot. Allan described Galaxy as ”robotic” and said the performance lack spontaneity and softness. Huh? How on earth would the dog have shown spontaneity and softness? Victoria was back to hating J.D.’s training methods and said J.D.’s body language was “extremely” threatening. J.D. disputed this and said that, with all the distractions, he had to elevate the commands to make sure she responded. I give J.D. points on this because, while he has to be tired of Victoria implying that he’s cruel to his dog, he was very polite in his disagreement.
Travis & Presley: Presley was tempted to go to Laurie and Teresa but as soon as J.D. called him, he raced right on over. Apparently J.D.’s plan to sound just like Travis worked. Plus, all of Presley’s puppy qualities really showed. Wendy expressed how “cute” she thought Travis & Presley’s relationship was but said Presley’s youth and energy made it hard for him to listen. Victoria commented that, while Presley continually broke focus, he did keep coming back to Travis and she liked that Travis’ stance was not threatening.
We actually got to see a bit of the judges’ deliberations this week and they were not seeing eye to eye on the challenge. Victoria and Allan were bothered by the way J.D. and Teresa handled their dogs while Wendy thought it was obvious that Travis and Presley should lose because they simply failed at the challenge.
The judges’ special recognition was given to Laurie & Andrew. Wendy said that a person could only dream of having a partner like Andrew. Since that left just three contestants, they all had to go to the bottom three podiums. Allan again said that he thought Galaxy was robotic and it indicated that she was just following commands – not showing loyalty. Victoria said that she thought Teresa had lost sight of what the challenge was about. Both she and Leroy were edgy and frustrated. Wendy said that it’s clear to her that Presley is Travis’ best friend, but the focus wasn’t there. J.D. was looking very concerned, but he was the first one that Jarod declared safe. Upon hearing the news, J.D. made a point of saying that he would never hurt the love of his life. This time, he wasn’t quite as polite. Again, I don’t blame him for being upset by this. Galaxy absolutely seems like a happy dog that loves and trusts J.D. Plus, she wasn’t “robotic” during the challenge. That poor dog looked like she desperately wanted to eat the treats she was being shown. It also looked to me like Victoria was glaring at him as he joined Laurie and Andrew.
Victoria told Travis and Teresa that this was a tough call for the judges. Should they eliminate the dog that stayed in the circle out of fear or the dog that left the circle but came back out of love and respect? Sorry, I’m not buying that. Yes, Teresa can sometimes be a bit much when she gets stressed but Leroy clearly does not fear her. Presley does love and respect Travis but, at the end of the day, he was just being a puppy who wanted to play. I truly like Travis, but I think he and Presley lost the challenge and should have been eliminated. Instead, the judges sent Teresa & Leroy packing. Teresa said that they learned more than a million dollars could buy so they were leaving as a happy team. Travis looked visibly shaken by the whole thing because he clearly thought he was the one leaving.
Next week we have the finale. At this point, I think J.D. & Galaxy are the ones who should win, but I suspect it will be Laurie & Andrew who actually do.
CBS doesn’t have this episode up on their website yet. When they do, it will be at the link below:
The show opened with everyone seeming quite relieved by Beth Joy’s exit. They felt the tension and craziness level would be significantly reduced. Laurie was proud of Andrew for being the “last little dog standing” but had concerns about his size putting them at a disadvantage. Travis shared that he looks up to Bill for his knowledge and pointed out that Bill was the only one left in the house who helps him with his training of Presley. For his part, Bill said he was “tickled to death” to be able to help someone with their dog. A bit later in the show there was a scene of J.D. and Laurie complimenting Travis on how willing he has been to listen to advice and act on it. Laurie was particularly impressed with how much Travis has learned and added, “You were getting it too much. I had to put you on lockdown!”
Dog Bone Suite Challenge
Host Jarod Miller informed the group that this week’s theme was ’courage’. As you may guess from the photo above, it involved an elephant named Suzie. Suzie was put on a track 80 feet away from a circle that each dog sat in. She would gradually walk towards the dog until she got to the 20 foot mark. There she shook her head and trumpeted. If the dog continued to stay in the circle, she would walk up to them and pick up a banana placed on the circle’s edge. If the dog moved outside the circle, it was eliminated from the competition.
Teresa & Leroy: Poor Leroy was not at all pleased with this situation and exited the circle pretty quickly.
Laurie & Andrew (pictured above): Andrew was awesome! He stayed perfectly still in that circle for the entire thing and never barked or even flinched. Plus, he could not have been more adorable looking up at that huge elephant.
Bill & Star: Star lasted until the head shaking and trumpeting. Interestingly, when she moved it wasn’t to run away from the elephant. She actually looked like she wanted to walk around it to investigate.
J.D. & Galaxy: Galaxy also made it to the trumpeting part but then got scared and wanted to be with J.D.
Travis & Presley: With a lot of coaching from Travis, Presley stayed in the circle for the whole thing. Unlike Andrew, though, poor Presley did a lot of flinching. As an added note, Travis is just too cute when he baby talks to Presley.
This left Presley and Andrew tied. For the tie-breaker, the dogs had to sit in the circle together while the elephant charged at them. The owners stood in between the dogs and the elephant with their backs towards the elephant. Laurie wasn’t thrilled about that part. The first dog to lift his rear end from the ground would lose. One more time, Andrew sat there without moving a muscle. In fact, he never even looked remotely bothered by the elephant! Presley was quite brave too, but he did eventually stand up.
Laurie won the Dog Bone Suite and the “leg up” in the Best in Show challenge - which Jarod said he’d explain the next day. Meanwhile we got a glimpse at the softer side of Laurie when she got back to the Suite and found a note from her husband. She got too weepy to read it in front of the others. It was a very sweet moment.
Best In Show Challenge
This week’s challenge was called ’stunt dog’. The owners and dogs had to perform a series of stunts – an incline ramp, a balance beam and a zip line. As winner of the Dog Bone Suite Challenge Laurie got a “leg up” for this event in the form of a film and TV stunt dog trainer named Tom Roche. They got to work together, separate from the rest of the group. The other owners got to practice with safety trainers but had to take turns and could watch each other. Travis took full advantage of this and studied every move J.D. made. J.D. commented that he wished he could hide in a corner and work on his own and Travis chimed in that he was glad J.D. couldn’t. In the course of the practices, we learned that J.D. was opting not to practice the zip line with Galaxy because he thought it might make her more reluctant to jump off the ramp at show time, and Teresa is still struggling with Leroy’s barking.
The next day, when the contestants saw the actual setup, they were shocked at how high up the balance beam and zip line platform were. Harnesses were put on the dogs and the people and they were tethered for the entire event. The ramp and balance beam were designated as red and blue indicating the level of difficulty. One ramp had less of an incline that the other and one beam was wider than the other. Before the event, judge Victoria Stilwell expressed skepticism about any dog completing it and Allan Reznik thought that if any dog would, it would be Galaxy.
J.D. & Galaxy: Not surprisingly, J.D. opted for the more difficult ramp and beam. Galaxy handled them both without a problem. When J.D. called to Galaxy to jump off the zip line platform, she did so immediately with her tail wagging the whole time she was zipping. I have to say, J.D. was rather delightful through the event, cheering his Galaxy on.
Teresa & Leroy: Teresa also picked the more difficult ramp and beam and Leroy handled both easily with a minimal amount of barking. When it came to the zip line, though, he lost it and barked hysterically at Teresa. Eventually he did jump off the platform but the baby wasn’t happy about it.
Bill & Star: Bill had Star go up the easier ramp (he later said it was because Star wouldn’t run with the harness on and he didn’t think she could make it up the steeper ramp without a running start) and the more difficult beam. Star handled both with ease. When she got to the zip line platform, Star just looked at Bill like he was crazy for asking her to jump. She wasn’t even remotely threatening to do it, so Bill finally gave up.
Travis & Presley: Travis opted for the harder route up the ramp and across the beam and Presley ran through both challenges. He quickly jumped off the platform when Travis called him, but I got the feeling that was more about Presley being an exuberant puppy rather than a disciplined dog following a command. I will say, though, Travis did learn well from watching J.D.
Laurie & Andrew: Laurie wisely chose the easier ramp for Andrew and it still took him a while to get all the way to the top on his little legs. She had him cross the tougher beam, which he handled with no problem. When it came to the zip line, though, he wasn’t having any of it. Laurie gave up pretty quickly because she recognized that Andrew absolutely did not want to jump.
Allan liked the trust between Teresa & Leroy. Judge Wendy Diamond also thought they did a great job but said Leroy’s barking was driving her crazy. That’s the last thing Teresa needed to hear because she’s still stressing about the barking too much and probably just needs to let it go for now. Allan liked J.D.’s constant praise of Galaxy and, after slamming him last week for his training methods, Victoria was complimentary about J.D. this week. She liked how he made the whole thing seem like a game for Galaxy. On the other hand, Victoria thought Travis made the event harder for Presley by getting him too worked up. Wendy criticized his inability to get Presley to sit and stay at the very beginning of the event calling it Dog Training 101. Wendy didn’t like that Bill opted to take Star up the easier ramp (wait a minute, didn’t you all criticize him last week for pushing his older dog too much?) and Victoria added that she liked Bill’s training style but ultimately, Star didn’t complete the event. Allan commented that the easier ramp might as well have been Mt. Everest for a little maltese and was impressed by how far Andrew got in the event. Victoria was also impressed but, just like Star, in the end Andrew didn’t jump. Victoria ended by saying that this was going to be their toughest elimination so far.
Back at the house we learned that Galaxy was hurt and limping rather badly. J.D. was very concerned and had the Head Trainer check her out. The trainer said she didn’t think it was an emergency, or a life or death situation, and J.D. was relieved to hear that. By golly. I think I’m actually warming up to J.D.
When they reconvened for the judges’ decision, we learned that J.D. & Galaxy were voted best in show. By this time Galaxy was really limping badly and everyone expressed their concern. Teresa & Leroy were also declared safe for the week so the bottom three were Laurie & Andrew, Bill & Star and Travis & Presley. This ended up being the least amount of criticism ever given to a bottom three. Wendy reiterated that Presley was a bit out of control. Allan pointed out that Star wouldn’t jump off the platform and also went up the easier ramp and Victoria commented that Andrew exhibited stress signals at the zip line. Ok, wait a minute. Of course he was stressed at the zip line. It is not natural for a dog to jump from that height. I actually think Laurie should have been praised for having stopped the event as quickly as she did when she saw how Andrew was reacting.
Ultimately it was Bill & Star who were eliminated with Victoria saying that the judges had no choice because it was the weakest performance. Everyone was in tears, including me – especially when Bill kissed Star on the top of her head and said, “Thank you, orange dog.”
As a commentary, I was ok with the elephant challenge because, sometimes, it is very important for a dog’s safety that they blindly obey their owners’ commands. I don’t agree with the inclusion of the zip line challenge, though. I believe Galaxy jumped from the platform because she is simply a well trained dog that completely trusts her owner. On the other hand, I think Presley jumped because he’s just a puppy who got excited and doesn’t know any better. The last thing Presley needed was to be left with the idea that jumping from a large height has no consequences. He doesn’t understand that he was wearing a harness. He just knows that he jumped and it was ok. This challenge was a bad call by those in charge of this show.
In next week’s preview we learn that Galaxy’s injury might be serious enough to force that team out. I’m hoping that, once again, that’s just hyperbole but I am confident that J.D. won’t risk his dog if she is hurt badly.
This episode, and all previous ones, can be viewed at CBS’ website here:
The show opened with the ever-weepy Beth Joy thanking Travis for standing up for her in the last episode. Laura, who ended up being evicted, had criticized Beth Joy for pushing her dog Bella Starlet too much. Travis was supportive telling the judges that he knew Beth Joy truly loved her dog. For her part, I think Bella would have been much happier if they had been evicted. She seemed over the whole experience and was beginning to act out by growling and nipping. Of course, this reduced Beth Joy to tears as she feared that people would think her dog was mean. Honestly, Beth Joy, you need to get a grip. Your dog is just being a dog, that’s all.
We also got an interesting debate between Laurie and J.D. about training methods. Laurie’s belief is that you should train through respect not fear. As the provider of the food, she is the “alpha” and a dog will obey her because they respect the provider. She phrased it as, “You don’t even eat if you don’t listen to me.” J.D. disagreed with, what he termed, “the current style of positive reinforcement” that uses food. He felt that his reward to Galaxy was saying “good girl.” Laurie stated that she saw J.D. as part of the group that uses fear to get a dog to respond. J.D. did acknowledge that he will use methods such as a “scruff grab” to get a dog’s attention. They disagreed over whether or not this caused the dog pain. I’m very ignorant on this subject but I thought their methods actually sounded quite similar. They both seem to use a combination of reward and punishment. There has been nothing shown on the show that implies that J.D. has ever done anything to hurt Galaxy. Quite the opposite, in fact. He is forever shown praising her. It was an interesting discussion and is the kind I wish this show would have more often.
Dog Bone Suite Challenge
Host Jarod Miller arrived to inform the group that this week’s Dog Bone Suite challenge was called ”The Big Dig.” The six remaining contestants were divided into three teams of two. One owner had to get into a large box while the other owner got one dog to ring a bell (signaling for help) and got the other dog to dig through wood chips on top of the box to find a rope. The dog would then pull on the rope to release the door freeing their owner. The team that accomplished this the quickest would win.
J.D. and Laurie: Conveniently for the show, the two nemeses were paired up. Laurie wanted to handle the dogs because she didn’t want J.D. using “harsh” or “adverse” methods on Andrew. Again, I’ll point out that we have never seen J.D. be harsh with Galaxy. Anyway, J.D. did get in the box and let Laurie handle the dogs – which she did quite well.
Teresa and Beth Joy: Teresa was less than thrilled by being paired up with Beth Joy. She said that the last time she worked with them Bella Starlet wouldn’t do anything. Beth Joy went into the box because she was confident her dog would want to find her. Poor Bella. Teresa remained calm in guiding her but Beth Joy kept sounding panicked and yelling at her not to bark. At one point she actually encouraged her by saying that “mommy” was having trouble breathing. Bella never did dig.
Travis and Bill: Travis was thrilled to be paired up with Bill since Bill is the only one never to have been in the bottom three. Nice going, Travis. You just jinxed him. Travis got in the box and, while Presley wasted a few seconds running around, he actually did dig through the chips and pull the rope to free Travis.
The winners were Travis and Bill with a time of 1:33 beating J.D. and Laurie’s time of 1:45. In addition to getting the suite and a “leg up” in the Best in Show challenge, the winner’s also got to make a call home. Travis called his mom and melted more female hearts. Bill called his wife and, of course, was adorable. His pet name for her is “old woman” and they just sounded like the cutest couple ever.
Best In Show
Jarod showed the group a large maze and informed them that the Best in Show challenge would be to maneuver their dogs through the maze. He left out the part about how the dogs would also have to lead three puppies out. That information was Travis and Bill’s “leg up” along with the chance to get their dogs used to the puppies. When they returned to their suite, they found a pen with six puppies in it. Sweet Star wanted nothing to do with them and Presley seemed to revert to full puppy mode himself. I’m not really sure they got much benefit from this “leg up.”
During the challenge, each owner got 5 minutes to acclimate their dogs to the puppies. Then they had to stand at the end of the maze and call out directions to their dog. It seemed like the owners could see inside the maze but the show didn’t show us how they were doing that.
J.D. & Galaxy: When J.D. took Galaxy into the pen to acclimate her to the puppies, he actually spent just as much time acclimating them to him. He made a particular vocal sound while he herded the puppies and then praised them when they followed. As Galaxy ran through the maze, J.D. regularly commanded her to stop so that the puppies could catch up. It took a couple times through, but Galaxy did get all three puppies to the finish line. I noticed that while J.D. was calling Galaxy by name, he was also making the same sound that he used during the initial 5 minute session to get the puppies to respond. Judge Allan Reznik’s quick verdict was that the performance was “awesome.”
Bill & Star: Bill was very gung ho going into the challenge and may have gotten carried away. Star still wasn’t comfortable being around the puppies and, at one point, laid down to show Bill that she didn’t want to do it anymore. He still made her continue and Star ended up snapping at one of the puppies because she didn’t want them close to her. At that point we heard judge Victoria Stilwell say that she wanted him to stop too. In the end they got two puppies out of the maze.
Laurie & Andrew: I felt bad for Andrew in this challenge because the puppies were bigger than he was! He handled the maze pretty well but only got one puppy out.
Beth Joy & Bella Starlet: Bella wanted no part of this. She looked uncomfortable meeting the puppies and ending up barking and snapping at them. The poor little thing never even made it out of the maze herself. Beth Joy wasn’t of much help to her because, instead of calling out simple commands, she was talking to her dog like she had full command of the English language.
Travis & Presley: Bless his heart, Presley couldn’t have cared less about helping the puppies. He was having too much fun showing how fast he could run through the maze. He didn’t get any puppies out but he probably made more runs through the maze than any other dog.
Teresa & Leroy: Teresa was nervous about the challenge but she said that she knew she needed to go low energy in her interactions with Leroy to keep him focused. She did stay calm and Leroy got all three puppies out on his first try. Allan thought it was an amazing performance. I have to give Teresa credit. She really does seem to be learning from this experience!
Once they all completed the task, the teams gathered to get the judges’ comments – and things really got interesting. Victoria raved about Teresa & Leroy. Judge Wendy Diamond loved Laurie’s relationship with Andrew but didn’t like that Andrew nipped at one of the puppies. Allan and Wendy both pointed out to Travis that Presley had no interest in, or patience for, the puppies. Victoria expressed extreme disappointment with Bill for how he pushed Star even when it was clear she wanted to stop. Beth Joy tried valiantly to convince the judges that Bella Starlet was barking in order to lead the puppies to shelter but Victoria wasn’t buying it. Wendy then gushed about J.D.’s handling of Galaxy and said, “Move over Cesar Millan.” Victoria vehemently disagreed and accused J.D. of using medieval dog training methods by employing a dominant/submissive methodology. Wendy countered that it wasn’t “her way or the highway” and that Victoria and J.D. simply had different training methods. Victoria still insisted that J.D.’s way was incorrect and Wendy then asked, “You think you’re the God of dog training?” To which Victoria responded, “Yes, I am.” From there they just yelled at each other with Allan standing in between with a completely deadpan expression on his face, staring straight ahead. It was quite comical. After the commercial break, we got statements of respect about each other from Wendy and Victoria and they moved on. Again, I know very little about dog training but Victoria’s reaction seemed to be way, way, way over the top. She was actually in tears during the argument. We never saw J.D. do a single negative thing during the exercise so it seemed to be more a reaction to the Cesar Millan comparison. It appears that Victoria really doesn’t like Cesar. From what I could see, Wendy was the calmer and more rational of the two and I find it hard to believe that Victoria’s training methods are the ONLY acceptable ones around.
Teresa and Leroy were the pair given “special recognition” and that seemed fair since they really did rock the challenge. The judge’s bottom three matched mine:
Beth Joy & Bella Starlet – Allan said that Beth Joy’s anxiety reduced her commands to irrelevant and desperate bribes.
Travis & Presley – Victoria thought Travis’ hyper energy made it difficult for Presley to respond.
Bill & Star – Victoria thought that Bill lost track of what the challenge was really about.
Beth Joy & Bella Starlet were the ones expelled and that came as a tremendous relief. I was really worried that Bill and Star were on their way out. I won’t miss Beth Joy’s constant crying and little Bella didn’t seem to want to do this anymore.
This episode plus all the others can be viewed at the CBS website here:
With the departure last week of Brandy, the “showmance” between Travis and Laura got dialed up a notch. Although I think Laura’s love affair is really with Travis’ dog, Presley! He’s the one she couldn’t stop kissing.
Dog Bone Suite Challenge
Host Jarod Miller arrived to inform the 7 remaining teams that this week’s theme is intelligence. A three-sided wall was set up with a favorite treat of each dog’s on the other side. They had a narrow slit through which the dogs could see and smell the treat. The goal was for the dog to figure out how to get to the treat without direction from the human. Presley, Bella Starlet, Galaxy, Leroy and Star all figured it out within seconds. Preston spent several minutes trying to squeeze through the slit before he went around the back and little Andrew never even ventured over to smell the treat. Laurie explained that he wasn’t particularly motivated by food and, when given a choice, will always choose to stay by her.
Bill & Star won the contest with Star getting to the treat in little over 8 seconds. That was considerably better than Bill thought his older dog would do. It came as no surprise when Bill announced that he was giving the suite, and the accompanying “leg up” in the Best in Show competition, to Teresa. She had done the same for him last week and there was no way he wasn’t going to return the favor.
Best In Show Challenge
This had to be the oddest challenge yet. Jarod called it “Salvadore Doggy” and the goal was to get the dog to paint a picture. Each team was given a large white canvas to work on and had to figure out a way to get the dog to apply all the paint without human assistance. Jarod made a point of telling us all that the paint was non-toxic which was good because the dogs ended up eating a lot of it.
Bill & Star: Poor Bill. These ”creative” tasks always throw him. In this case his response was, “I’m colorblind!” and he opted to keep it simple. He chose a moon and stars theme to represent what Star means to him. He said that he would give up ever seeing the stars and the moon again if it meant that he could have Star with him the rest of his life. The female judges seemed to love his explanation of the picture but judge Allan Reznik thought it was very predictable that he used stars. Give the guy a break! He’s a dog trainer not an artist.
Teresa & Leroy: Teresa’s “leg up” was to work with a profession Dog Art Instructor. Yeah, I didn’t know that job existed either. Her name was Kirstin McMillan and she actually was quite helpful to Teresa. Teresa stated in an interview segment that she didn’t think she would have been able to finish the picture without the help. Given her tendency to get stressed out, I was pleasantly surprised by how mellow she was in working with Leroy. Her theme was learning because she teaches Leroy and he teaches her. Judge Victoria Stilwell liked that in Teresa’s explanation of the picture she included an acknowledgment that sometimes Leroy drives her crazy. As Victoria said, “Bless them, they are not supposed to be perfect.” It actually was a very nice picture.
Travis & Presley: Travis chose a ”newfound friendship” theme and his picture was of his and Presley’s footsteps coming together. He discovered that he could get Presley to push a paint roller around by putting peanut butter on the handle and he stuck with that technique. He got some criticism from Victoria for not mixing it up but, overall, they seemed impressed. While explaining the meaning of the painting, Travis revealed that he has commitment issues and he hopes his relationship with Presley will help him get over that – a sentiment that got a particularly strong reaction from judge Wendy Diamond.
Beth Joy & Bella Starlet: This challenge was right up Beth Joy’s alley. She based it on a Hawaiian saying about how without the rain there is no rainbow. She put sponges on Bella’s paws and used stencils and the paw prints to create a rainbow swirl. Bella wasn’t crazy about getting the sponges taped to her paws and she did some yelping. The picture was simple but rather pretty. Victoria, in particular, really liked it. Beth Joy admitted that Bella didn’t like having her paws manipulated but explained that it was a consequence of her being a rescue dog. Victoria praised her for trying to work through an issue with Bella.
Laura & Preston: Laura came up with an elaborate plan to have a picture of her and Preston kissing within a heart that was within the world. We saw her do a lot of planning and preparing but things didn’t work out. She found herself rushing to finish it less than two hours before the show. The judges weren’t impressed and Wendy simply declared, “This sucks.” They thought it looked like she threw it together at the last minute. Instead of explaining what happened, Laura opted instead to tell the judges how she didn’t want to push Preston the way she witnessed Beth Joy pushing Bella Starlet. She talked about how Bella cried. Beth Joy is my least favorite owner, but this really wasn’t fair. Yes, Bella yelped a few times but it wasn’t because Beth Joy was hurting her. Bella was yelping out of annoyance more than anything else. The judges didn’t seem to buy Laura’s explanation. The owners got to watch all the presentations so, needless to say, Beth Joy was furious at Laura.
Laurie & Andrew: Laurie’s theme was her and Andrew’s relationship. She’s the foundation that provides for all his needs and in return he provides her with love. It was a rather odd picture but then again, they were all a bit weird - they were painted by dogs! Allan said that he thought it looked like a pep rally poster and Wendy expressed disappointment that the picture didn’t reflect more of Andrew’s personality. I’m not exactly sure how the pictures could ever express the dog’s personality. It was basically a test of the owner’s creativity.
J.D. & Galaxy: J.D. went with a “young at heart” theme. He put a vest on Galaxy with sponge letters on it with the goal of Galaxy rolling over and spelling out words. It didn’t work out the way he planned and it took a while to get a word correct. I thought the picture was a bit of a mess but quite colorful. Allan asked if the mishmash of words in the middle of the picture was intentional and J.D. sort of implied that it was. The judges didn’t buy that and it did look like J.D. was over-justifying things.
My choice for the best picture was Teresa & Leroy because it was the most thought out and the neatest. My bottom three was Laura, Laurie and J.D.
The judges also thought that Teresa & Leroy had the best picture and Victoria commented that it summed up their relationship perfectly. Before announcing the bottom three, Victoria asked Beth Joy about Laura’s comments. Beth Joy called it a pathetic attempt to distract from Laura’s own failings and emphatically stated that she would never hurt her dog. Then we had THE moment of the episode – Travis spoke up to say that he had to defend Beth Joy and that he knew she took very good care of her dog. We actually did see a clip during the picture painting of Travis asking Beth Joy about the yelping and her explaining what was going on so I think Travis was sincere in his defense of her but………..the “showmance” with Laura just came to a crashing end. I guess he won’t be resolving his commitment issues with her. LOL!
The judges’ bottom three were Laurie & Andrew, Laura & Preston and J.D. and Galaxy. Wendy told Laura that it looked like the picture was rushed and that she hadn’t put much thought into it. From what I saw, it looked like Laura actually had put a lot of thought into the picture and her problem was that she created an idea that was just too complicated to execute in the limited time she had. I think she would have been much better off giving this explanation rather than trying to put the heat on Beth Joy. Victoria told Laurie that it looked like she was resting on her laurels and didn’t put in the effort on this challenge. Allan called out J.D. for not admitting that the jumble of letters in the picture was a mistake. I have to say, I think we saw a different side to J.D. during this bottom three. He looked very dejected and it seemed to me that he knew he’d screwed up. At one point Galaxy tried to give him a kiss (in my mind it was because she saw that he looked sad) and he rejected it, not because he was upset with her, but because he was upset with himself. I hope I’m interpreting this correctly because Galaxy is a great dog and I would like to be able to root for this pair. A little bit of humility from J.D. would go a long way towards making me like him.
In the end, it was Laura & Preston who were eliminated. I have to admit something. I was hoping they would be staying because I was looking forward to the potential House Drama. Oh well.
I found the preview for next week’s episode to be bothersome because it looks like Star runs into some trouble with a Best in Show challenge that involves puppies. I really want to see Bill and Star win this thing so I hope it’s all just promo hype.
You can see the entire 6th episode (plus all the others) at CBS’ website here:
The show opened with a small party in the Dog Bone Suite. Brandy announced to the group (Beth Joy, Laurie and Travis) that Beacon was mad at her. She believed Beacon was sad and wanted to go home. Travis thought that Brandy was sabotaging herself and should have realized that Beacon was tired from all the training. Laurie told Brandy that she needs to stop humanizing her dog. They are pure creatures who are not vindictive. Laurie had a great quote in the interview segment, “When anyone humanizes a dog, that means you put expectations on them to be human and they can only fail because they’re not. They’re animals.” Little Beacon then came trotting into the room wearing pajamas and footies on all four paws. Both Travis and Laurie thought that was too much. Laurie is a very competitive person who is not much for the warm fuzzies but, she is very smart and does seem to know her stuff when it comes to dogs.
Poor Bill was still homesick and was missing and worrying about his wife. He hoped to win the Dog Bone Suite because then he’d get some pictures of his family. Star is such a sweet dog. She was looking so sad because her Bill was sad. Teresa spent some time talking to him and was quite kind. Apparently when she isn’t under pressure, she’s actually a nice woman.
Dog Bone Suite Challenge
Host Jarod Miller led the teams out to a big mud pit with balance beams crossing it for this week’s challenge call “Mud Dog.” The theme was coordination and the owners needed to coach their dog to walk across the beam without going into the mud. The winner would be the dog that got across in the fastest time. They did have separate beams for the big and little dogs so they wouldn’t have to drop very far to the mud. Laurie, in her blunt fashion, looked at the challenge and declared, “This is ridiculous.” Bill on the other hand thought it looked like fun. Jarod also informed them that there would be no more sending someone to the dog house. Now, other than the suite, the winner will get a “leg up” in the Best In Show competition.
The challenge didn’t start off too well because the first team was Travis & Presley and Presley looked scared of the beam. He stumbled a few times and ended up falling in the mud. Things got significantly more entertaining, though, with the next series of dogs who intentionally jumped into the mud. All the little froufrou dogs couldn’t resist getting filthy. The only two dogs that actually walked across the beam were Bill’s Star and Teresa’s Leroy. It took Star 16 seconds to get across but Leroy made it in just 5.5 so Teresa won the suite and the “leg up.”
The Teresa redemption arc then made a giant leap forward as she asked Jarod if she could give the suite to Bill. Jarod told her she could, but that would mean she would be giving up the “leg up” as well. She said that was fine and, needless to say, Bill was very touched. He took Teresa with him when he went into the suite and read the letter from his wife. It was a great moment and Teresa was happy she made the decision because she thought it would give Bill the boost he needed to make it through another week. As for what Teresa got out of it, she said that, “You need to stop and take a breath and feel really good sometimes.” Ok, I’ll admit it. As much as I wanted to smack Teresa last week for squirting the grapefruit juice in Leroy’s face (in an attempt to make him look angry for a photo) she actually did earn back a lot of points from me for being kind to Bill. It would appear that Teresa is a good person who just handles pressure really, really badly.
Best In Show Challenge
Jarod returned to inform the group that the Best In Show challenge was called “Dancing with the Dogs.” The owners chose a musical style and had to prepare a one minute dance routine with their dog. Bill’s “leg up” was that he got to work with a professional choreographer named Kashaya.
Laurie & Andrew: Laurie chose ragtime and was feeling pretty confident about their performance. She dressed herself and Andrew in matching outfits and their number really was adorable. Andrew seemed to happily obey every command. Judge Victoria Stilwell mentioned that they really looked to be having fun with the number.
J.D. & Galaxy: J.D. chose hip hop and we learned that in the 80’s he was a Michael Jackson impersonator. I have to say that little tidbit about J.D. didn’t come as a surprise. As it turned out, J.D. really did know what he was doing and the number with Galaxy was fantastic. The judges all loved it with Victoria specifically mentioning their simultaneous roll-over.
Laura & Preston: Laura chose Latin and the rehearsal footage showed her getting concerned about Preston’s lack of interest in the dance. She kept a good sense of humor about it, but she did have reason to worry. In the performance, Preston looked disinterested and refused to do most of the tricks. Judge Wendy Diamond, ever the blunt one, described that dance as “horrific.” Victoria thought the problem was that Laura lacked energy because she was too far out of her comfort zone.
Bill & Star: Bill picked rockabilly and, no surprise, was delightful in the footage of him working with the choreographer. She was as charmed by Bill as the photographer from last week’s episode. The number was a hoot with Bill wearing a blond Jerry Lee Lewis wig and having no inhibitions. Star did everything she was supposed to do and was so happy afterward that she ran over to the judges to get praise. The judges ate it up and noted that the routine made Star seem younger. They asked Bill how he created such a good routine and he quickly volunteered what Teresa had done and that, because of her, he got the advantage of the choreographer.
Travis & Presley: Travis picked country and he found the challenge difficult. He had to keep reminding himself to relax and not stress out Presley. I found the routine to be boring but it looked like Allan Reznik actually cringed during it. Wendy and Allan were disappointed at the lack of difficulty and Victoria wants to see Travis really test Presley.
Brandy & Beacon: Brandy chose ballet and basically had a breakdown over the whole thing. Beacon seemed to have shut down and Laurie blamed it on Brandy’s harsh training methods. Travis tried to coach Brandy through it all and at one point it looked like she had relaxed enough to be able to get some response from Beacon. In the performance, though, Beacon had no interest in any of it and only did a couple of tricks. Brandy, being Brandy, had Beacon all dressed up as a ballerina including little ballet slippers on his paws. Wendy went off on her about that. Victoria told Brandy that she thought the problem was over-training. She called it learned helplessness and the result is that a dog shuts down because of their limited attention span.
Teresa & Leroy: Teresa got disco as her style and I’ll admit I was nervous about this routine. The previews made it look like their number would be a disaster. Bill worked with Teresa and helped her discover how her vocal tone was causing Leroy to bark. Despite this, Leroy did end up getting over-excited during the routine and barked through the whole thing. Teresa started to lose her temper at one point, but she did pull it back. Even with the barking, it wasn’t a bad routine because Leroy did do everything Teresa asked him to do and it was a pretty challenging routine. Victoria praised the technique shown but said it was clear that neither of them was having any fun. As she did last week, Teresa accepted the criticism and agreed with it. If nothing else, she does now seem to be fully aware of the problems her anxiety is causing.
Beth Joy & Bella Starlet: Beth Joy picked Broadway and, as I recall, we didn’t see any footage of them practicing. The performance itself was dull and Bella Starlet seemed to get a little rebellious and refused to do some of the tricks. Victoria’s comment was that she just didn’t see anything challenging in the number.
My Best In Show choice would have been J.D. & Galaxy with Bill & Star a very close second. The judges’ choice was Laurie & Andrew. I don’t know much about the maltese breed but I’m getting the impression that they can be difficult to train because the judges again mentioned how impressed they were with the type of performances Laurie was getting from Andrew. Cute is not a word I ever thought I’d use when describing Laurie, but that’s exactly what her reaction was to getting the recognition.
My bottom three would have been Beth Joy & Bella Starlet, Brandy & Beacon and Laura & Preston. The judges agreed about Brandy and Laura but made Travis & Presley the other team at the bottom. Wendy told Travis that Presley didn’t look enthused during the routine. Laura was informed that Preston lost focus and she lost control. Brandy got the harshest criticism for, as Victoria put it, making poor decisions from socks to bad training that resulted in Beacon shutting down. It came as no surprise when Jarod announced that Brandy & Beacon were the ones evicted from the K9 Academy this week. I’ll give Brandy a bit of credit here. I thought she’d dissolve into a puddle of tears upon hearing this but she actually handled it all pretty well.
All the episodes, including this one, can be viewed at CBS’ website here:
After last week’s elimination, I expected there to be some fall out for Laurie who basically threw David & Elvis under the bus. To my surprise, there was none at all. Instead we opened the show with a scene of our “showmance” couple, Travis and Laura, making dinner and chatting happily. Brandy, the one who invited the whole house to her wedding in episode one, seemed to be looking on in jealousy. She kept making sarcastic comments about how much she loved sitting there listening to Travis and Laura talk. Ron, J.D. and Laurie were also in the kitchen and seemed to enjoy Travis asking Brandy if he’s allowed to talk to anyone but her. Ron, bless his heart, wondered (out loud!) how Brandy got her big head through the door.
In other house news, we had a comical scene showing the differences in Ron and Beth Joy’s approaches to feeding their dogs. Beth Joy carefully measures out little Bella Starlet’s food and adds powdered and liquid vitamins to it, while Ron just plops down a bowl of regular dog food for his bulldog, Tillman. There was also a funny scene of Tillman swimming with a life preserver on. We have a budding “bromance” between Ron and Bill. Ron thinks Bill is such a good guy, that he actually said in an interview segment that he wouldn’t mind if Bill won the show.
Dog Bone Suite Challenge
Host Jarod Miller informed the contestants that this week’s theme is personality. The Dog Bone Suite challenge required the owners to guess whether or not their dog would take an object offered to them or reject it. The first item offered to the dogs was a piece of steak and Ron figured he had that one in the bag. In fact, every owner thought their dog would eat the steak but 3 dogs, including Tillman, weren’t interested. Have I mentioned how much I love Tillman? He’s the kind of independent-minded dog I would end up with. The next round was a stick, which took down several contestants and, finally, the third round was a piece of tofu. Only J.D. & Galaxy and Laura & Preston were left. J.D. said Galaxy would eat the tofu; Laura thought Preston would reject it. As it turns out, Preston trotted right down to it, did a little sniffing and gave it a lick. J.D. won the suite for the second time. As winner of the suite, J.D. got to send someone to the doghouse and he sent the current biggest threat, Travis.
Best in Show Challenge
This week’s best in show challenge began with the owners drawing words out of a bowl. The goal was for each to prepare a picture of their dog that represented that word. They were able to bring props with them to the shoot and each had one hour with the photographer.
J.D. & Galaxy: J.D. drew the word sneaky and he seemed to know immediately what he wanted to do. He set about gathering props from the backyard and from the suite. Once in the photographer’s studio, he took the time to create his detailed setting of rocks, dirt and moss. He then rolled around on the floor to get Galaxy to look at him with the right expression and from the right angle. His result was very successful. I actually said “That’s awesome” out loud when they showed the final picture of Galaxy slinking out of the rocks looking at something intently.
Bill & Star: Poor Bill. He got the word stubborn, and was quite traumatized by it. He bemoaned his lack of creativity and couldn’t imagine how he would get his sweet natured Star to look stubborn. In the photo shoot he started to get quite frustrated but quickly realized that he was upsetting Star and making it all worse. He just decided to go with the flow and have fun and, sure enough, he ended up with a great picture of Star looking like she was refusing to go for a walk. I’ve said it before, but Bill really is incredibly sweet with his dog. They both clearly adore each other.
Beth Joy & Bella Starlet: Beth Joy drew the word mischievous and she was confident about this challenge from start to finish. So far, Beth Joy is one of my least favorite owners but I’ll give her credit on this one. She knew exactly what she wanted and she easily worked with her little Bella to get a great picture. It was of Bella stealing treats from a jar and the shot caught her in the middle of licking her lips. As judge Allan Reznik said, not only did Bella look mischievous, she looked a little smug about it too!
Teresa & Leroy: Teresa drew the word angry and was very nervous about it because Leroy has the type of face that always looks happy. Teresa became increasingly frustrated as she tried to find a way to make Leroy look mad and, in the process, scared him with a blow dryer. The poor dog snapped at the dryer and accidently bit Teresa. She didn’t handle any of it well. Laura knew Teresa was struggling and suggested a movie trick she knew about called a snarl band. It looked like a clear rubber band that was put around the muzzle and used to raise the lips off the dog’s teeth. Leroy wasn’t happy with it on so Teresa decided it would be used as a last resort. Teresa’s first choice was a bottle filled with water and grapefruit juice that she sprayed in his face. All I could think about was what it felt like when I’ve accidently squirted lemon juice in my eye. The poor dog looked so upset and confused. Eventually she went with the snarl bands and got a picture of Leroy looking ferocious. Judge Victoria Stilwell asked how she got the picture and Teresa was honest about the bands. None of the judges were happy about it and I can only wonder what they would have thought of the grapefruit juice.
Laurie & Andrew: Laurie drew the word curious and seemed to know immediately what she wanted to do. She sat Andrew on a book and worked to make him look through a telescope. During the clips from the shoot we only saw Andrew licking the telescope but, sure enough, when the picture was revealed, he appeared to be looking right into it. Laurie was praised by Allan for not treating her maltese like an ornament and, instead, investing the time in properly training him.
Travis & Presley: Travis seemed to get an easy word - joyous. He simply took Presley into the studio and played with him. The boxer jumped and spun around and probably had the best time of any of the dogs at the shoot. Travis went with a minimalistic picture of Presley jumping against a white background. Victoria liked the shot, but Allan and fellow judge Wendy Diamond found it to be too generic.
Brandy & Beacon: Brandy drew the word loving and went into the shoot feeling pretty confident. She was going with a ”hearts and flowers” theme but Beacon was more interested in chewing the props. She became increasingly frustrated and ended up in tears over the whole thing. Finally she chose a simple profile shot of Beacon, a silver dog, against a white background. Wendy thought Brandy would have done better with a red background and Allan thought the shot conveyed obedience rather than love. Ironically, the only praise she got was from Victoria who was happy that Brandy didn’t go for the standard “Valentine’s Day” approach – which, of course, is exactly what Brandy tried to do.
This all lead to the best scene of the episode. The contestants were all sitting around waiting for the judges’ results and Brandy was lamenting about her picture to Travis. Travis, who also got some negative comments from the judges, said he understood and started to compare his experience. Brandy cut him off and said, ”Can we focus on me?” To which Travis replied, “Yeah, let’s do. Might be the last time you’re here.” Ok, I had a little crush on Travis when he was just the nice guy of the house. Now that he’s showing some backbone, I’m really liking him.
Laura & Preston: Laura chose the word regal and prepared for the shoot by giving Preston a lion-style haircut. She set him up on a little pedestal and put a purple background behind him that really made his white fur pop on camera. I thought it was an adorable picture, but the judges were less enthusiastic. In the photo, Preston did the classic dog head-tilt making all three judges think that he looked more inquisitive than regal. That’s true, but it was still a great looking picture.
Ron & Tillman: Ron picked the word lazy and figured he had it made with his very mellow bulldog Tillman. True to character, though, in the shoot Tillman did his own thing and wasn’t much interested in the poses Ron was trying to put him in. My favorite moment was when Ron declared that “Tillman is freaking.” Tillman “freaking” is still about as mellow as a dog can get. Finally Ron settled on a black and white picture of Tillman with his head resting on the back of a chair. Judge Wendy Diamond declared it the worst picture of a bulldog she’s ever seen. That’s overstating it, but it was rather boring compared to the other shots.
The judges’ choice for Best in Show was J.D.’s photo of Galaxy. Allan Reznik was so impressed with it that he plans to put it in an upcoming issue of “Dog Fancy” magazine. It really was a great shot.
The bottom three were Ron & Tillman, Brandy & Beacon and Teresa & Leroy. The judges reiterated to Teresa how disappointed they were that she went with the snarl bands. To her credit, Teresa owned up to the error in judgment and didn’t try to justify herself and didn’t drag Laura (who suggested it in the first place) into the discussion. This didn’t redeem her for me entirely, but I think it’s good that she recognized she’d gone too far. Their problem with Brandy’s shot of Beacon was entirely aesthetic. When it came to Ron, the judges basically declared him to be a lazy trainer for the second week in a row. I felt pretty confident that Teresa and Leroy were headed home until Jarod announced that the team evicted from the house was………..
Ron & Tillman! I actually screamed NO! at my TV. I admit that they are not the most competitive team but come on! They have more personality than the rest of the teams combined. Ron declared that “the house” was going to miss Tillman but I say it won’t be as much as the audience will. I am so disappointed.
Hey, CBS. I have an idea for you. Since you aren’t really giving Jarod Miller anything to do on this show, how about you have Ron & Tillman host it and, more importantly, have them do narrations. Ron makes the best observations of anyone on the show and Tillman always seems to grunt at the perfect moment.
If you’d like to see Tillman’s swan song, you can view the episode at CBS’ website here:
We pick up where episode 2 left off, and Beth Joy is still steaming about the judges’ rebuke of her choice to put a dress on her dog, Bella Starlet. Laurie isn’t having any of it and calls Beth Joy out for trying to drag the other owners into her argument – specifically bringing up the double top knots on her dog Andrew. Laurie made the point that top knots are standard for showing a maltese and you can’t compare that with dressing a dog up. Beth Joy walked away in frustration and Laurie bonded a bit with David over the situation. She bemoaned how Beth Joy humanizes Bella and delivered the line of the episode, ”I’m gonna stop pretending that people aren’t psychotic.” David shares, in an interview segment, that he believes Laurie is the sharp one in the house and that she has everyone’s number.
In episode 2, we had a conflict between Ron and David when David’s dog Elvis bit Ron’s dog Tillman. This has resulted in many of the other owners being wary of Elvis. In this episode, when David took Elvis out into the yard and let him off his leash, the other owners (including Ron) responded by taking their dogs back into the house. The only one who stayed in the yard was Laurie. She allowed Andrew to play with Elvis and it was adorable. Laurie shared that she thought Elvis was relatively calm – for a terrier. She’s comfortable having Andrew around him because Andrew has a calming influence.
We also saw the beginnings of a potential “showmance” in this episode. In a not-so-surprising twist, the really hot guy (Travis) and the really hot girl (Laura) have started flirting by gushing over each other’s dogs. They both actually seem pretty sane so this might be fun.
Dog Bone Suite Challenge
Host Jarod Miller returned to give the details about this week’s theme and challenges. I am still confused as to why the show bothered to hire Jarod when they are making him into a non-entity. Frankly, his role could be filled by an anonymous voice-over guy.
Anyway, this week’s theme is teamwork and the Dog Bone Suite Challenge is called ”tangled leash.” This challenge is set up as a series of obstacles with leashes tangled around them. The owners had to get their dogs to untangle the leashes without touching them. The house was randomly divided into pairs and the owners had to work together to complete the task. It looked really complicated. Laurie and Bill were partnered up and made a very good team. They were both calm and deliberate and steadily progressed through the exercise. J.D. was paired up with David and that was interesting as J.D. has been very outspoken about Elvis’ lack of discipline. They actually did better than I would have guessed, even though David complained that J.D. basically took the whole task over. Teresa and her dog Leroy were partnered with Beth Joy and Bella Starlet. At one point, Beth Joy made one of the tangles worse. The show cut away to an interview clip of Teresa saying that Bella takes after Beth Joy and, laughingly, added, “They aren’t the smartest team.” Travis was matched up with Brandy which was great for Brandy because Travis’ calm nature probably kept her from having a complete meltdown. She doesn’t handle stress well. Ron and Tillman were teamed with Laura and Preston. Once again, Tillman didn’t seem particularly interested, but they cleverly used his beloved Frisbee to coax him around.
In the end, Travis and Brandy finished first narrowly beating Laurie and Bill. As the winners of the suite, they got to chose who to send to the doghouse for the week. They picked Laurie. Laurie challenged them on why they picked her and Travis, at first, tried to plead the fifth. After Laurie asked him to “man up”, Travis finally said that they wanted to relieve some of the conflict in the house.
It seemed to only take a few minutes of Brandy’s high pitched squeals of delight upon entering the suite for Travis to decide that he would just let her have it. He bunked with Ron & Tillman. I can’t say as I blame him. Sometimes Brandy needs a sedative.
David helped Laurie to get set up in the doghouse and told her that she’ll probably end up preferring it to the house because it’s so peaceful. Later in the evening, David and Elvis encountered Ron and Tillman in the backyard and Ron decided he’d let Elvis have another chance at playing with Tillman. The dogs did very well and it looked like this house conflict had finally come to an end.
Best in Show Challenge
Jarod informed the group that this week’s challenge would be a relay race called the “Fast and the Furriest.” Ok, that pun was actually a little painful. The house was divided into two groups, with suite challenge winners Travis and Brandy as the captains. They took turns picking their teams and the last-kid-picked role was played by Laurie. I’m not getting why Laurie has suddenly become persona non grata in the house. The only person she’s had a conflict with is Beth Joy and it’s not like Beth Joy is beloved by everyone. Plus, Andrew seems like a very good and obedient dog.
Team Travis: Travis chose Laura & Preston (hmmmm, another showmance moment perhaps?), J.D. & Galaxy, Bill & Star and Beth Joy & Bella Starlet. Bill took over as the team coach because agility competitions are his thing. He seemed to work very well with the other owners and everyone was grateful for the help. Things started off a little rough for this group when Galaxy didn’t catch the first Frisbee thrown to her by J.D. I’m going to blame this one on J.D. because I think he over threw it. Next up was Bella Starlet and she struggled a bit getting through a series of hoops. She kept trying to go around them. Presley rocked the house with his job of standing on his hind legs and pushing a cart. Star also did extremely well going over a series of teeter-totters and through a maze……until owner Bill messed her up. By his own admission, Bill kept using the word “out” and Star responded by jumping out of the maze. Preston was a star running through a series of tunnels. The race ended with Presley sitting in a cart while the other four dogs pulled him across the finish line. Presley is the largest of the five dogs, so I’m confused as to why they choose to have him sit in the cart. Their final time for the course was 2:52.
Team Brandy: Brandy chose Teresa & Leroy, Ron & Tillman, David & Elvis and Laurie & Andrew. When the team was deciding which dog would do which obstacle, David volunteered Elvis for the teeter-totter. The team had trouble feeling confident about that and Laurie suggested that, if David used a leash on Elvis during the teeter-totter portion, it would still look great. In a twist, Ron said he was really pulling for Elvis to do well because he thought Elvis had been given a bum rap. His confidence in Tillman, however, was a little weak since they’ve never done obstacle work. In the event, Leroy caught the Frisbee tossed by Teresa on the first try. Andrew struggled a little with jumping through the hoops even though Laurie made the hole (in the one covered with tissue paper) a little bigger. Things slowed down when it came time for Tillman to push the cart. Bless his heart, Tillman has a mind of his own and he felt that chewing on the cart would be much more fun than pushing it. Elvis’ turn came and he struggled on the teeter-totters. He kept jumping off. Once he got to the maze portion, he did much better. Beacon ran strong through the tunnels, although Brandy did have to help him a bit at the very end. Their time was 3:02.
With the fastest time, Travis’ team won and all the members were safe from elimination. The judges praised Teresa for her partnership with Leroy and, while they did ding Brandy a bit for helping Beacon through that last part of the tunnels, both she and Teresa were safe for this week. The judges’ bottom three were David & Elvis, Ron & Tillman and Laurie & Andrew.
The judges criticized Ron for not acting like a trainer with Tillman. While that’s fair, particularly in this competition, I really like the buddy-style relationship between Ron & Tillman. It’s very sweet and natural. The judges didn’t care for the fact that Laurie tore the paper on one of the hoops to make it easier for Andrew. Judge Allan Reznik, in particular, felt she gave Andrew an unfair advantage. Judges Wendy Diamond and Victoria Stilwell didn’t care for the leash being used on Elvis. Wendy pointed out that Elvis did much better after the leash was removed and Victoria said that, at times, the collar was pulling too tightly on his neck. They absolutely felt that the leash was a bad idea.
At this point, Laurie decided to throw David under the bus. She pointed out that only one dog on the team used a leash. David started chuckling and said that Laurie was the one who helped him make that call. Laurie then decided to have the bus back over David, and said that the leash call was made because there had been incidents of Elvis biting other dogs. Just to clarify, Laurie made it sound like it happened multiple times, but we only saw one incident. Wendy really didn’t care for this tactic and told Laurie that she shouldn’t sell out one of her teammates. Victoria was also put off by this, but Allan seemed to think that it just showed that Laurie was “in it to win it.” I have to say, I was very disappointed in Laurie. I had been on her side through this whole episode and then she had to go and prove that the other owners had been right about her all along.
In the end, David and Elvis were the team eliminated and David was very gracious. He even departed with a laugh by saying that “Elvis has left the building.” It should be interesting to see how everyone reacts to Laurie back at the house. She wasn’t that popular before this and now the others really aren’t going to trust her.
If you’d like to catch episode 3, it is available at the CBS website at the link below:
The show began with conflict between the Bulldog, Tillman and the Jack Russell, Elvis. The details are sketchy (since it wasn’t caught on camera) but Tillman ended up with a scratch under his eye. Ron was confident that his dog, Tillman, didn’t start the fight because, to quote Ron, “He’s a farter. Not a fighter.” Some of the other owners thought that David should have responded more to the fight and questioned how much control he has over Elvis. Ron was worried to the point that he didn’t want David & Elvis staying in the same room with him and Tillman. Bill, who also shares the same room, thought Ron was overreacting to the whole thing and said that David just needs some help training Elvis.
We also had the incident that was featured in this week’s promo – Star getting hurt. Star and Bill were out playing in the yard when Bill heard her yelp. He found Star injured and bleeding and rushed her to the vet. Poor Bill was just a mess. He had a lot of her blood on him so I don’t blame him for being scared. As it turns out, Star’s ear was torn by a mystery assailant. The doctors could tell it wasn’t a snake, but they weren’t sure what caused the damage. Thankfully Star was fine and they stayed in the competition. This incident also gave us two of the sweetest moments of the episode. First, we had Bill summing up his relationship with Star by saying, “Star’s not a pet. She’s not a dog. She is a companion.” Second, we had Travis getting chocked up thinking about how he’d feel if anything happened to his beloved Presley. Oh my. A really cute guy getting emotional about how much he loves his dog – women everywhere just fell in love.
Dog Bone Suite Challenge
Host Jarod Miller informed us that this week’s theme was obedience and the challenge would be a Doggy Boot Camp. This consisted of Jarod calling out some simple commands (come, sit, shake) and the teams executing them in the allotted time. The first command was “come” and Elvis decided he wasn’t having any of it and he and David were the first eliminated. The command “Shake” took down quite a few more teams, including J.D. and Galaxy. It was entirely J.D.’s fault as the shake was supposed to be with the right paw, and he had Galaxy shake with the left. It gave me a flashback to last week when one of the judges remarked that Galaxy knew their routine better than J.D. Galaxy’s biggest impediment to winning might just be her own owner!
In the end, the victors were Travis and Presley and they got the key to the Dog Bone Suite. Travis also got to send someone to the dog house and he made the safe choice of J.D. and Galaxy since they spent the previous week in the luxury suite. Travis is quickly becoming a favorite in the house and cemented this by inviting everyone into the suite for a celebration.
Best in Show Challenge
This week’s “Best in Show” challenge was called “Petiquette”. It was structured as a formal dinner party and the dogs were given some basic commands to follow while they faced distractions. The house was divided into two teams:
Group 1 – Ron & Tillman, Teresa & Leroy, Bill & Star, Laurie & Andrew, David & Elvis and Brandy & Beacon. While the team was preparing, Bill was giving David a lot of coaching on how to handle Elvis. David seemed grateful for the advice, but didn’t follow through on much of it. Towards the end we had a funny shot of Bill rolling his eyes at the whole thing.
Group 2 – Laura & Preston, J.D. & Galaxy, Elan & Kenji, Travis & Presley, and Beth Joy & Bella Starlet. Group 2’s biggest struggle seemed to be with Kenji going off track and taking the other dogs with her. Even mellow Travis was starting to get irritated.
Each owner had to walk their dog by the judges’ table for an inspection (heel), torture the poor babies by not letting them eat food placed right in front of them and, finally, get the dog to stay on a pedestal while they walked around the long dinner table.
Group 1 – This group did quite well. Everyone worried that Elvis would lose it during the “stay” section, but he was a good dog through the whole thing. The best moment, though, came during the food challenge. Poor Tillman wanted so, so badly to eat his steak. The look on his face was priceless. Ron kept talking to him and even tried to bribe him with a new skateboard. Tillman stayed strong, but it was killing him. They didn’t show what happened to the food (it just disappeared) so we don’t know if the dogs eventually got to eat. I hope so because, otherwise, it was just mean! The only criticism the judges gave to this team was to David. They thought he used too many hand gestures and said that he was confusing Elvis by continually changing which hand he was using.
Group 2 – This team also did well, despite the fact that Elan was constantly correcting Kenji in the most irritating way possible. It seemed like every time Kenji moved, Elan would make this strange, guttural sound at her. Kenji made it all the way through the event and was a good girl – right up until Elan told her that. Then she was off celebrating around the room with Elan running after her. It was quite funny. The other dogs held in there, though, and stayed up on their pedestals.
The judges had quite a bit to say to this team. Judge Victoria Stilwell loved the way Travis used baby-talk to praise Presley and hated the way Elan grunted at Kenji. Every time Elan tried to respond to Victoria’s comments, Victoria would interrupt her using exactly the same sound Elan kept using on Kenji. It was a great way to demonstrate the point and to show how much Elan was stressing her dog. I’ll give Elan credit for being gracious through this whole exchange. It had to be embarrassing, but she kept smiling and just accepted it. Victoria and Judge Allan Reznik both criticized Beth Joy for putting a dress on Bella Starlet. Victoria explained that the clothes mask body signals that dogs use to communicate with each other. Beth Joy was a little indignant and gave a bunch of reasons why she dresses Bella. Victoria responded by saying those were just excuses and asked Beth Joy if she really wanted to stay in the competition. Beth Joy got all teary and started talking about how much Bella meant to her, how she had recently recovered from hip surgery and how Bella was her “world.” Frankly, it was all a bit much.
Both groups then gathered together to hear the judges’ decisions. They declared Bill and Star the best-in-show. Victoria praised the gentleness of their relationship. To no one’s shock, they picked Elan & Kenji and Beth Joy & Bella Starlet for the bottom three. I was a little surprised that David & Elvis also ended up in the bottom group. I think they were a choice simply because the judges had to pick three and this gave them a chance to reiterate that David’s gestures were confusing Elvis. Elan was again called on her communication with Kenji and Victoria expressed concern that Elan had the potential to be harsh with Kenji. Judge Wendy Diamond, who had been rather quiet until this point, reiterated to Beth Joy that they considered clothing on a dog to be inappropriate. Beth Joy was off again, this time complaining that other dogs had on scarves and had decorations in their hair. This was when we all learned that you don’t mess with Wendy. She sat there calmly, with her little dog on her lap, and went to town on Beth Joy. She concluded with the best line of the night, “A dog is not a Barbie doll. A dog is a dog.” I am seriously liking Wendy!
In the end, it was Elan and Kenji that were expelled from the academy. I can see the judges point (especially when, after all this, Elan still made that noise at Kenji during her elimination interview) but I really wanted to see Beth Joy go after all the drama.
So, at the end of the second episode, my favorites to win are still Bill and Star ……. but Travis and Presley are moving up on the outside!
