The Greatest American Dog is showing just what dogs can do and I’m really excited as it seems the show is becomming a summer hit! On the last episode Brandy was eliminated from the game, giving Travis some room to breath and mingle. Brandy seemed to be holding him back a bit as she was very protective but with Brandy gone, Travis turned his attention to Laura. They had bonded a bit before but now they were full on flirting, through their dogs of course. Too bad the showmance was killed just as quickly as it started.

For the Dog Bone challenge the dogs were tested on their intelligence. They were given the task of finding their favorite foods behind a wall. The quickest dog to retrive the food would win the Bone Suite for their owner plus a leg up in the showcase. With an 8 second find, Star gave Bill his second Dog Bone win in a row but Bill had other plans. Since Teresa gave him the suite last round, he decided to repay her by doing the same for her. This mean Teresa would gain the leg up along with the suite, which her dog Leroy seemed to love more then her.

Along the lines of intelligence, the dogs were put to a painting challenge for their showcase. Each pair had to create a painting that represented their relationship. The dogs were the only ones who could touch the canvas, meaning the dogs would become doggie painters. When it came time for judging, Teresa’s leg up helped tremensously as she was named the best in show. She had a dog painting trainer help her create a piece of art that showed that Teresa and Leroy had a loving relationship but one that also had some down sides. The judges seemed to love that more then the art and that’s why they gave her the best in show.

In the last few rounds Travis and Presley were in the bottom of the barrel. Travis knew he had to pick up the pace this time and that he did. he created a meaninful painting that also looked great. The judges loved his symbolizom and that’s what kept him out of the bottom three. Bill and Star remainined in the middle by creating a painting that looked good but lacked a unique touch. The judges thought he did a good job, but didn’t use enough techniques. The last to not be in the bottom three was Beth Joy and Bella Starlet. The judges loved the symbolizom of the spiral and the painting itself. They also loved the fact that Beth Joy worked through Bella’s fear of her front paws, but that was part of a small controversy.

During her time with the judges, Laura spilled the beans that Bella Starlet yelped a few times during her time with the sponges on her paws. Beth Joy didn’t take well to that as she felt Laura was simply trying to get out of being in the bottom three. The talk didn’t work though as the judges hated Laura and Preston’s blob of a heart that looked more like a “pink pretzle”. Also in the bottom three were Laurie and Andrew since the judges thought their painting looked more like a poster then a painting. JD and Galaxy also made it to the bottom three, thankfully, since JD lied to the judges and their painting was too much of a jumbled mess.

In the end Laura’s lack of ability to control Preston’s painting movements and their very rushed painting gave them the boot. I’m sure her showmance’s backing of Beth Joy over herself didn’t please Laura too much so it would have been fun to see how things went down if she stayed. But we will never know and the fight between Laura and Beth Joy will never be more then we saw tonight. Guess we don’t have much to worry about though as the judges get into a small cat fight next week. Is Greatest American Dog turning into the next Big Brother with all these fights? I sure hope so!

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Is it just me or did the latest Greatest American Dog seem more like Greatest American Top Model? With the theme of personality, the dogs essentially became models and it ended up in a very interesting expulsion. After last weeks leave of David and Elvis, few dogs and owners were upset. One was even relieved Elvis was gone and that was Ron. A few weeks ago his told Tillman and Elvis got into a spat so with the psycho dog gone it was all good in the Canine Academy.

During dinner Travis and Laura once again began to flirt. Brandi couldn’t help but notice and sat in during their entire conversation. It wasn’t really that interesting but the end was. When a few other players entered the kitchen Brandi was caught but she played it off well. She told Travis to keep chatting away with Laura while he asked her why he can’t talk to anyone else besides her. Someone made a comment towards the end but I sadly missed it. The next morning brought breakfast and showed two opposing ways of feeding the dogs in the house. While Beth Joy created her own vitamin filled food for Bella Starlet, Ron took the easy approach by filling up Tillman’s bowl with hearty dog food.

Good thing the dogs were practicing their eating as that was the main point of their next Dog Bone challenge. Each round the dogs would be given some type of food or item and their owner had to guess if their dog would pick up or eat that item. For the first round the producers pulled out juicy steak, taking out Laurie/Andrew and oddly enough Ron/Tillman. The second item was a stick and all but two pairs remained: JD/Galaxy and Laura/Preston. For the last temptation the dogs were asked to eat tofu. Although Galaxy normally doesn’t eat normal food, JD guessed he would eat it. Laura, on the other hand, said Preston wouldn’t eat the tofu but she was wrong. Since Preston licked the food, Galaxy and JD took home their second dog bone challenge and sent their biggest threat, Travis and Presley, to the Dog House.

Immediately following the Dog Bone challenge it was time to prepare for the Best of Show challenge. For the very first time it would be individual as the owners had to choose which word their dog would represent in a photo shoot. The teams and words were as follows: JD/Galaxy doing sneaky, Beth Joy/Bella Starlet doing mischievous, Bill/Star doing stubborn, Teresa/Leroy doing angry, Ron/Tillman doing lazy, Laurie/Andrew doing curious, Brandy/Beacon doing love, Travis/Presley doing joy and Laura/Preston doing regal.

Most of the owners had an easy time getting their ideas together but Bill and Teresa suffered the most it seems. Bill was VERY nervous about his first photo shoot with Galaxy and he found it hard to think of a pose or idea to represent stubborn. Being so close to Ron and Tillman seemed to help him though as he took a page from their playbook and tried to relax and go with the flow. On the other side was Teresa who had a hard time making her always happy day, Leroy, be angry. She had different methods to do so such as squirting him with lime water and putting a vacuum hose on him. He didn’t like that to much since he bit her, showing he does have some anger in him at least. In the end Laura gave her snarl bands which force the upper lip of the dog to stay up, making them look angry. She didn’t want to use them and used them as a last resort.

When it was time to shoot the photos Travis and Presley were up first. Since Presley is a boxer he loves to jump and that’s what Travis had him doing. When it came time to judging the one judge loved it while the other two found it rather boring as they’ve seen it so many times before. For Galaxy and sneakiness, JD pulled some props from the Dog Bone room and placed Galaxy in a bush/wilderness scene. The way Galaxy hunched his back impressed the judges so much that they named him best in show, rewarding with him with the chance to have the photo in the one magazine ran by the male judge. Pretty impressive! I’m surprised how well JD is doing, although he is a professional dog trainer so I can see why he’s doing so well.

For Laurie her idea for curious came pretty naturally for her and Andrew. Using a telescope she had Andrew peer into it, impressing all the judges and they agreed it would be hard for the type of breed Andrew is to do that. For Bella Starlet and Beth Joy the judges finally had high praises. By pulling off mischievous so well, Beth Joy rewarded Bella with all the bones she used in the photoshoot. Hope it doesn’t ruin her diet! Another one who did rather was Bill. Although he was nervous in the beginning, he pulled off a great stubborn pose by having Star stand there while he tugged on her leash. I didn’t get it at first but once it made sense it was pure greatness. Although she thought she pulled off her pose well, Laura and Preston weren’t a fan favorite of the judges. They though Preston’s simple, to the side, stance wasn’t regal enough but Laura barely squeaked through as she wasn’t in the bottom three.

Leaving only three left that means the remaining three were in the bottom three and could be sent home. Teresa pulled off the angry pose with Leroy very well in the picture, but the judges scolded her for using the snarl bands. Since she had such a hard time in the photoshoot Teresa pulled them out. She said she regretted it but it was too late. Brandi, who thought she was going home for the longest time, was loved by one judge and hated by the others. I must admit her photo of Beacon and love didn’t really show any love at all so there was no surprise she was on the bottom three. Probably the most surprising thing though was who was expelled and that was Tillman and Ron. They were a favorite of mine as they added much needed fun to the show. Ron decided to take the easy route and just let Tillman be Tillman at the lazy photoshoot. Using a black and white picture for his entry, the judges all agreed that he skimmped on the creativity part. One even called it the worst picture of a boxer ever, I’d probably have to agree.

Also CBS is running a “Make Your Dog Famous” section on the Greatest American Dog Website. If you want to find out more you can click here: Vote In Make Your Dog Famous. That’s my puppy Gabby, please vote for her then submit your own dogs for the site!

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