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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The Greatest American Dog is still impressing me as a show about dogs is becoming one of the most heart warming yet dramatic reality show in a long time. Last week Elvis and his owner David were sent to the Dog House and lucky they were. The first night the two moved back into the house Elvis got into a fight with Tillman, setting a few people off. David didn’t want to deal with the drama so he moved back into the Dog House for the night. He avoided the drama for a bit but the next day Ron let him know he couldn’t stay in his room if their two dogs would fight, making David on the bad list for a few people.

After that little tiff it was time for the next Dog Bone challenge. Once again the winner would get a lavish bedroom and choose someone to put into the Dog House. For the challenge the dogs and their owners would have to go through several obedience challenges. The dog(s) who don’t finish within the allotted time would be out for that round. The last dog remaining would win the Dog Bone room for them and their owner and win the challenge. When the challenge began Elvis and David ended up being the first out. No surprise there. As the challenge continued everyone dropped out one by one and it came down to Travis/Presley and Laura/Preston. The final challenge was to be the first to turn left, then right. Travis and Presley were the first to finish and gave the youngest dog there the win. Travis then had to choose someone to spend time in the Dog House and he chose JD. Everyone feels that JD is a threat so they were happy with the decision.

Following the Dog Bone challenge it seemed like Bill and his dog Star were missing home. He’s the oldest guy there and he’d surely miss his family but he’s glad he’s there with star as he’s that close with his dog. Before they went to bed Bill told Ron that Star likes to find snakes and brings them into his house. The following morning Star did just that and got herself into a bit of trouble. Bill heard her yelp in the yard and ran to her rescue. Star was bleeding pretty bad and after a trip to the Emergency Vet we found out she got into a fight with a cat or maybe got caught in a wire. Everyone was worried as they weren’t sure what was going on and realized just how much they would be upset if their dogs got hurt.

Later on it was time for the Best of Show preparation and this weeks challenge was “Pettiquite”. Three simple actions were going to be done but during the challenge the dogs would have distractions. Unlike last week the 11 players were split into two random teams. Group one was JD, Elan, Travis, Beth Joy and Laura. Their “troublesome dog” was Kenji who was basically continouosly yelled at by Elan. Nobody agreed with how she handled her dog and felt it could screw them up as well. Group Two consisted of battling dogs with Ron, David, Teresa, Bill, Lori and Brandi. Their trouble was David and Elvis who seemed out of control. He continued to run rampant and everyone was scared he’d bite again.

At the Best of Show Group Two goes first. Everyone does really well but there are a few problems here and there. The first challenge was to walk out and “heel”. The only dog to do somewhat poorly was Brandi’s, who was in the bottom three last week. Beacon wanted to stray a bit but got back on course. For the second part the dogs were put food in front of them that they loved. Although Tillman wanted to so badly eat the steak, none of the dogs gave in and did very well. The last challenge was to stay. The dogs had to sit at the table while their owners walked around the table. None of the dogs budged in group two and continued to do well.

The first group then came out and had a few stumbles. Everyone did well with the heel but the eating part had some issues. The only problem was really with Elan and Kenji as she basically barked at her dog. Every other “sound” out of her mouth was “ehh” and “stop”. I mean she yelled at her dog before the food even hit the table! None of the others ate and none of the others moved while the owners walked around as well. Once again Kenji screwed up though as right before the challenge was over Kenji jumped down off the table, making it pretty obvious would would leave. When it was time for judging Elan and Beth Joy had the worst words for them. Obviously they weren’t happy with Elan for yelling but Beth Joey and BellaStarlet were something totally different. The judges didn’t like how Beth Joy put Bella in a dress. It really had nothing to with Bella’s act but rather the choise Beth Joy made to put her in a dress.

When all the teams returned it was time to name Best of Show. The judges chose Bill and Star, who luckily recovered, to be the best and it was great to see the team bounce back after much misfortune! For the bottom three the judges chose David/Elvis, Elan/Kenji and Beth Joy/BellaStarlet. As the judges gave their critique  Beth Joy freaked out. She was made they didn’t like the idea about Bella being a dress and brought up several reasons. But the judges, who weren’t happy with the freak out, chose Kenji and Elan as well since she acted so badly during the actual part of the challenge. I think they made a great move, for good TV sake, since Beth Joy is certified crazy!

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