So where's the Greatest American Dog report?

[MarleysGh0st]

I caught a couple minutes of the show when its commercials weren't in synch with 5th Grader's.

I presume that snake bite wasn't serious? Or wasn't even a snake bite?

From what I saw of the "Leave it!" test, I think my canine brother, Petey, could have been a contender.

[silvercamaro]

I caught a couple minutes of the show when its commercials weren't in synch with 5th Grader's.

I presume that snake bite wasn't serious? Or wasn't even a snake bite?

From what I saw of the "Leave it!" test, I think my canine brother, Petey, could have been a contender.

I know this will amaze you, but last night was the first time I've seen this, so I don't know anybody's names -- two-footers or four-footers. Thus, my report will not be filled with such details. The "challenges" for the dogs were mostly commands covered in Lizbit's Obedience I and II classes, including doing them with distractions, so none should have been particularly difficult for a mature, balanced dog and a reasonably sane owner. Evidently, however, the cast for this show may have been selected without anyone thinking to check for those particular qualities in contestants of various footedness, nor vetting for possible aggressiveness. Alternatively, a couple of people/dog teams may have been included precisely because the producers believed they would introduce "drama." Swell.

The "snake bite" turned out to be some other kind of animal bite. The vet suggested a feral cat as a possible source. (I was ready to blame the Jack Russell terrier, as that dog earlier had brought blood from the bulldog. I also would like to drop a 40-pound bag of kibble on the head of Jack's owner, but that's another story.) At any rate, the dog was not only okay after the bite was treated, but went on with his owner, the Texan, to win the "heel" competition. I liked the guy for being so concerned about his baby, and I liked the dog, a sweet red-and-white mid-sized canine with floppy ears. (I don't know the breed, if identifiable, or if she simply was one of those wonderful mixes that produces a lovely, generic dog-dog.)

The dining challenge was somewhat more interesting. It had more "drama." See paragraph one. A big, curly-haired black dog was less disciplined than all the others. The dog was not interested in "sit" or "stay" or "leave it." In the meantime, the owner of said black dog kept up a loud and annoying blather of commands and noises that seemed to distract all the other owners, all the other dogs, and all the judges throughout the entire event, but were pretty much ignored by the big dog. I didn't blame the dog. I wouldn't want to live with that owner and have to listen to that constant babble, either. After chastizing another owner who had put a dress on her tiny dog, the judges awarded the challenge victory to a black-and-white Australian shepherd (?) who demonstrated excellent table manners.

My favorites were a really nice boxer and the young 30-something guy who owned him, plus the pair from Texas.

I don't know if anybody gets eliminated in this show. If it happened, it happened in the last two minutes, when I was already on my way to dinner with my buddies.

For the record, "leave it" is one of Lizbit's best subjects. I've used it to enhance her not-so-solid "stay" for extended periods, as she most willingly agrees to inactivity only with the assurance that there's something in it for her, and she likes to keep her eye on the prize.

[MarleysGh0st]

Thanks for the report, SC! I guess it's no surprise that TPTB have the same reality show standards, no matter how many feet they're casting.

And they've got that whole "living together in the castle" thing going.

From the little I saw, they'll be eliminating one team of contestants each week. I hope it was that dysfunctional pair you mentioned, this week.

My four-footed niece, Molly, will certainly be rooting for the Australian shepherd!

[silvercamaro]

My four-footed niece, Molly, will certainly be rooting for the Australian shepherd!

I came so close to describing the black-and-white dog as "the kind that always seems to be named Molly"! I know at least five Mollys of Australian ancestry. When AB was little, he used "mollydog" as a term for the entire breed.

[MarleysGh0st]

My four-footed niece, Molly, will certainly be rooting for the Australian shepherd!

I came so close to describing the black-and-white dog as "the kind that always seems to be named Molly"! I know at least five Mollys of Australian ancestry. When AB was little, he used "mollydog" as a term for the entire breed.

My family has never been terribly original when choosing four-footer names!

[silvercamaro]

I found the Great American Dog Community Message Board. (Who knew?)

Kenji, the black dog, was sent home with the owner. (Most of the posters over there agreed with me. In fact, many of them went farther, using terms like "borderline animal abuse.")

[MarleysGh0st]

I found the Great American Dog Community Message Board. (Who knew?)

Doesn't that come with all reality shows?

Kenji, the black dog, was sent home with the owner. (Most of the posters over there agreed with me. In fact, many of them went farther, using terms like "borderline animal abuse.")

Good. I'm sorry, Kenji, that you couldn't ditch your owner and continue on your own!

[ulysses5019]

I caught a couple minutes of the show when its commercials weren't in synch with 5th Grader's.

I presume that snake bite wasn't serious? Or wasn't even a snake bite?

From what I saw of the "Leave it!" test, I think my canine brother, Petey, could have been a contender.

I'm waiting for them to produce a show called "When Snakes Get Washed" or maybe "Smile, You're on Candid Snake!".

[ksbirchtree]

I read about the latest lame idea for a TV reality show -- jingle writers.

Contestants will have to write jingles or come up with marketing campaigns for products... something like that.

Gene Simmons is one of the "celebrity" judges.

So I guess the snake shows can't be too far behind.

[Ritterskoop]

We watched the first twenty minutes of this episode, having seen the final 20 of last week's.

There was a bit much living-with-each-other silliness for our tastes. The guy and his dog who won the fancy room seemed very nice, inviting all the others in for treats. The guy who got the doghouse and his dog (Elvis?) seemed OK with it. The one who left the doghouse was a pain. He looks like Anthony Hopkins but not in a good way, and is taking the whole thing too seriously.

There was one sequence I could tell had been filmed some other time, and inserted to make it look like one owner was badmouthing another. She was correct, that the owners should not physically make their dogs sit or whatever, but it was obviously edited in.

I await a cat show, which will not be about obedience on the part of the cats but of the owners.

Simon's Cat has a new cartoon out on youtube. If Simon would just feed that cat, none of the trouble would ensue.

[tlynn78]

My son was watching a freaky "reality" show yesterday, "Scare Tactics." Apparently the premise is a 'friend' can set someone up to have the bejesus scared out of them, and the set-up is filmed for our viewing 'pleasure.' The episode featured, I think, four such set-ups. There was only one in which the 'victim' appeared to me to be truly scared. A young gay man was sent with another worker to clean out an abandoned 'lab,' which had ostensibly been used for animal/human dna testing. He 'finds' a few disgusting things in jars and bottles, and then some human/muskrat hybrid thing jumps out of a cabinet. I'm pretty sure YGM had to change his britches. In the other ones, the 'victims' got over their fright waaayyy too quickly upon being told "you're on Scare Tactics" for them not to have been in on it from the start. Going from hysteria (upon seeing 'alien eggs' hatch and the contents attack the 'friend') to "i'm going to kill you!" in 2.4 seconds is a bit unrealistic, IMHO.


t.

[Estonut]

I sort of remember when this show first aired. Isn't Shannen Doherty the host? I remember her plugging it on the late night talk circuit.

[MarleysGh0st]

I await a cat show, which will not be about obedience on the part of the cats but of the owners.

Yeah, but the producers would have a hard time scripting that show.

"Dub, we're thinking of having Skoop do this challenge next."






"Would that be OK with you?"