Greatest American Dog
I and, with the exception of "American Idol," which I sheepishly confess captures my

fancy, reality TV doesn't hold much interest for me. "Survivor" will survive without me, I have never been a fan of The Donald and his apprentice and I could care less who marries the millionaire.

But, apparently CBS thought they had a live one by the tail with the concept of the Greatest American Dog competition, airing on Thursday nights at 8 pm. Over 9 million people watched the premier episode two weeks ago, making it the sixth most popular show during prime time television. For 10 weeks, the 12 owner-and-pet pairs compete for the $250,000 prize by performing tasks.

The whole thing sounded pretty lame to me, but because it involved people and their pets, I have been making a commitment to watch. The dogs are adorable; their owners are a pretty quirky bunch that offer a mix of backgrounds from the beach bum who works construction occasionally when the waves are bad to film producer to a Manhattan doctor.

The weekly competition is the Dog Bone Challenge. The winning pair, whose reward is to stay in the private luxury suite called the Dog Bone Suite, also gets to pick which pair has to spend the night outside in the Dog House. Meanwhile, the rest of the group live communally at the Canine Academy, an ugly building tastelessly decorated with dog-themed tschotski and canineinspired topiary yard art.

The first week, the Dog Bone Challenge was doggy musical chairs. When the music stopped, owners had to get their dogs to jump up onto a platform and sit, and as in regular musical chairs, there was always one less chair than contestants. JD, a professional dog-entertainer who owns 10 dogs, and his dog, Galaxy, an English Pointer/ Border Collie mix, won this one.

In last week's episode two, the focus was on obedience. In the Dog Bone Challenge, the dogs had to respond to their owners within a specified time to come, sit, sit-stay, shake right paw, go back and circle. Emerging favorite Travis, a bartender and aspiring actor, and his 1-1/2 year old Boxer, Presley, took home the honors.

The second piece of the competition involves all the dogs performing in front of a panel of three judges, two dog magazine authors and a TV series host, who pick the bottom three pairs and choose the pair to eliminate. The first week the challenge required three teams to come up with a skit showcasing their dog's basic skills. The winning team performed to a Hawaiian theme. Aspiring comic Michael, who emceed his team's doggy disco performance, overshadowed and cowed his Boston Terrier, Ezzie, according to the judges, and got the boot. Michael was obviously surprised and made a tearful exit. The second week, a long banquet

table was set up in front of the judges. Divided into two groups, the contestants entered, dressed for a party, and were seated with pet and owner alternating. First, the owners had to put their dogs on a sit-stay, then get up and go around the table. Owners reseated. One by one the plates in front of the dogs were uncovered to reveal a beautifullypresented portion of the dogs' favorite food. Here the command was "Leave it," a tough discipline challenge as the dogs sniffed and salivated. Tillman, the Bulldog, was the most sorely tempted, and with his expressive face, you could feel his agony of indecision as owner Ron hissed "Leave it," into his ear.

In the bottom three for the second time, owner Beth Joy was roundly criticized for dressing her dog, multibreed mix Bella Starlet, for the party. However, it was Elan, an aspiring dog salon owner, who got eliminated, along with her dog Kenji, a gorgeous purebred Giant Schnauzer. You could almost hear the sigh of relief from the other contestants because Elan's training techniques left a lot to be desired; her continual vocalizing was annoying to fellow competitors and confusing to her dog.

Of course, the communal living situation provides other opportunities for drama. Elvis, the undisciplined Jack Russell Terrier owned by Dr. David lunged at the Bulldog Tillman, biting him by the eye. Already selected to initiate the Dog House by JD on the first night, Dr. David elected to remain out there for another night while tempers cooled inside.

Last week, Star, the full-bred Brittany, yelped while exploring in the bushes and owner Texas Bill was convinced she had a fatal snake bite. A bleeding Star was rushed to the vet where the diagnosis leaned toward an encounter with barbed wire or a feral cat and she quickly rallied.

If you can get past the corniness and schmaltz, watching the different techniques people use to work with their dogs is interesting and the dogs are very entertaining. The teams are mostly a likeable assortment that has already inspired an active online following. Tune in tomorrow night and see for yourself.

Jan Jaeger is owner of Geronimo's, Ltd., Nantucket's pet supply and gift shop, and is a member of DWAA and CWA (Dog and Cat Writer's Associations of America). Send e-mail to jan@geronimos.com (7/18/08) I