Guilty Pleasure

What’s your guilty pleasure? Right now, mine is a TV show that I did not have high hopes for: CBS’s Greatest American Dog. It’s a reality show, sort of, in that the contestants on the show are real people who have been taken out of their ordinary lives and sent to live together in a huge house, with cameras recording much of their days and nights. And it’s a sort of American Idol contest, with dogs, where the contestants are challenged with various tasks they must get their dogs to complete, and they win various prizes and privileges. A contest at the end of each show is viewed by a panel of three judges, who vote one dog/human pair to be the winner – and send one team packing. The ultimate winner of the show, at series end, will win $250,000.

I knew this show was coming to television months ago; a casting agency contacted me and asked if I would audition for one of the judges’ spots. I couldn’t say “No, thanks!” fast enough or emphatically enough, for several reasons. The first, quite honestly, is that I think I’m awful in front of a camera. Secondly, my life is complex enough, and my time in short supply; I couldn’t imagine taking on another responsibility.

The third reason? I was scared that the show would be terrible, dogs would be put into stressful situations, and force-based training would be featured.

The show was actually on the air for several weeks before I saw it. My dog-crazy sister Pam was the first to tell me that I had to watch Greatest American Dog. I groaned. “Oh boy,” I said. “Is it awful?”

“No!” she enthused. “The people are really diverse, and it’s interesting to watch how differently they train their dogs and how their dogs respond. And the dogs are adorable!”

I was pleased to discover that I could view all of the first episodes, in their entirety, on the CBS website, and I was hooked from the first episode. My sister’s review was spot-on. The people and dogs are really different. The show features individuals who are young, middle-aged, and older; athletic and phlegmatic; apparently sane and perhaps a bit unbalanced. (All the dogs, of course, are cute!)

Best of all, from my perspective, most of the training we see is positive. Force-based training does not appear to be a violation of the rules (and that’s too bad), but it is criticized by the judges. Even better: it’s shown in a fairly realistic light. It’s apparent that the owners who use the most punitive training have dogs with the most behavior problems, and their relationships are plainly strained. The dogs who get yelled at, or pushed and pulled around, are shown shutting down, tuning out, turning (or running!) away from their owners. Under the challenges and time limits that the show imposes, the pairs with relationship problems just can’t perform as well as the competitors who really keep things fun for their dogs. And some of the least-fun owners are getting voted off the show.

I can’t vouch for the rest of the season, or say I agree with everything that’s allowed on the show. But I’ll admit I have to watch Greatest American Dog on Thursday nights, just to see what’s going to happen next.