Greatest American Dog, Episode 7: The Big Dig

Last week on Greatest American Dog, with Brandy gone, sparks started to fly between Laura and Travis. Bill gives up the Dog Bone suite and Leg Up advantage to Teresa. The dogs and owners designed a painting defining their relationship. Teresa won that challenge, but Preston and Laura’s art fell short and they were sent home.

Back at the house, Beth Joy hugs Travis and thanks him for sticking up for her at the judging earlier that night. As the folks settle in for the night, she continues on, still frustrated with Laura’s comments. She goes so far as to whisper to Bill and Travis, “If Laura hadn’t made that comment, I think Bella would have gotten special recognition for her portrait tonight. I think she knew she was going tonight…” Travis and Bill politely listen.

The early birds, Bill, Travis, and Beth Joy are up for coffee the next morning. Travis leans in to say hi to Bella Starlet, when he is greeted with a growl and a bark from her. She apparently nips at him, just missing flesh. Later, Bella Starlet’s snipping at one of the other dogs and Beth Joy starts crying… again. This girl is just full of tears and drama. She thinks that Bella is just stressed out and done.

Speaking of drama, more is to come. In the living room area, Teresa is showing Travis how to make Presley bow down for treats, while Laurie, Bill, and JD watch from the sidelines. Laurie decides to chime in, asking Travis if he thinks Presley respects him and even fears him. She tells Travis that he needs to be the alpha and make sure the dog knows who hands out the food and who is in charge. The treats are key to her view on training.

JD overhears this and starts laughing in a way that makes me think a heated debate is about to come. He tells the group that he doesn’t believe that he needs the treats and that he doesn’t have to have them nearby all the time. He believes more in giving the dog praise only and not using food as a key tool. There are obviously two distinct camps of thought on training dogs and both camps are very passionate on their stance.

On a side note, I sent a quick e-mail to my resident dog-trainer, Mary Jo, to see what her thoughts are on all of this. I’ve seen her on the CBS message boards as well, where she does a great job of soothing some of the fur that flies there. It seems to me that different dogs will respond to different methods of training, and similar to raising kids, you have to see what works with each particular dog.

She writes, ”On the one hand are the old-school trainers like JD (and Cesar Milan), that essentially use punitive methods and compulsion to train (not necessarily exclusively, but it's a big part of their methodology). And on the other hand you have the new school which is positive methods only (often involves food and clickers), like Laurie.

People that train with positive methods see the other methods as cruel and unnecessary, and often resulting in dogs that have less enthusiasm. People who train with compulsion often talk about how the other methods don't give you reliability and you always have to have treats on-hand.

Personally, I feel that you can get good results with either method... depending on your dog. My shelties, for instance, definitely respond far better to positive methods. However, I do sort of mix-and-match as the situation requires, but corrections are generally a last resort. It's very, very important when using food/motivators in training to understand their role and how to wean the dog off of them quickly.”

She continues, “I use food in training particularly when teaching new skills because, with my dogs, there is simply nothing better for getting enthusiasm and drive. With dogs like border collies and JRTs [editor’s note – Jack Russell Terriors], often toys are the strongest motivator. Once the skill is learned though, I quickly switch to random rewards and use increasing amounts of praise such that it becomes the primary motivator. Good trainers just know how to do this and simply don't have issues with food dependence in training.”

In any case, we see that there is a strong debate going on in the world of dog training and there are good points to be made for both sides. I appreciate Mary Jo for taking the time to explain some of this here.

Back to the show. It’s time for the Dog Bone challenge, where the winner will receive the golden dog bone key to the suite, a leg up, and a tasty rawhide bone for the winning pup. As an added bonus, the winner will be able to make a call home to talk to family. Bill, as you can imagine, is licking his lips in anticipation.

This week, Jarod tells the contestants that the focus is on how well the dogs work in rescuing someone. The teams will be split into pairs where one dog will ring a bell to signal to the other that a person is missing. The “missing” owner will be hiding inside a box below a pile of dirt. The next dog will have to climb up a set of stairs, get into the box full of woodchips and dirt; then dig to find a rope. Once that dog finds the rope and pulls on it, a door will open and the owner will be free. Time is limited to five minutes.

Laurie & Andrew are “randomly” paired with JD & Galaxy. Imagine that! The two who have a heated debate about training are going to put their ideas to the test and have to work together. JD climbs into the box, which leaves Laurie to work with the dogs.

The timer goes off and Andrew is quick to figure out how to ring the bell. Laurie calls him back to the leash where she hooks him up and unleashes Galaxy. Smart dog that Galaxy is, she immediately figures out that Laurie wants her to dig. It’s cute that JD is below her telling her, “Come on G-money!” Sure enough, she digs away and JD’s freed fairly quickly. Both trainers are happy with their dogs’ performances.

Travis is excited to be teamed up with Bill as a partner. They decide that Travis will climb into the box and Bill will direct Presley and Star. Star is up first and, in a matter of seconds, rings the bell. Bill praises her before letting Presley go find Travis. Presley runs off at first, distracted by something on the side. Once he hears Travis’ voice talking to him, coming from inside the box, Presley understands that he has to start digging. This team performs well and it looks like they might have a good chance of winning the challenge, depending on how much time Presley may have cost them by bounding off for a few seconds.