America's Top Dog

America's Top Dog is a television series that premiered on A&E in January 2020. The show is hosted by actor David Koechner and sportscaster Curt Menefee, while Rachel Bonnetta serves as the sideline reporter for the show. The first season was filmed at Sable Ranch in Santa Clarita. The second and third seasons were filmed back-to-back in Simi Valley.

Format

Season 1 In the show, five dogs and their handlers—usually four police K-9 teams and one civilian team—compete in a three-phase competition. The first phase, the Canine Combine, is an obstacle course that includes the car slalom (where the dogs jump in and out of cars), the fire escape (where the dogs pull down the doors to get to the next level), the high jump (where the dogs jump over walls, or in some cases, crawl under them), the rope bridge (where the dogs run across an unstable rope bridge), and the splashdown (where the dogs swim across a small pool to the finish). The fastest four dogs through the Combine advance to the next phase. The next phase is the Boneyard, a scent detection test, where the dogs try to find as many scented objects as possible (out of five), and alert their handlers to the find, in a maze of rooms in five minutes or less. For each dog's run, the scent used is whatever the dog is most familiar with. The two dogs that find the most objects (or that find them the fastest, in case of a tie) advance to the final phase. In the last phase, the Doghouse, the dogs and handlers make their way through a "house," including knocking down the door, climbing through the window into a spider-web of bungees, low-crawling, climbing boxes, running through a duct-work tunnel, breaching two doors (with the dog pulling the door open), and finally apprehending a "suspect," including taking him down and then releasing on command and returning to the handler. The dog that completes the phase the fastest wins the title of "America's Top Dog," $10,000, an additional $5,000 donated to the animal charity of their choice, and the opportunity to compete in the grand finale, which has a $25,000 prize.

Season 2

Season Two features a new format, with dogs facing against each other in head-to-head matches across classes of working dogs, police K-9 dogs and "underdogs". The winners of the three classes then face off against each other, with the final winner receiving a $10,000 cash prize and a choice to donate $5,000 to an animal charity of their choice. The final contest features winners of the previous weeks going head-to-head for a cash prize of $25,000.

Contestants and winners by episode Season 1 Episode Number Episode Name Air Date Dog Name Handler Name 1 Raising the Woof January 8, 2020 Falco (winner) Dave Cochran Dax John Forlenza Maker John Kuendig Duco Nathaniel Anderson Maverick Casey Skelton 2 The Fast and the Furriest January 15, 2020 Bear (winner) Dan Rhoades Kato Charles Duvall Bonito Dawn Jauernik Rocko Stan Smith II Duke Ed Soares 3 Small Dog, Big Bite January 22, 2020 Minion (winner) Amanda Caldron Murphy Patrick Newbill Blitz Randy Stein Skoot Alexander Lindsay Demi Jared Backey 4 Double Down on the Underdog January 29, 2020 Mattis (winner) Mark Tappan Fuze Sarah Cole Riddick Amy Leishman Wolverine Otto Sturm Moto Jill Viggiani 5 Young Dog, Old Tricks February 5, 2020 Django (winner) Heather Vanhemmert Rico Tim Bradley Capo Juan Rivera III Leonittis Alex Chavarin Tango Jordan Jones 6 Country Boys and Rescue Dogs February 12, 2020 Eddy (winner) Todd Thompson Cam Justin Wilmot Kuma Michael Victorino Jago Mark Grube Scrappy Kristi Kummer 7 Are You Not Entertained? February 19, 2020 Bowie (winner) Bob Schwarting Pele T.J. San Miguel Crixus John Shahor Tater Chuck Mehr Bala Daniel Salander 8 The Battle of the Garden State February 26, 2020 Kai (winner) Mike McMahon Hunter (Top Overall Boneyard Time) Stan Balmer Rogue April Vaillancourt Blizzard Aaron Peterman Mesa Joseph Benke 9 Young Pups and Silver Foxes March 4, 2020 Bane (winner) Jesse Matthews Kobe Candice Snyder Kyra Brian de los Santos Macie Megan Devoe Bullet Lance Montee 10 Gaga for Doggles March 11, 2020 Rony (winner) Brad Larsen Simon Michael Garber Casus Belli Todd Mona Bruce Sandy Reeves Garry Aaron Steere 11 It Ain't Over Until There's a Top Dog March 18, 2020 Kai (winner) Mike McMahon Mattis Mark Tappan Rony Brad Larsen Eddy Todd Thompson Django Heather Vanhemmert Falco Dave Cochran Minion Amanda Caldron

Season 2 Episode Number Episode Name Air Date Dog Name Handler Name 1 Premiere Pooches June 29, 2021 Theo (winner) Dayna Winter-Nolte Krueger Shea-La Gatz Scar Chris Don Vader Edgar Valencia Monkey Omar von Muller Sue Sara Chisnell 2 Cute But Means Business June 29, 2021 Chase (winner) Mike Elezovic Saint Aolanis Fonseca Frank Alexa White Rex Chad Miller Emit Dana Rochat Envy Patricia Howell 3 Pulling A Fast One July 6, 2021 Capone (winner) Danny Casson Rebel Andrea Fergerson Mac Allison Bilinski Quelle Madison Sperry Creasy Gary Pigott Magnus Ares Sinead Mbaro 4 Beauty, Brains, and Bark July 13, 2021 Chase (winner) Joey Burns Varro Lisa Berry Murph Chrissy Garzon Bonny Kristine Hunter Envy Sophia Kalfayan Kane Whitney Ostrom 5 Tricks, Trials, and Takedowns July 20, 2021 Greymane (winner) Cheyanne Green Knots Andrea Reid Mattis Adam Laprade Banner Gary Herrero Niko Allison Case Riot Lauren Cabanaw 6 The Tall, the Brave, and the Engaged July 27, 2021 Chewy (winner) Rachel Clark Mina Otto Sturm JJ Kristi Kummer Puma Ben Gatton Mogan Joseph Garcia Demo Chris Collier 7 The Comeback Dogs August 3, 2021 Creasy (winner) Gary Pigott Saint Aolanis Fonseca JJ Kristi Kummer Niko Allison Case Krueger Shea-La Gatz Kane Whitney Ostrom 8 Title Match to Top Them All August 3, 2021 Chase (winner) Joey Burns Chase Mike Elezovic Chewy Rachel Clark Greymane Cheyanne Green Capone Danny Casson Creasy Gary Pigott Theo Dayna Winter-Nolte

Ratings

Season 1 (2020) No.TitleOriginal air dateRating(18-49)Viewers(millions)1"Raising the Woof" 0.31.182"The Fast and the Furriest"0.31.163"Small Dog, Big Bite"0.30.864"Double Down on the Underdog" 0.20.875"Young Dog, Old Tricks"0.20.876"Country Boys and Rescue Dogs"0.20.637"Are You Not Entertained?"0.20.628"The Battle of the Garden State"0.20.639"Young Pups and Silver Foxes"0.20.6810"Gaga for Doggles"0.20.5711"It Ain't Over Until There's a Top Dog"0.30.84

Season 2 (2021) No.TitleOriginal air dateRating(18-49)Viewers(millions)1"Premiere Pooches" 0.10.392"Hometown Favorites" 0.10.413"Pulling a Fast One"0.10.364"Beauty, Brains and Bark" ——5"Tricks, Trials and Takedowns"0.10.316"The Tall, the Brave and the Engaged"0.10.367"The Comeback Dogs" 0.10.308"Title Match to Top Them All"0.10.27

Season 3 (2021) No.TitleOriginal air dateRating(18-49)Viewers(millions)1"New Season, New Dogs" 0.00.202"Can't Keep a Good Dog Down" 0.10.243"Off Course Canines"0.00.214"Super Dogs" ——5"Super Mutts and Super Sniffers"0.00.196"Pound Pups to Top Dogs"——7"Redemption on the Line" ——8"One Top Dog Left Standing"——

Remake

The German TV channel RTL acquired rights from A&E for remaking the show into a six-episode series titled Top Dog Germany (German: Der Beste Hund Deutschlands). It premiered on July 23, 2021.

America's Top Dog

Bron en licentie