The Greatest American Dog

I have to admit that I've only watched the show twice now. The first time I watched it near the beginning of when it started, and thought the judging was absurd, so didn't watch it again. Well, I watched the show again last night and still think the judging is absurd. Honestly, how does editing a dog magazine make you a good dog trainer, or even someone who understands the nature of dogs as animals? Obviously it doesn't. Many of us believe that dogs are a part of our family, but when you get right down to it, you have to remember that they are dogs -- animals -- not people. What I saw last night was a test a loyality as it would be applied to humans. Dogs don't have a word for loyalty. Their family is their pack, and if you are taking on the role necessary for the pack to work, that is, as leader of the pack, then your dog should listen to you. To me, that test was purely obedience, nothing else. What is all that nonsense of the one dog being 'robotic'? She was listening to her master, as she was required to do at that time! The judges say that he was being 'aggressive' over his dog, but what I saw was that he was being the leader. His body was telling her she'd better not move. And she respected him as leader and listened. And what about the border collie? I know a few border collies and I have a smooth collie myself. That kind of test is very hard for them because I think they have a little bit of obessive compulsive disorder :) They need to be working. I'm not sure the owner would have been able to make him stay without doing what she was doing. Sure, I found her a bit annoying with all the repeated 'stays', which technically you shouldn't have to do, but ultimately, the dog did stay. I mean, what was the owner supposed to do? Just stand there and politely ask the dog to stay? That would never have worked with him in the excited state he was in. Which isn't to say that she had good control of him -- obviously she needs to work with him to get him to calm down. And the boxer. Well, he broke his stay. Yes, he came back, but how does that show loyality? Again, I think that was obedience kicking in. He obviously just needs a little bit more work on his stays. I think that if they really want the show to be a success, they should get some good dog trainers in there as judges. If you've ever watched the 'Dog Whisperer' with Cesar Milan, you would see that you need to be leader of the pack to get your dog(s) to respect you and listen to you. I wonder how those judges would judge Cesar?