Greatest American Dog

You already know I'm a sucker for reality shows and when you combine that with dogs--another weak spot for me--well, here I am, the target audience for the recent new reality show, Greatest American Dog. Of course I watched the debut episode on Thursday and of course I latched onto some dog favorites and marveled at the accommodations in the Top Dog private suite.

And yes, I was amused, entertained and in awe of the level of some of these dogs' acrobatic tricks, especially while contemplating the lack of tricks that exist among my three my couch potatoes, who snoozed through the entire episode.

But I think I see where this is heading and I hope I am wrong.

There was a nagging little voice in my head that found itself wondering if the dogs were having a good time. Wasn't it stressful for them to be in such close quarters with so many other dogs? Was it fair to them to make them perform on command in front of lights and cameras? And was it "right" to make their humans push them to do things they might not want to do, all in the name of money?

I sincerely hope that this does not turn into a show that illustrates the extent to which people will go to win money, especially when those situations involve manipulating an animal. Is this about how far will people push their pets to win or about the extent to which pets are willing to go to please their masters? A fine line, to be sure, but I'm starting to feel a little uneasy about the entire premise.

I'm sure these pets and owners were incredibly well-screened (think of the liability) and that they are treated incredibly well, and the point may be that I would never want to put my pets in that kind of a situation (not that they would ever be qualified), it just seems that there is a better way to illustrate the human-animal bond than with money on the line. People will do unbelievable things to win money and I'd rather those things not have to do with their dogs.

I hope I'm wrong. Of course the only way I'm going to find out is to continue watching and that is, of course, exactly what the sponsors hope I do.