As we approach the one year anniversary of the final episode, most Dogsters have undoubtedly figured out what I knew the moment I left Canine Academy: there’s not going to be a second season of Greatest American Dog. Even though nearly 10 million viewers tuned in to the premiere, the show’s ratings experienced a steady decline throughout the season and ended with an average of 5-6 million weekly viewers. Comparing that to the ratings of other popular dog-themed television shows, including The Dog Whisperer on the National Geographic Channel which barely averages 1 million viewers weekly, it would seem GAD was an overwhelming hit! Unfortunately airing on a major network during prime time was both a blessing and a curse. Major networks like CBS (home of other reality shows like Survivor and Big Brother garnering 20+ million viewers each week) require much bigger numbers to renew a show, and GAD fell short. But, here on Dogster, the Greatest American Dog fan club was extremely popular. That’s why I thought fans of the show would enjoy catching up with members of the cast. So here’s the 411 from those who were willing to share!

Dog biz entrepreneur Elan and her gorgeous Giant Schnauzer Kenji returned to Oregon where Elan is currently running a growing doggie day trip service that leads tours to local lakes and parks in the Portland area. But you’ll never guess the new sport she and Kenji have plunged into. No, not dock diving (although the versatile Kenji has done this too). It’s scootering and dogsledding! What, can’t picture a Giant Schnauzer mushing? Well, apparently Kenji is a natural, and not only that, Elan is learning all she can from the top people in the sport, including professional dog sled racer Rachael Scdoris, who was nominated by ESPN as female athlete of the year. Knowing Elan, I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see this ambitious and dynamic young woman leading a team in the Iditarod one day.

For those of you who fell for the so called Laurie threw David under the bus bit, sorry, but you were had! The truth is, there was no betrayal and David and Elvis have remained one of our closest friends! This jetsetting duo is the toast of the Big Apple and are frequently seen at dog related events all around the city including the North Shore Animal League’s Dogcatemy Awards, Bideawee’s Gala on the Green, and even the Westminster Dog Show. In his spare time, Dr. David operates The Doctor’s Channel, an internet educational and networking resource for physicians, but even there he often mixes business with pleasure. Right now, the website features the recent nuptials of Elvis and his canine lady love. Definitely go check it out!

I hope everyone caught our buddies Ron and Tillman in this year’s Tournament of Roses parade! The skateboarding Bulldog was featured displaying his skills on the Natural Balance Pet Foods float. They are currently spokesdog/person for the pet food company and will be featured in the 2010 Tournament of Roses Parade as well. This time they’ll be accompanied by Tillman’s little furbling Rose, the newest skateboarding bulldog.

Brandy and Beacon have been very busy this past year. In April Brandy got married and Beacon was proud to be the flower dog. Beacon has been in Elle magazine for a Kate Spade ad, placed 2nd in the talent contest for the Dog Day Afternoon in Orange County, and marched in a Fourth of July Parade. Brandy continues to train Beacon who recently learned how to clean up her toys and is now skateboarding. Beacon will turn 3 this year and has been a very good dog for Brandy. They enjoy trips to the Huntington Dog Beach and walks around their community lake.

One of the busiest and most visible members of the cast has definitely been Laura and Preston. In fact, we’ve collaborated together on past events and have several exciting future projects in the works. Building on our mutual commitment to therapy dog work (Andrew and Preston were the only certified therapy dogs in the cast), we founded The Pawtastics, a non-profit volunteer organization comprised of celebrity dogs, studio dogs, and exceptionally-trained canines and their humans who aspire to take therapy dog work to another level. We’ve also created Girly Dogs, a movement to empower and celebrate small dogs around the world. The pair hosts and stars in Preston’s Planet, a live, interactive internet show broadcast on The Stream.TV, and are spokesperson/dog for Natura pet foods. Preston was the cover model of the August/September ‘09 issue of Animal Wellness magazine, and plans are in the works for his own feature film!

No matter where I go, there’s one pair I’m always asked about, and that’s Bill and Star. Bill says Star has shined brighter than ever and continues to shine more every day by entertaining literally thousands of people all over the country. She has helped raise money for shelters and rescues, received keys to the city, been the opening act for country western stars Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton, and even had a proclamation read in her honor by the Texas House of Representatives! Bill has recently started a dog training business specializing in obedience, tracking, herding and agility.

Since we both live in Virginia, we’ve seen our good friends Teresa and Leroy a lot this past year. We attended Leroy’s 5th birthday party in January and had the chance to meet many of his friends and Teresa’s satisfied clients. Teresa has been a successful dog trainer in Fairfax, VA for quite a few years and runs a successful training and dog walking business. From raising money for the The Animal Cancer Foundation, to being a spokesdog for Stella and Chewy’s dog food and a cover dog for the In the Company of Dogs catalog, Leroy has been very busy. Most recently the pair appeared on the QVC Network to demonstrate a line of dog toys. They are regularly featured guests at most of the pet industry trade shows such as H.H. Backer and Super Zoo.

This blog has enabled me to keep everyone abreast of what Andrew and I have been up to, but just to recap, he’s earned 4 agility titles, 3 additional rally obedience titles, has had featured roles in two short films, made appearances at dozens of charity events, was Grand Marshal for a walk-a-thon, has raised thousands of dollars for local animal rescue groups, and along with Preston even helped campaign for President Obama. Together we appeared on the cover of the November 2008 issue of the Whole Dog Journal, and have been featured and interviewed by numerous blogs and publications. My dog training and daycare facility, Pup ‘N Iron Canine Fitness & Learning Center, is booming more than I could have ever imagined! Even a year later we are recognized often, especially at dog shows and agility trials. It’s pretty funny to step up to the line and have the check in person do a double take and yell, “hey, I know you!”

And what about the winner? Travis reports that he and Presley have been having a wonderful time since the show. They’ve done a number of commercials including several for Exchange Bank in Oklahoma. They are currently working with KJ Productions out of Enid, Oklahoma to produce an education children’s DVD, with the first DVD set to be released November 2009. They’ve also worked a lot with Take Me Home rescue organization in L.A. If you were watching closely around Valentine’s Day, you may have caught Travis in a Zales Jewelry commercial he’d done prior to being on the show. If you missed it, hopefully they’ll air it again next year. Have your hankies ready, it’s a real tear jerker. According to his listing on IMDB, Travis has resumed his acting career and will be in an upcoming thriller called ICrime. Watch for it!

As for our esteemed panel of judges, you can still catch Victoria Stilwell on the second season of It’s Me or the Dog, airing on Animal Planet. Alan Reznick is still Editor-At-Large for Dog Fancy and Dog World magazines, but the busiest has to be Wendy Diamond! In addition to her frequent appearances on NBC’s Today Show and running the pet lifestyle magazine Animal Fair, Wendy and her rescue Maltese Lucky continue to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for animal rescue with their one-of-a-kind red carpet celebrity charity events. Most recently, she held her annual Paws for Style celebrity gala event featuring top celebrities tripping the light fantastic up on the catwalk. She has several book projects in the works, It’s a Dog’s World, to be published by Random House, and a new Chicken Soup for the Soul dog and cat book coming out October 2009.

GAD was destined to be a one time thing. Successfully and safely managing 12 dogs of different ages, sizes, breeds, temperaments and needs, along with their equally diverse and demanding humans, while filming challenges that would not only be safe, but entertaining and fun to watch, and telling a story that would be believable and accepting by the viewing audience was an undertaking I don’t think anyone could have really been ready for. Undoubtedly the project sounded really good on paper, actually producing it was a different story. Whenever I’ve asked my castmates if they’d do it all again, most have said yes, and I concur. Who would pass up the opportunity to spend 6 weeks with his or her dog, away from all the worries, responsibilities and hustle and bustle of every day life? We wouldn’t be the people we are today and we wouldn’t have the relationships we have with our dogs if we hadn’t gone through this experience. But it also gave each of us an inside look at so-called reality shows, in general. They may be unscripted, but there’s definitely a storyline the producers intend to follow, no matter what, and they have the power of the camera and editing to do so. But none of us are complaining. We’re great, our dogs are great, and we are among a select few who will ever be able to say, we not only survived being on Greatest American Dog, we’ve thrived!


Did you want to see a second season of Greatest American Dog?
What message do you feel Greatest American Dog sent?
After seeing the show, would you have auditioned for it with your dog?
Do you believe what you see on reality shows is how things actually happened?

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• Celebripups Hit the Big Apple for Charity
• A Day at a NYC Dog Run
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Ever since its formation in 1884, the American Kennel Club (AKC) has banned mixed breed dogs from being registered and competing in any of its performance events. Last week, after several years of contemplation, the non profit organization finally announced its plans to implement a Mixed Breed program allowing mixed, hybrid, and breeds not recognized by its registry to become registered and compete in obedience, agility and rally events. Mixed breeds will not be able to compete in conformation events, the “beauty pageant” type shows you see most often on television.

Well, it took 125 years, but I guess as they say, better late than never. Or maybe not. The proposed program is receiving mixed reviews and at best has garnered a cool reception by many mixed breed dog parents. While mixed breeds will be able to compete, they will be entered in a different class, separate from the purebred AKC breeds and will only be competing against other mixed breed entries. Additionally, the mixed breeds will earn different titles, identified by a -M suffix. In other words, the AKC Companion Dog (CD) title will be designated CD-M when a mixed breed dog earns it. This has become a major bone of contention for some. Says one mixed breed owner, “the AKC has always been elitist. They just don’t want some mixed breed showing up their precious dog with the champion bloodlines.”

Adds another, “They still want to treat our dogs like second class citizens. I can just imagine how they’ll treat us.” But there are others who are looking forward to the chance to finally enter their dog in an AKC trial.

One owner beamed, “I have both a Labrador and a Heinz 57. I can’t wait to enter them both in the same trial.”

There are other venues that have been welcoming mixed breeds in their performance events for quite a while, like the APDT, UKC, USDAA, and ASCA, but because of its size and prevalence, the AKC offers many more trials throughout remote areas of the country, making it the only game in town for some.

Registration opens up in October, and the registered dogs will be invited to start competing in April 2010. Time will tell whether or not mixed breed owners embrace this program. I know if I had a mixed breed I’d be one of the first to sign up! Although they’ll be in a different class, the mixed breed dogs will still be judged in the same ring, under the same judge and criteria. And when it comes to performance events, it’s all about the scores. How cool would it be for the mixed breeds to outscore the purebreds? I say, GAME ON!

I’d love to hear from mixed breed dog owners out there. What do you think about the AKC implementing this program? Will you register your dog and compete in its events? Do you think putting the mixed breeds in a different class is a slap in the face?

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Not a duckling, chick or bunny rabbit, but a 6 month old Portuguese Water Dog! A while back I predicted that the Obamas would, in fact, be getting a Portie puppy. At the time I speculated that they might be taking over the care for the Portie puppy Ted Kennedy and his family brought home last December. Well according to the latest, I wasn’t too far off. The Obamas are not taking the Kennedy’s pup, but rather are giving a home to a 6 month old Portie who is related to the Kennedy’s dog. Apparently the pup was a give-back to some Portie breeders in Texas. Many reputable breeders include clauses in their puppy contracts that stipulate the new owners may never sell or transfer the dog to anyone else, but rather must return the dog to the breeders. Apparently, for whatever reason, this pup’s owners couldn’t keep him and gave him back to the breeders. Mind you, most of this information comes via TMZ, so it’s not completely engraved in stone. But I couldn’t miss the opportunity to dish with my dawgs at dogster! The puppy is supposed to arrive on Tuesday, so stay tuned. We’ll all know the real deal very soon.

But if this is for real, then it’s the Obamas to the rescue in a total win/win situation. They get the dog that is right for their family, and this pup gets a second chance at life in a wonderful family!

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I reported back in January that the first dog would, in fact, be a Portuguese Water Dog, and that the dog may very well have already been chosen. So I kind of chuckled this past week when I read all the “this just in” news reports, including an article in People, stating the Portie would be the final choice. So don’t forget Dogsters, you read it here first, a month earlier! Further, the First Lady stated to People that they hoped to find a rescue Portie and bring him or her home to White House by April. Okay, let’s see, since it’s already March 2, I’m sticking to my original story that the dog has already been chosen and is sequestered somewhere safe. In fact, here’s my theory. Senator Edward “Ted” and Victoria Kennedy, already the owners of two Portuguese Water Dogs, got a brand new 13 week old Portie puppy right after the holidays who they named Captains Courageous, or “Cappy” for short. Not a big deal, right? People get new puppies all the time, but the Senator was (and is) still recovering from the brain surgery he underwent last summer. This could be viewed as hardly the time to get a new puppy. Which is why I believe Cappy will be first dog. There, I said it. It’ll be determined that a new puppy is a bit too much for the ailing Senator and thus, the Obamas will come to Cappy’s rescue. This will allow the family to have the puppy they wanted and to fulfill their desire to get a rescue. That’s a win/win situation if I ever heard one!

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Andrew and I really wanted Mickey Rourke to win this year’s Oscar for Best Actor. His portrayal of Randy “The Ram” in The Wrestler was so heartwarming, and you could tell he poured every bit of his heart and soul into the performance, but more importantly, he’s really into dogs! Maybe Sean Penn has a dog(s) too, but we researched and couldn’t find a thing. So our guess is probably not. One thing is certain, you can’t get through an article about or interview with Mickey Rourke that doesn’t mention his pups! He thanked them in his Golden Globe acceptance speech. He is almost always accompanied by one of them on the red carpet, most notably his beloved sidekick Loki who recently passed away, may she run in peace. So Mickey’s not just a dog owner, he’s a dog lover. His dogs are a part of who he is and everything he does.

Rourke about Loki: “She’s the love of my life. She made it until six days ago. She left me at a time where, after 18 years, she knew I’d be all right.”

If I were keeping score that would make it Mickey Rourke, perfect 10, Sean Penn, zero.

And as if he needed any more points, have you seen Mickey’s dogs? He’s a big, burly guy, former boxer and proclaimed Hollywood bad boy. What kind of dog would you imagine him to have? Well I will confess when I heard his Golden Globe speech and imagined his dogs, I pictured Rottweilers, Boxers, Pit Bulls, Bulldogs or anything “bull.” Not so. Much to my delight his menagerie includes Chihuahuas and various Chi mixes, all small dogs, and some of whom wear clothes and jeweled collars. You go, Mickey! To me, it takes a strong, confident guy, secure in his own manhood to publicly display his love for his “girly dog.” In my book, that’s a slam dunk, home run and a touch down all wrapped up in one making Mickey Rourke the winner by a landslide.

While it’s probably not fair to favor celebrities with pets over all the others, on the other hand, I believe people who share their lives with animals have specific qualities that set them apart from the rest. It takes selflessness. When you get home from a hard day’s (or night’s) work and want to just plop down on the couch and kick up your feet, if you share your life with a dog or demanding cat, this is rarely an option. They want and need your attention and because you love them, you comply. It definitely takes some latitude and compromise in many areas. Let’s talk about housekeeping. Animals have no regard for cleanliness, this we know. Let’s be honest, dogs can be smelly at times, and sometimes downright foul. They sometimes drool and don’t care where it falls, like to roll in yucky things, lick their private parts and eat things off the floor. While cats are viewed as cleaner, ask any doctor and he or she will tell you that their mouths contain the most germs and bacteria of any domesticated animal. If a cat bites you, it’s almost a sure bet you’ll need a tetanus shot. And litter boxes? Enough said. So let’s just say, animal lovers, by design, are a lot less uptight when it comes to spilled milk, literally.

But all in all, I’d say the celebrities with pets are perhaps the most open and approachable as well. During the past two or three months I’ve seen Mickey Rourke in more photos and interviews than I could ever count. He even stops to talk to TMZ! As for Sean Penn, we all know how he views the paparazzi. He’s gotten into more than a few high profile scuffles with them. Who can blame him? They certainly are more than annoying, however Mr. Penn has also been known to snub fans as well. One thing I’ve found that unifies pet lovers is our willingness to talk about our pets. In fact, we seize almost every opportunity. Unfortunately, this doesn’t translate to questions about human children, particularly with celebrities. Most of them are far too guarded about them, and rightfully so. However when it comes to their pets, we have an “in.” It comes at no surprise that in nearly every interview I’ve seen with Mickey Rourke, he is asked about his dogs. Smart move, journalists! As for Sean Penn, et al, you’re on your own!

Which celebrities do you feel are the best dog parents?

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All the top dogs descended on the Big Apple this past weekend, but I’m not talking about the Westminster Dog Show contenders, here. On February 6, The Hotel Pennsylvania rolled out the red carpet for the Celebripups appearing in the Skybark Pre-Westminster Red Carpet Fashion & Awards Show . The benefit for Animal Haven Shelter was held in the famed Penn Top ballroom and featured a virtual who’s who of A-list dog celebrities from the world of fashion and network & cable TV.

My Maltese Andrew and I, along with our Greatest American Dog co-stars David and Elvis, Eli the Milkbone box cover model, Bocker the Labradoodle, Jilli the poker playing Yorkie, and Tito the Pomeranian, owned by Jorge Bendersky (from Animal Planet’s “Groomer Has It”), were chauffered by limousine to the affair before walking the red carpet in grand style. Later they walked the runway in a fashion show featuring the creative designs of doggie couture extraordinaire Ada Nieves.

Several hundred fans and pupparazzi joined in on the festivities that included live and silent auctions, a live DJ, hors d’ouerves, a pet psychic, photographers, and gift bags filled with lots of doggie goodies. No holds barred, all the pups and people were dressed to the hilt to kick off the absolute best week to be a dog or dog lover in New York City.

The event was sponsored by Skybark, FIDO Friendly magazine, Doggy Aficionado, and Metropolitan Dog Clubs – Blue Book.

What do you think of these fashions? Do you think dogs should ever wear clothes?

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We all heard a few weeks ago that the choice for the first dog had been narrowed down to either a Labradoodle or a Portuguese Water Dog. But here’s what we didn’t know. The word on the hill is that the dog has been chosen. That’s right, you’ve read it here first! Andrew and my sources say that the Obamas have selected the actual rescue Portuguese Water Dog they will be adding to their family!

Out of the two choices I must say given Malia’s allergies, I am glad they are going with the PWD. Because Labradoodles are a hybrid of two separate breeds, the Labrador Retriever and Poodle, the coat type is much more unpredictable. Andrew was hoping they’d pick a Maltese like him, despite the President thinking little dogs are girly dogs.

Now the biggest concern will be training and bonding with their new pet. PWD’s are a working breed and have a lot of energy. Dogs bred to do jobs need to be kept busy or they find creative jobs of their own like redoing the upholstery or landscaping! As first time doggie parents the First Family could really benefit from guidance and I am so hoping they select positive, dog-friendly training resources. In fact, hey President and Mrs. Obama, I’m right down the road and come heavily endorsed! I love to help new puppy parents establish great relationships with their dogs.

By the way, Andrew and I campaigned for you during the election. He and his pup pal Preston made a great little Bark for Obama video.

Getting a new dog is such an exciting time and the entire country will get to share in their excitement! It will be great to see how the family bonds with their new dog.
Do you think the Obamas will make good first time dog parents? What are some of the pitfalls you think they should watch out for?

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