"Greatest American Dog": Beyond Good Breeding

We already know America’s Got Talent, the Best Dance Crew and countless Idols and this summer on CBS, the search begins for the Greatest American Dog. For the first time ever in the history of primetime broadcast programming, dogs are taking center stage. A competition show with a dash ofBig Brother (the owners and their dogs live in close quarters), weekly challenges will test the owners’ ability to train their dogs to do both common and oddball tricks. The final remaining team is awarded with $250,000 and more importantly, the title ofGreatest American Dog.

Taking over the Survivor time slot on Thursdays at 8 p.m., Greatest American Dog, is slated to be CBS’ #1 primetime show this summer. Hosted by Jarod Miller, a zoologist and television personality, the series will showcase dogs trained at home as well as seasoned show dogs. The teams are judged based on several criteria by a panel of three dog gurus- Wendy Diamond (author, and founder and Editor-In-Chief of Animal FairMagazine), Allan Reznik (Editor-At-Large of Dog World and Dog Fancy Magazine) and Victoria Stilwell (author and host of It's Me or the Dog).

Last week I caught up with Greatest American Dogjudge,  Wendy Diamond and her Maltese, Lucky Diamond. Here’s our conversation:

Nina Spezzaferro:What is your background with dogs?

Wendy Diamond: In 1999, I launched the first pet lifestyle magazine called Animal Fair. By doing that, I created a lot of fun events. I created the first ever pet fashion show called “Paws for Style,” where all the fashion designers design dog outfits. I created the first ever "Halloween Pet Costume Party." I created the first ever "Canine Comedy," which was all the famous comedians doing dog jokes. Basically, we were the first to do creative lifestyle stuff with pets.

I started doing a lot of segments for TV - the Today show and CNN and Fox and doing fun, lifestyle pet segments- traveling with your pet, relationship stuff with your pet. Then I wrote a couple of books- one called How to Understand Men Through Their Dogs as well as How to Understand Women Through Their Cats. I have a new book coming out called How to Train Your Boss to Roll Over.

I’m about the humor and the love with pets. I find pets are an amazing asset one should have because they give you unconditional love, loyalty and a bond, which very few people can give you in life.

When we launched, 12 million animals were killed in shelters. That number is down to 6 million in nine years. We were really on the forefront of bringing awareness. Now pets are chic. When we started, pets were still in the doghouse and they were named “Spot.”

NS: Tell me about your fellow judges.

WD: Allan Reznik is a breed expert. Victoria Stilwell is a trainer and uses positive training rather than the Cesar Milan training. And I am the lifestyle, pet relationship expert. I really respected the judges. It was like they got the best in the field.

NS: Had you met any of them prior to filming?

WD: Victoria actually wrote for me years ago for Animal Fair. I did not know Allan at all. In fact, I met Allan at the casting and I remembered thinking, "How fabulous!" It’s a great chemistry. We don’t agree on everything and that’s great. It’s very rare that you find three people that get along like that.

NS: What is the structure of the show? Every week there’s a new challenge?

WD:  We eliminate one person and their dog per week. There are outrageous things. Every dog on the show was fantastic. Any dog that would live in a house with 11 other dogs that they do not know, you’ve got to give them credit. Victoria would judge on the training and Allan would judge on the breed-related issues and the temperament of the breed. And I would judge on the relationship, but they’re all kind of tied in together.

We’re not judging on how great the dog sings. With some of these challenges, not every dog could do it, nor could every owner do it. The difference between Greatest American Dog and the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on USA is that we don’t judge on pedigree. We don’t look at how well the dog is groomed. We’re not judging on the heritage of the dog.

This is an informational and entertaining show. It’s a show where you can learn a lot about training and a lot about relationships with pets and the aspects of different breeds and also be entertained.

NS: I’m assuming there was drama in the house.

WD: There were a lot of dog fights.

NS:Between the people or the dogs?

WD: There were a lot of dog fights with no pit bulls. You’ve got your evil characters; You’ve got your happy characters; You’ve got your gorgeous people. You’ve got young, old. It’s a show for everybody. You’ll fall in love with people and you’ll hate people; You’ll have every emotion.

NS:How has your prior experience in television compared with doing Greatest American Dog?

WD:  I’ve done a lot of shows. I’ve sat on sets where I’ve said, "This is going nowhere." This show was the best production I’ve ever been on. 

It’s an inspirational story of the dog-eat-dog world. It’s taken so long for a primetime network to do a pet show, the reason being you’re going against dog people versus cat people versus non-pet people. No one thought that there would be a show that would be able to get the viewership and I would make a bet that this will be the biggest show for CBS this summer.

NS:Will the show appeal to non-pet people?

WD: There’s nothing more hysterical for people to watch than dysfunctional people and when you’re watching 12 people live in a house and they have to share one room with four people and four dogs, it’s dysfunctional.

"Greatest American Dog" premieres this Thursday, July 10th at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.