Announcer: It's a brand-new season of "america's top dog"
And we've redesigned the game
To take the competition to the next level.
- Oh, great jump.
Announcer: We've got the obstacles you love,
The hosts you love, and, of course,
Your favorite four-legged furry friends.
- Oh, parkour dog!
Announcer: It's the nation's top underdogs,
Working dogs, and police k9s
Taking on extreme challenges...
- Oh! - Oh, my god.
Announcer: Where every breed imaginable,
From cattle dogs to dobermans...
[dog yipping]
Bulldogs to border collies... - Good boy.
Announcer: Will bring you even faster sprints...
- Oh! Look at that!
Announcer: Higher jumps... - Yeah!
Announcer: And the biggest takedowns
In "top dog" history.
- ♪ get ready for the wild life ♪
- Oh!
- Some guy in a decoy suit
Getting tackled by a flying dog.
It don't get no better than that.
Announcer: Tonight, we premier with teams
Whose handlers are all veterans of the military,
But only one will earn
The "top dog" title... - Whoo!
Announcer: $10,000... - Good girl!
Announcer: 5,000 donated
To an animal charity of their choice...
- That's a good boy!
Announcer: And the chance to compete
In the grand finale and be named...
Both: Yes!
Announcer: "america's top dog."
[dog barking]
- Brup, brup, brup, brup.
- Dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah.
- Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm.
- Boop, boop-boop, boop-boop. [laughter]
- Yes!
[intense music]
- Welcome to "america's top dog."
I'm curt menefee, and, man,
Am I excited for another season.
Once again, I'm joined by this guy.
He's an actor, comedian, my championship partner,
Mr. Koechner, david--
What's your middle name? - It's michael.
- David michael koechner, ladies and gentlemen.
- What's yours? - Durrell.
- Durrell. I like that. - Curtis durrell menefee.
- Aw, you can't beat that. - No, you can't.
[both chuckling]
- This season, we have an all-new format.
No more head-to-head matchups in the combine.
Instead, the three fastest times out of five
Will make it to the doghouse.
And remember, tonight,
It's all about the red, whit, and blue.
Tonight's dogs include underdog zoey,
A frisbee-loving border collie.
- This doggy wants to play!
- Underdog aiko, a doberman pinscher
That recently recovered from knee surgery
After going missing for three days.
- I came here to win.
- Working dog legend, a smooth fox terrier
That works as a bedbug detection dog.
- Terriers are always full of surprises.
- Working dog xerxes, a german shepherd
That also happens to be a movie star.
- Cast and crew members dubbed him the world's smartest dog.
- And k9 apart, a hardworking german shepherd
That's also his handler's therapy dog.
- We cannot wait to tear apart this course.
- On this show, we don't just give a dog a bone,
We give them a bonnetta,
As in our amazing canine correspondent
Who joins us right now, rachel bonnetta, with a preview
Of what we can expect on the k9-combine.
Rachel? - Thanks, guys.
I am really exciting about this new season,
And not just because I've learned
To communicate with dogs.
[barks]
[dog barks] [chuckles]
He's hysterical.
This competition is going to be no walk in the park.
Let me introduce you to the k9-combine.
First, teams will take on six unique obstacles,
All based on real activities
And trainings dogs experience in the real world.
They'll start by paying homae to "air bud"
With a series of jumps in high jump,
Where each wall gets progressively higher.
Next up, it's pipe dream.
Dogs will run through a 30-foot-long tunnel,
Which, depending on how long it takes them,
Could be a pipe nightmare.
Then it's fire escape,
Where intelligence and bravey are put to the test.
A series of buttons and leves require targeted commands,
All while following their handler up steep ramps
To enormous heights.
From there, it's dominoes,
Where our pups will show off their power by jumping
And knocking over giant 100-plus-pound dominoes.
Next, it's across the ever-popular shaky bridg,
A series of gapped wooden planks
Unsteadily strung by ropes several feet above the groun.
Balance, paw coordination, and confidence are key.
- Good boy! - And finally, splashdown,
Where they sail through the air,
Gaining as much distance as caninely possible
Over the 50-foot-long pool.
Then, they'll swim to the other side
To pull a tug, stopping the clock
And completing the course.
- Yes! Good boy!
- Remember, time is of the essence here, people.
Only the three fastest teams move on to the doghouse,
So these teams are going to have to stay focused.
- All right. Thanks, rachel.
Up first, steve siwecki
And his hollywood working do, xerxes.
Steve served in the army,
Including as a dog handler at fort bragg.
His german shepherd, xerxes, was cast as one of the leads
In a film called "billy and blaze."
♪ ♪
- My name is steve, this is my german shepherd,
Xerxes, and we're from woodbridge, virginia.
I joined the army in 1987.
The army got me going in training dogs.
The army taught me how to handle them,
How to move them,
How to get the best out of them,
Even when they don't want to stay.
Come on, bud. Hey.
I've had xerxes since he was eight weeks old.
Xerxes is truly my boy.
From moment one, he loved us.
He was just like part of the family,
Always wanting to be with us.
We took him everywhere, did everything.
Xerxes is a movie dog, and he is costarring
In a movie called "billy and blaze."
Xerxes is so good at being a movie dog
Because we've exposed him
To everything we possibly could.
The crew members and some of the cast dubbed him,
"the world's smartest dog."
Xerxes competes in weight pull.
Xerxes also does fast cat,
Which is a hundred-yard speed race.
He's 15th-fastest german shepherd
Of all time in 100 yards.
He does well on everything he does.
Weave, go, go, go, go, go, go.
Heights are his one thing that he's very cautious of,
But I think he'll have no problem with fire escape.
He is the fastest. He is the smartest.
He is top dog.
- Does xerxes have a little trick he wants to show us?
- He does. We call this one,
"the very dramatic dying."
- [gasps] - bang.
- [giggles]
Oh, there he goes. - Oh.
- Oh!
And he kept the shades on. Love it.
Okay, I will see you two at the finish line.
- In about 1 minute and 50 seconds.
- Oh, 1 minute, 50 seconds.
I like the confidence, okay. Start the clock, boys.
- Wow. Mr. Hollywood.
- Yeah. We're in good company here.
We get it, curt. We're in hollywood.
The dog's hollywood. Man, come on.
- I can't see a thing through these sunglasses,
So I got to take them off. All right.
Team xerxes is ready to kick off the season
With the first run of the combine.
[countdown beeping]
- Xerxes, heel.
Over, over. - Nice, wow.
They're off to a start. - Ohh.
I mean, that was less than ten seconds over the walls
And right into pipe dream. - Come on, buddy.
- No problem through the first two obstacles.
- Up, come on. - Up next is the fire escape.
- Fastest german shepherd ever, right?
- 15th fastest german shepherd time
In the 100 ever.
- Here. This button, here.
This one, here. Xerxes, this one, here.
- Can he get that red button?
Got it. - Stop.
- That time in 100 yards
Would equate to 7.01 seconds.
- Wow.
- The world record, usain bolt,
9.58,
So he'd blow usain bolt away.
He's blowing this course away right now.
- Wait.
Okay. - So the ramp comes down
To get up to the top level.
Now we'll try and grab that tug and pull up the flagpole.
- This dog is kind of a combination
Of usain bolt and george clooney.
- Ah--actor? - Yeah.
- Who's fast. [both chuckling]
- Fast-acting dog. - Pull, pull.
- There we go, we got it. - Yes.
- So he said 1:50.
He's got right about 30 seconds left to do that time.
- All the way down, come on. - He said that xerxes
Had a fear of heights. - Yes.
- Nothing high from this point on.
- Right. - Here, hup.
♪ ♪
- No problem with the dominoes.
- Okay. Come on.
- Here they go. Next up, shaky bridge.
- Go.
- No problem with shake either,
But he won't make that 1:50 call time.
- It's okay, buddy. We won't hold you to it.
We'll just remind you that you said it.
- As long as he advances, right?
- Go. Go. Go.
- Uh-oh.
- He's testing it. [both laugh]
"how cold is this water?"
- "draw my bath, will you?"
- They were on a great pace, but eating up time
Now at splashdown. - Xerxes.
- Looks a bit trepidatious to me.
- Go, go.
Yes, yes.
Come on, go.
- There we go, he gets in. - Come on, bud.
- Now he needs to swim to the finish.
Keep in mind, the three fastest times
Of the night will move on to the doghouse.
- Here, here. - So they want to post
The best time possible to avoid a future eliminatio.
- Come on, grab it. Here, pull.
No, pull. Pull, yes.
- And he does it! - Yes, good boy!
- 2 minutes, 33 seconds. - Come here!
- 43 seconds slower than they wanted to be,
But still a solid time to start the night.
We'll see if it holds up.
♪ ♪
Up next is an underdog up for a challenge,
Summer, who's in the air force,
And her doberman pinscher, aiko.
♪ ♪
- I'm summer. This is aiko,
And he is a doberman pinscher.
- Would have never even known.
That's the air force in me, right?
"there's a plane?" - [laughs]
- For a doberman,
He's a little bit of a small guy,
But he's got more heart than any doberman out there.
- Go, summer!
- I was headed to compete for his ipo2.
We stopped to just get a last-minute practice in,
And he headed off into the woods.
That was probably the worst day of my life, so...
'cause you never want to see,
You know, your best friend just take off on you.
There was 20, 25 people out there
Searching for three days.
Finally, we got a phone call, and they said, "hey.
He jumped right in my car, and I have him."
His back right leg, he wouldn't put his full weight on it.
He needed surgery on his knee.
He had nine weeks of rehab,
And I think he actually came back stronger.
He might have had surgery,
But it's not slowing him down any.
Is there a squirrel? There's a squirrel.
There's a squirrel somewhere.
- You look at this course, what are you nervous about?
- Probably the splashdown. He's a doberman.
They don't like water, and we're gonna sit at the edge
And probably have an argument for 30 seconds or so.
- Are you willing to go for a little swim today?
- I am willing to go for a little swim.
- Here he is on "america's top dog."
After nine weeks of rehab, team aiko is ready.
- I certainly am. - Here they go.
- Go, go, go. Over.
- Oh, nice, nice.
- Nice job. Wanna go over the high jump.
- Graceful. - Levitating!
- Yep. - Into the pipe dream.
- Good! - Oh, my gosh.
- Recovered from surgery completely.
- I think so, and he's got his speed back.
- Yes, he does. - In less than 20 seconds,
They're already on the second level of fire escape.
- See those finesse skills next.
- Aha! Look at this dog.
- I don't know if he meant to do it,
But he certainly did it.
- Yes, come on, bud. Aiko, come on.
- They're on a blistering pace, up the ramp.
Nothing to worry about so far.
- Uh-uh. All right, let's go, lever.
Lever locks, all right. - Ah, that's no problem.
And the season is off to fast start
With two quick dogs so far.
- Come on, let's go. - But now it's just a matter
Of getting up the ramp to the top level.
Let's find out what his tug instinct is like.
- Right. - Tug it.
Aiko, yes, grab it. - Yes, go ahead.
You mean this one, this one?
- Tug it, tug it. Yes, pull, pull.
- There we go. - There we go.
- Good job. - Fun fact,
The doberman was created by a german tax collector.
- Louis dobermann. - Nice.
Okay. - Louis.
- Hi. Do you want to know more?
No, going back to sleep? All right.
- Keep in mind, top three move on to the doghouse.
- Aiko, hup! Yes, come on!
- "what do you want me to do?"
- A little bit of hesitation.
Yeah. - Aiko, come on.
Yes. - There we go.
- Good job!
- They were off to a blazing start,
But now they're showing signs
Of slowing down. - Go, go, go.
Go, aiko, go. - Next up, shaky bridge.
- Oh, checking for trolls under the bridge.
[chuckles] all right, it's safe.
- She has aiko stay there,
And then tries to get him to run across,
But he wants to follow her.
- Yes, he does. "no, I want to come with you.
I'd rather be with you." a loyal dog.
- Really slowing down here in the back half
Of the course.
♪ ♪
Starting to eat up some time now.
Remember, they want to finish
With the strongest time possible
In order to avoid future elimination.
- Come on.
- He's understanding now. There we go.
Yeah, once he got on it, it was no problem.
Nothing left but the splashdown.
- Right here. Go get it.
- As she said, this dog doesn't like the water.
- Aiko, come.
- Could be problematic here.
- Aiko, come on.
- Oh, and then summer shows him how it's done.
- [laughs]
- And aiko's fear of water not easing up with summer's jump.
Our second run of the night, aiko, was on track to rival
Xerxes' time,
But a fear of water has her hesitating
Here at splashdown.
- Aiko, come on. - Oh, and then summer
Shows him how it's done.
And aiko's fear of water not easing up
With summer's jump, and the clock moves past
Xerxes' time of 2:33.
- Come on. - There we go!
- There we go, teamwork. - All right.
- "mommy, if you do it, I'll do it."
- [laughs]
- Now they'll want to finish as fast as possible
To give themselves a chance to be in the top three.
- All right. - So aiko makes it across,
Out of the water.
Summer crawls out as well.
Can they get that tug and stop the clock?
They do. All right.
2 minutes, 52 seconds is their official time.
And despite a slow second half,
They still put up a competitive time.
Staying alive. Aye.
- Aye. - Aye.
- Aiko, staying alive. - There we go.
[both chuckling]
- Up next, team legend.
Army staff sergeant brooke corson's
Smooth fox terrier
Has an impressive skill.
He detects bedbugs.
- Ah.
- My name is brooke corson.
I was a staff sergeant in the us army,
And this is my dog, legend.
He's a 4-1/2-year-old smooth fox terrier.
I call him my mfd, my "most favorite dog."
[dramatic music]
I got off active duty in 2006.
Your friends start calling, "did you hear
About this person, did you hear about that person?"
You know, they were falling victims to ptsd.
22 veterans a day commit suicide.
♪ ♪
And so in 2008,
I started a nonprofit called "mutts with a mission."
We train service dogs for veterans, wounded warriors
And law enforcement that have service-connected
Or a line-of-duty-connected disabilities.
These dogs are life-changing.
Legend helps train some of our service dog puppies
That we have, but his primary job is,
He's a bedbug-detection dog.
♪ ♪
He's a complete package.
He's a show champion and has his endurance earthdog title.
Of all the obstacles, the one that he's gonna have
The most difficulty with will be the domino walls.
He's 20 pounds on a good day.
[dog whines]
He's my favorite.
[dog barks]
- Wow. He is ready to go.
Is he a little bit of a troublemaker?
- Well, he's a terrier, so, yes, by nature they are.
Normally, he's pretty good. [dog barks]
- Legend's like, "everybody, shut up, let me run."
So why don't we do just that?
It is time for team legend to take off.
- Do your thing.
- Again, top three out of five
Move on to the doghouse.
So legend will have to beat fellow working dog
Xerxes' first place time of 2 minutes,
33 seconds to automatically advance.
[countdown beeping]
Let's see how big little legend can be.
When you're 15 1/2 inches tall, that 3-1/2-foot wall,
At the lowest point, is pretty big for you.
- A real obstacle. - Makes it over.
- Yeah! - There we go.
- It helps that brooke goes over with you.
She knows what it takes. - "where are you, legend?"
- She went to get the ramp, which you can do.
It just takes a little bit more time, but because the dg
Is so small, she got the assistance.
- There we go. All right.
He should blaze through this tunnel.
- Go, tunnel!
- Uh-oh.
- Halfway through he stops, but then he keeps going.
- Curious little fellow. - Isn't he a cutie?
- Talking about the dog or me?
- Go, go, go, go. [both chuckling]
- Both. - Thank you.
- Up the first ramp on fire escape.
- All right, now this is one smart little dog.
- Got the red button to turn green,
So we go up to the third level.
Again, we can show our age here
Because you remember the original rca dog?
- Yes.
- That was a smooth fox terrier.
- Yeah.
- All right. Press the paddle.
We do that no problem.
- So all the grandparents at home appreciating
Our side remarks right now.
- Get the tug. Tug, tug, tug, tug, tug.
- No interest whatsoever in this tug.
- None at all.
♪ ♪
- Tug. - [laughs]
Nothing to see, nothing to eat here.
Come on, you little playful mutt.
- That's it. Get it.
- He backed up, but he didn't have the tug in his mouth.
She can pull it after 30 seconds, and she does.
So brooke helps out legend.
Now they get back down.
All right, they'll need to really race
To the finish here
If they want to secure a spot in the doghouse,
But dominoes was the obstacle brooke was worried about.
A 20-pound dog, 100-pound wall.
- That's the real challenge.
Come on. Oh, get a run at it.
Yay! - There we go.
- "look, ma!" - oh, no.
- Yeah, that scared him. - [laughs]
It did. - "I didn't know it was gonna
Be that noisy." - let's go.
- They probably won't beat the first place time,
But remember the new format.
Top three advance, so it's al about finishing fast now.
♪ ♪
15-inch gaps between these planks.
- "I'm not doing that. How about for a treat?
Maybe?"
You lead this dog to a shaky bridge,
And it made him a little nervous.
- Xerxes' time passes, but if they can beat
The second place time of 2:52,
They can still avoid the hot seat.
So brooke, after the time limit,
Can help him across.
And, yeah, look at him. He's going plank by plank.
- He has to jump. - It's so cute.
- This dog definitely winning the cuteness award tonight.
- Absolutely. - I don't know if we're gonna
Give him points for that, though.
- And they won't beat 2:52 either.
- You're so silly.
- It doesn't help his time. - Does not take off your tim.
- But it is cute. - Yes.
- All right, now, he's a dock-diving specialis.
- Here. Now, jump!
- There we go! - Yay!
Talk about an adorable leap. - Nice, little jump.
- Uh-huh. - Good, good, good,
Good, good, good, good.
♪ ♪
- All right. - Let's go, let's go, let's go!
- Out of the water.
Can he get that tug?
That doesn't seem to be a big driver for him.
Let's finish this off strong, legend.
- Or just finish at all.
- [laughs]
And we're gonna reach that 30-second mark
Where brooke can pull it.
[timer beeps] and it's over.
- Good boy!
- 3:40 is the final time for underdog team legend,
Putting them in the third place hot seat.
Team xerxes will automaticaly advance to the doghouse.
Next up, underdog team zoey.
Alyssa grelewicz played flute for the marine band
And traveled the country while she served,
And now she pursues love of performance
With her frisbee-loving border collie, zoey.
- Ah, that's fun.
- Zoey.
- [laughs]
What was that?
[flute music]
My name is alyssa.
I played flute in the marine corps band,
And this is my border collie, zoey,
And we are from indianapolis, indiana.
♪ ♪
After the marine corps, I got zoey, my first puppy.
Are you good at frisbee?
♪ ♪
She has competed
In multiple world championships.
She catches everything.
When I was 24,
I received a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.
Having zoey by my side was really helpful.
When I'm kind of having, like, a low period,
She's there to be like, "hey, we need to go play."
And then if I'm too high, she'll bring me down
A little bit and be like, "we need to snuggle now."
[laughs]
Zoey's been doing agility forever.
Her goal is to complete anything
I ask her to do in the fastet amount of time possible.
Good girl. Rahr, rahr, rahr!
- Okay, does zoey have any tricks she wants to show off?
- Yeah, so, she does a handstand.
Hands.
Yeah! - Wow!
I don't think I've ever seen that before.
- Team zoey, they're ready to go.
And they'll need to beat team aiko's time of 2 minute,
52 seconds to secure a spot in the doghouse.
[countdown beeping] [dog barks]
And with a bark, team zoey is off to the race.
- You need to go over. There you go, zoey.
- Yeah, ready? Here, jump.
Yes, good girl.
- On to the pipe dream.
Tiny, little dog. 17 1/2 inches tall,
Only 25 pounds. - Zoey, here, here.
- Oh, zoey wanted to go up top.
Needs to go through the pipe dream here.
- [laughs] - there we go.
- Just having some fun. - Good job.
- A little walk in the park today for zoey.
- Now on to fire escape.
This border collie really intelligent.
- The smartest dog, yes? - They're ranked number one
As the smartest dog breed out there.
- Aha. - So you think
She'd have no problem.
- Hey, look at that. - There we go.
- You think I have any border collie in me?
- So they move up... - [laughs]
- To the third level here.
- You didn't say anything.
- Did you ask something? I'm sorry.
- [laughs] - I couldn't hear.
And so zoey gets that rather quickly.
- Come on, zoe. - Now up to the top.
- They're going up, right? - Yes, they--
Good answer. Good boy, good boy.
- Get it. Pull it.
- Grab that tug, pull that.
Oh, there you go. - Doggie wants to play.
A quick flip on that flag.
- Let's go. - Do you know why
They're called border collies?
- Uh, because they keep things in b-order?
- They were herding dogs, but they were trained
On the border between scotland and England.
So that's where they patrolled originally.
- Well, there we go.
You're smarter than a border collie, that's for sure.
- Rebound. - I can't do that trick,
Though, to knock down the dominoes.
- Yeah! - Wow, that's incredible.
- Go, go, go, go.
- So zoey making good time here
As they go across the shaky bridge.
Oh, zoey doesn't even need alyssa.
Right now, they're in great shape
To earn that spot in the doghouse.
- Go, jump! - Very impressive so far.
- Absolutely. - Uh-uh, zoey, come here.
- Will she dive? - Ready, go, jump.
- Yes. - Yes, she will.
- And with that jump, they've got a shot
At beating 2:33 and getting the fastest time of the nigh.
As zoey makes it to the other side,
Goes right to the tug and pulls it.
- Ah, yeah! You're such a good girl!
- All right. I like to see a good run.
- Team zoey will take over first place
And move on to the doghouse with team xerxes.
Team legend is eliminated.
Team aiko now sits on the hot seat
With one team left to run.
- Can I say hi? Oh, yes. - Sure. You might get wet.
- Okay, you're soaking wet. Oh, yeah, that's a good girl.
- Good girl, zoey. - Good girl, zoey.
- Hey, rachel. Well done down there.
- Should I send the dog up to you guys?
Maybe you want to give it a nice little hug?
[laughter]
- We're a bit trepidatious when it comes
To hugging wet dogs.
You do it so well, rach.
- Oh, so kind of you.
- Coming up, it's the female german shepherd
Who's truly in a league of her own.
Find out why coming up next.
- I'm not going anywhere.
- You get paid to stay here, so you can't.
- Oh, I see. That's why.
Well, I like being near you, so...
- Before we go, let's take a look at our new segment.
All season long, we'll be checking in
With our former "top dog" competitors.
- Hi, I'm officer joey burns
With my partner, k9, chase,
And we are the season two winners
Of "america's top dog."
- And they do it! Wow!
We know who america's top dog is.
- Just to see those lights turn and realize
That we had won was, like, just a surreal moment for us.
That's a good boy, buddy.
After we got back, we got put right back to work right away,
Trying to some more drugs,
More bad people off the streets,
And it's been a busy year for him.
The community loves him.
I know that every time the community sees him out
And about in town, they want to see him,
They want him out of the car.
He's kind of a hometown celebrity right now.
[dog barks] to this season's competitors,
I hope you've trained hard.
That course is harder than it looks,
And just remember that everybody
Who you're competing against
Is also competing for that same prize, so good luck.
- Welcome back to "america's top dog."
Hey, what a night it's been so far.
We have had four military teams
Doing battle on the k9-combine.
Team zoey and team xerxes have the two top times.
They've already advanced to the doghouse.
Team aiko's sitting on the bubble
Right now in that third spot.
We'll find out if they will move on
Or if it will be our final team, team apart.
After the military, tara lee burke joined
The summerville, south carolina police department.
After two months on the job,
Tara received her german shepherd, apart,
And they've been together ever since.
[intense music]
- My name is tara burke.
I'm from summerville, south carolina.
This is my k9 partner, apart.
I spent four years on active duty in the army,
So the next logical step for me
Was to become a police officer.
I'm currently a corporal,
And I'm the k9 unit supervisor.
[upbeat music]
We drove up to north carolina
March 1st of 2016
To pick him out, and they showed me three dog.
And the first two dogs that came out,
And I was like, "these dogs are crazy."
The last dog was this german shepherd.
The very first thing he did was come up and jump on me.
This is him telling me,
"we can do this. We can be a team."
Good job.
We see a lot of stuff in police work
And in the military every day
That sometimes we wish we didn't have to see.
And I'm lucky that when I leave those scenes,
And I go home or I go back to the car,
I have him, and I can just hug him.
Sometimes just walking him is all I need.
I have all the confidence in the world in him
And his ability to come out here
And do what needs to be done.
We cannot wait to tear apart this course.
No pun intended.
♪ ♪
- Why don't we see if team apart can keep it together
In the k9-combine
As they try and beat underdog team aiko's time of 2:52
To secure a spot in the doghouse.
[countdown beeping]
- Let's go. - And they're off.
- Here, here, here, here. Hup!
- Up and over, for the big 70-pound german shepherd.
- Nice leaping abilities.
- He makes it through all three walls--
Or over all three walls.
- Good job, good job. Here, here, here, here.
Off.
- I see, good technique.
"wait for me, now come get me."
No! - Oh, but he followed her.
- "I want to go the way you went."
- She's got to get him back to the start of the tunnel.
- That's gonna eat up some time, of course.
- 2:52 is the time they need to beat,
And right now, they are struggling.
♪ ♪
- The dog is not having anything to do with it.
♪ ♪
- He's waiting. - "come and get me."
- All right. They got it this time.
- Mission accomplished. "what's next?"
- Up next is the fire escape. - All right.
Button, button, who's got my red button?
- Here, touch. - There it is.
- Let's go! - Ramp is down.
- Let's go, let's go. Here, here, here!
- Up to level three.
- She's got that sense of urgency for sure.
- Here, touch. Good.
- Got it. All right.
So they're making up time hee on the fire escape.
♪ ♪
Now to the top, need to grab that tug,
Get the flagpole up,
And they'll be able to get back down to the street.
- Get a quick tug, and we're off.
- Good. - Yeah, he got it.
- I like that. - Well, the fire escape
Seemed to be exactly what they needed.
They're back in this race.
- Let's go.
- If they can do 2:51 or less,
They move on to the doghouse.
If not, it's team aiko. - Here, here, here.
- Can't have any more mistakes here.
Quickly! - That helps.
- Make some noise.
Dead speed ahead.
- On to shaky bridge.
- Good.
- Oh, no question over the shaky bridge.
On to splashdown,
Where we often see police k9s hesitate.
All right, they need to do it in less than a minute.
In the water,
To the other side. Both: Oh.
- You gotta get him back. - In the water.
- Go, go, go!
- There you go. Do it, do it, do it, do it.
- Ready? Let's go, go, go, go, go!
Hey, here! Here!
- She told us apart likes to swim.
- Go, go, go!
- Oh, he's excited. He doesn't know what to do.
- [laughs] - go, go!
Come on, come on! - And they're really racing
The clock now, less than 30 seconds difference.
[timer beeps] - ugh.
Can she throw him in, yes? - Well, not throw him in.
After 30 seconds, she can help him into the water.
So he's in the water. - All right.
- They're down to 10 seconds. - Let's go!
- Can they make it? Across the pool.
- Let's go! Let's go!
Come on, come on, come on! - They need to get the tug.
- Up, up, up, up, up!
Let's go! Go!
- They're gonna miss the time,
And the difference happened right there
At the splashdown.
The finally make it to the finish line,
But not in time.
3 minutes, 5 seconds, not good enough.
That puts them in fourth place overall.
Only the top three make it, so they are eliminated.
Team aiko is moving on to the doghouse.
- Yeah. Good job.
- A little excitement to wrap up the k9-combine.
It went right down to the final seconds.
- Yes, it did. - But the three teams
Are set in our first ever
All armed forces version of the doghouse.
Dave, our three winners of the k-9 combine
All did a great job, but now they start from scratch
As they claw their way through
The doghouse. - Yes.
- The final three military teams competing tonight
Will be army veteran steve siwecki
And his actor working dog, xerxes,
Retired marine alyssa grelewicz
And her underdog, zoey,
And air force airwoman summer melillo
And her underdog, aiko.
They'll be the first teams this season to take on
This big, bad nightmare we love.
Some more on the ins and outs of the doghouse,
Here's our canine correspondent,
Rachel bonnetta.
- Thanks, boys. The doghouse will not only test
Both the physical and mental abilities of these three teams,
But the real key here
Will be teamwork, communication, and obedience.
Basically everything that my dog and I don't have.
Let's take a look at these obstacles.
[dramatic music]
First, in a game of trust, our teams will transform
Into superdogs as they zip line
20 feet down and 80 feet across to door breach.
The handler will kick in the front door to get in.
Then, it's the game room
For the ultimate test in detection.
The dogs will sniff out two scented items.
Tonight's scented items are the red box
On the shelf above the lockers
And the fruit bowl on top of the coffee table.
Then it is off to divide & conquer,
Where the dog goes up the spiral staircase,
And the handler goes up the ladder.
Separation is not often trained for,
So this presents a unique
And surprisingly difficult test of obedience.
Then, on to a portion of the course
Riddled with obstructions, the low crawl,
Followed by the tangled mess that is spider web,
Designed to slow down even the nimblest of teams.
They'll finish the course with everyone's favorite
Test of athleticism and obedience, the takedown.
They'll chase down the "top dog" decoy.
Once the dog is recalled to the finish mat,
The time stops.
- Yeah! That's a good boy!
- The team who completes doghouse in the fastest time
Will be tonight's top dog.
They will win $10,000,
An additional $5,000
To the animal charity of their choice,
And they will be back to compete for the title
Of "america's top dog" in the grand finale.
You know, I asked if I could try takedown earlier,
But me chasing down a guy in a suit
And biting him might be a little bit weird.
- Okay, you guys can stand right in front of me.
- Come on, buddy. - Working dog
Team xerxes is up first.
Let's check out how this acting star plans
To play out his role in the doghouse.
- When I was in the army, I would help them train
Their patrol dogs, their narc dogs,
Their bomb dogs. Check, check.
At the same time, because I was lowest seniority there,
I was always the decoy.
♪ ♪
"america's top dog" is everything
We've trained for up to this point.
He'll have no weaknesses on the course whatsoever.
- Team xerxes looks focused, and they are ready to go.
♪ ♪
Down the zip line they go.
- Oh!
- 80 feet, 20 feet high they start, down to the ground.
- Probably something these dogs have
Never experienced before. - Probably not.
- They've reached the door with a kick.
- Hey. Back up.
- And I think, being in the military,
He may have done that once or twice.
- Yes. All right, now--
- So steve gets him inside the game room
To find two scents. - All right.
- One is under a fruit bowl,
And then the other one, I think they've already foun.
- He alerted right away.
- Good boy. Here.
Check. - So, curt, what happens?
The dog gives an alert to the handler.
An alert can be seen in many ways.
- Some change in behavior... - Aha, that's it.
- That makes you recognize it, like that.
- Aha. - That the dog
Spotted something, so, steve--
He should pick up the bowl.
- [laughs] - there we go.
Steve was looking at it like, "okay?"
They got it. That might be the fastest
Scenting performance we've ever seen on "top dog."
- Curt, you seem to be in sync with this dog.
[both laughing]
- Xerxes climbing up the spiral staircase,
Makes it to the top.
- Xerxes being the working actor that he is,
Takes direction easily. - No issues there.
They're at the top in just over a minute.
- Come on, hup! - Now this big man has to get
Through the low-hanging ceiling
And then... - Hey, come on.
- Follow through. He's a big guy.
Now he's got to get through the spider web.
1,000 feet of bungee cord.
- He's got to get the dog back.
Xerxes wandering off for a little bit here.
- Now they've got to breach this door.
They're not gonna break it down.
♪ ♪
- Now they're refocused. Down the stairs they go.
The decoy will come out,
And the chase and bite will begin.
- It's my favorite part.
- First dog of the night here in the doghouse.
- Get him! - And bite
And hold on for three seconds.
That's a missile coming right at you.
- Get him, buddy, get him! - Oof!
- All right. Now the call back.
- Out, here!
Xerxes, come! Out!
- He doesn't want to release. - Xerxes!
- This is costing him time.
- Here. - He does.
He goes back, and the clock will stop.
We start the season off with one of the fastest doghouse
Times we have ever seen.
1 minute, 52 seconds. - Aha.
Good one. - That'll put the pressure
On the other two teams.
- That dog is not done with the decoy.
- He had the appetizer. He wants the main meal.
- How do you feel? - He did really good.
- He did good. I'm happy.
He was right on with the smell. - I mean, you were the one
That paused with the smells.
He was telling you, "um, it's in the bowl, hello?"
- Well, yeah, I was like, "okay, you want an apple?
Okay." - [laughs]
All right, you get to head over to the hot seat.
You get to watch everybody go through now
And see if your time can hold up.
Good luck. - Okay, thank you.
- Guys, that was fast. - Good boy.
- Hey, whatever works for you, right?
Hopefully for them, it works in putting them in first place,
Which is where they are right now.
Can they stay there? That becomes the question.
Underdogs team zoey and team aiko
Will take their best shot at that time.
Now we've already seen team xerves conquer the doghouse.
Their time, 1 minute, 52 seconds.
- Yes! - So next up,
We've got team zoey.
- Curt, I get so pumped up watching the doghouse.
I can't sit or stay. I want to run it myself.
Ow, ah! - Well, I say go for it, then.
- Cramp, cramp! I'm all talk.
- You didn't even get out of the chair
Before you called cramp. - I'm all talk.
[laughter] - all right.
Looks like you'll have to settle
For just watching then.
Underdog team zoey.
Why don't we find out which part of the course
Has this team worried as they get ready for round two?
[upbeat music]
[dog barks]
- Good girl.
Zoey loves bite work.
She thinks it is the best game
In the whole world.
♪ ♪
Good girl.
But I'm a little bit nervous about the scent work
Because we've just started training it, you know?
It's probably her newest area out any of the challenges
That this competition presents,
And so hopefully she remembers all of her scent work stuff.
♪ ♪
- At least get up out of the chair
Before you call a cramp. - [groans]
[laughs]
Then the jacket would come up. - [chuckles]
All right, team zoey needs to beat 1 minute, 52 seconds
To try and take over the top spot.
One team is about to go home empty-pawed,
And team zoey is hoping it's not them.
- All right. I'll count you down.
- Live vicariously.
- That's chris collier, her boyfriend.
All right. Here they go.
- Let's zip, shall we?
♪ ♪
- Zoey on the zip line.
♪ ♪
- Sounds like a good song.
- "zoey on the zip line."
- [chuckles]
- 25 pounds of preciousness.
- Alyssa was a marine in the marine corps band.
She played the flute. She's got to storm the gate.
Nice kick in. - All right,
So there are two scents in there
That the dog has to find.
- Search. - One is under the fruit bow,
And the other one is--
There's one in the red box that they just found.
- That's a quick find here
In the game room. - Good.
- Zoey found the first scent just as fast as team xerxes.
Let's see if they can do the same on the second.
- Yeah, is that it? Is that it?
- Is that it? No.
I can tell you from up here,
But you can't hear me.
- Search, zoey, search.
- Okay. Now this is a clear signal.
- Is it under there? - There we go.
- You got it. - Well, they had been worrie.
But again, we see a military team not let down,
And we get another impressive outing in the game room.
- Zoey, come on. Go on, go.
- Up we go. Good job, zo.
- Good girl. - Good girl.
Team zoey is our only female competitor tonight.
- Wow. - Has a chance to win
This whole thing as they go through the low crawl.
Now on to the spider web.
They're doing pretty well as far as time goes.
This cute little underdog collie
Is actually a couple seconds ahead of where
Big xerxes was at this point.
Fastest time tonight gets crowned tonight's top dog.
- Ready? - All right.
So now they unlock the door.
The sprint to the finish.
1:52 is the time they need to beat.
It's gonna be close.
- Let's dispatch the decoy.
- Hey! - Who's this character?
Go get him. - Who's that?
Zoey! - A little hesitation.
- And the clock is still running.
- There we go. - Now she needs to get
The decoy, release, and get back.
- Oh, she missed it.
- Can they apprehend the decy and get back?
- Get it, get it.
Our second competitor in tonight's
All-military doghouse, team zoey,
Is in a great position to take over
First place from team xerxes.
All they have to do now is complete the takedown.
- Zoe, get it! Get it!
- Now she needs to get the decoy,
Release, and get back.
- Oh, she missed it.
- Can they apprehend the decy and get back?
- Get it, get it! - Oh, no.
- Get it, zo! - Well, they had time,
But the clock is starting to run out on them.
- Zoey--zoey is trying to herd.
- Get it! [timer beeps]
Hey, zoey. - Unbelievable.
The could've done it,
But they can't get the takedown.
Unfortunately, that means they're eliminate.
So the night is over.
They don't have an official time
Because zoey never bit the decoy.
Therefore, they are officially disqualified.
Zoey had fun. - Yes, that's right.
Thanks for playing.
- Hi, zoey.
Oh, okay. Okay.
Okay, kisses. Okay, okay.
Oh, zoey, you're so good, and your breath
Doesn't even smell.
What are your secrets?
- So now there's only one team left,
And that team can be tonight's top dog
If they can go faster than 1 minute,
52 seconds on our final run of the evening.
Before we get there, though-- - yes?
- Let's hear what summer and her underdog, aiko,
Have in store for us.
- That's a great idea.
[rock music]
- The thing I worry about is mostly his knee.
How he does with switching gears,
Going from the running
To sniffing to back into the running.
Good job, buddy.
I am a hobby trainer.
I'm in air force. That's my job.
But I am confident in my skills.
At the end of the day, I know that we're gonna
Take it home, and I hope that decoy is ready
Because aiko is coming in with a hard bite.
- All right. Are you ready?
- As ready as I'm gonna be.
- Okay, here we go. What are you doing there?
- Putting the pressure on.
- The pressure is on team aiko.
- Yes, well, I like to act it out.
- We'll find if they can beat
Team xerxes' time, 1 minute, 52 seconds.
The final run of the night.
So I'm gonna ask you, what does team aiko
Have to do to be crowned tonight's top dog?
- They have to go faster than the--
They have to go faster than the first team--no.
I don't know what has to happen.
- [laughs] - [bleep] me.
[whistles] - hi, kids.
[both laugh]
- Just relax. It's fun.
- [chuckles] I like that, fun.
- It is time. $10,000 and infinite
Bragging rights are on the line,
So why don't we get it going?
♪ ♪
Team aiko, trying to steal
Victory from team xerxes.
- Whoo! - Get your fight on.
♪ ♪
- Five-year-old doberman.
They're extremely friendly and loyal dogs.
- Yes, yes. - But they're just
Intimidating looking. - They are, very much so.
She's ready to go. Into the game room!
Let's kick down that door, shall we?
Yes. - 1 minute, 52 seconds
Is all that stands between team aiko,
$10,000, and tonight's "top dog" crown.
- There's that red box.
♪ ♪
Alert, alert. Yes.
All right. Well done.
- Okay. On to the second.
Underneath the fruit bowl. - Will the dog find it?
You know. Come on.
Search, yes. - Oh, yes.
- Yes, yes, yes. - That's an alert right there.
- Nice. - So they find both quickly,
And now it's on to divide & conquer,
And that's exactly what they needed to do
To keep the pressure up. - Wow, I gotta say,
All these teams tonight
Are really showing that military discipline,
And it's paying off, especially in the game room.
- Summer gets him all the way to the top,
And he waits there for her.
She scampers quickly up that ladder.
- This is going exactly according to plan.
- Go, come on. Let's go.
Just over a minute. Now into the low crawl.
- Ooh, the low crawl roll,
Summer's boot camp training on display.
- Through the spider web. 1:52, keep in mind,
Is the time to beat. And this underdog team
Is well on pace to do it, but just like zoey,
It may all come down to the takedown.
♪ ♪
Here we go. - All right.
- This will determine who is tonight's top dog.
- Good, good, good.
Ready, aiko, here.
- Release the decoy, please.
Get it, doggie, get it. - Go, go, go, go!
- This will be down to the wire.
Come on, aiko.
Aiko spotted him.
- Oh! - Oh, he missed!
He missed!
- There we go. One, two, three.
- All right. They've got to hurry back.
- Aiko! - Can they get back in time?
- Come here! Whoo!
- Yes, they did! - Yes!
- Oh, my gosh! - Aiko!
Yes, come here. - What a finish!
- Wow. - 1 minute, 45 seconds.
By seven ticks of the clock,
They are tonight's top dog.
- Wow, you are tonight's top dog.
$10,000. - Oh, my.
I mean, it means a lot.
I entered this just because I was like, "eh.
Why not? Let's see what he can do."
Right? And now we're here.
We're--[laughs] we won.
- I was so blown away by your run, I kind of forgot
That he's an absolute underdog.
He's had a miraculous recovery,
And now he's a winner.
You get to come back for the final to compete
For $20,000... - Whew.
- And the title of "america's top dog."
What are going to do to prepare until then?
- There's nothing I would change about his runs.
A little more better communication on my end, so...
- Congratulations, you two.
I will see you at the grand finale.
- Thank you, ma'am. - Man.
You couldn't ask for a better finish than that.
- Not at all. Man, that was very exciting.
- And that'll do it for tonight's
All armed forces competition.
Thank you for joining us.
For rachel bonnetta and my man,
David koechner, I'm curt menefee.
See you next time on "america's top dog."
[triumphant music]
[dog barks]