Announcer: It's time for the ultimate canine competition,
Where america's furry friends
Are taking the game to the next level.
- Oh, great jump.
Announcer: We've got the nation's top underdogs,
Working dogs, and police k9s
Taking on extreme obstacles--
- Oh, my god! - Oh!
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.
- ♪ who's a good boy? ♪
- Oh! - Some guy in a decoy suit
Getting tackled by a flying dog.
It don't get no better than that.
[dramatic music]
Announcer: Tonight, only one team
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
To be named... Both: Yes!
Announcer: "america's top dog."
[dog barking]
- Time to fire up the top of the show.
- Do we have our thing again? 'cause I put
Something wet on top of there. I'm sorry.
- Oh, lord. - I'm sorry.
- This is like being with a kid.
- It's even worse.
- Now, we're gonna have ants.
- [laughs] thank you, sir.
All right. Let's get to it.
[dramatic music]
- Hello, and welcome to "america's top dog."
I'm curt menefee, and as always,
I'm joined by actor, comedian
And the big dog on this show, david koechner.
- That's me. How are you feeling?
- I'm feeling just groovy. How are you feeling?
- I tell you what. I'm more excited
Than a hungry dog in a chew toy factory.
- Tonight's incredible dog lineup includes hector,
A german shepherd k9
That recently left the sheriff's department
To head a new k9 unit
In charleston international airport.
That's a good swim for a big boy.
Underdog colt, a border collie
So smart, he's been trained to be a bat dog
For his community's baseball team.
- Oh! - Look at this bat dog.
- Working dog karma,
A black lab cancer-detection dog.
- Whoo! - Got it!
- Underdog apollo,
An american pit bull terrier
That is completely deaf.
- Showtime at the apollo!
- And finally, k9 jaeger,
A belgian malinois whose name means "hunter" in dutch,
And he's put those hunting skills to good use
With over 100 drug busts.
- He wants it, and he wants it bad.
- The three fastest times move on to the doghouse.
Now that dog walk of a journey gets going first
In our k9-combine. For more on that,
Let's send it down to our canine correspondent,
Rachel bonnetta.
Hi, rachel. - Thanks, guys.
If you have been watching this year,
You already know the k9-combine
Is tougher than a rubber chew toy.
In fact, I've asked some of the dogs
To describe the course to me,
And they talk and they talk and they talk,
And I understand every single word.
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 homage to "air bud"
With a series of jumps in high jump,
Where each wall gets progressively higher.
From there, the teams will head to pipe dream,
Which, depending on how long it takes them,
Could be a pipe nightmare.
Then it's fire escape, where intelligence and bravery
Are put to the test.
A series of buttons, levers and tugs
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, they'll make their way across walk the plank.
With 15-inch gaps between each 18-inch-wide plank,
We are stepping up the difficulty factor.
Balance and courage will be key.
- Yes, 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!
- Only the three fastest times will advance,
And if there is a tie--
Well, there better not be, because I actually
Don't think that we have a plan for that.
Do we have a plan if there is a tie?
No, we don't. Okay.
We need to figure that out.
Curt and david, back to you.
Guys, we need to figure this out.
- All right. Thanks, rachel.
Up first, we've got a k9
That recently left the sheriff's department
For a chance to spearhead the new k9 unit
At the charleston international airport.
It's team hector!
- I want some outtakes, man.
I want somebody to drop this in my face while I'm talking.
♪ ♪
My name is lieutenant jay christmas,
And this is my german shepherd, hector.
Recently, an opportunity came up to work
For the charleston international airport.
They wanted to start up a k9 unit,
So that's what we're using hector for mainly.
So we've intercepted a large quantity of marijuana,
I think a little over fifty-some thousand dollars
In cash, so it's already working out.
Growing up, my dad was an alcoholic.
I've seen how alcohol,
When it's abused, could affect a family.
It propelled me into police work,
Because I wanted to get into duis,
And then when I saw some police dogs,
I was like, "man, I'd like to do that one day.
That looks like that'd be the gig to have."
♪ ♪
Hector is extremely athletic, man.
He can run 24 miles an hour.
He can jump up to 6 feet. I'm extremely confident.
We stand the best chance out here, I think.
It's why he got a little gray on his muzzle.
I've got a little gray up here. We've got some experience
Some of these other guys probably don't have.
♪ ♪
You're slobbering all over the place, man.
- You've trained how many k9 dogs?
- Over 40. - So what sets this guy apart?
- He's the smartest one I've ever trained.
- Wow. - Hey, rachel?
- Yeah? - Am I the smartest
You've ever worked with?
- [hesitating] yes. - You're the smartest
David koechner she's ever worked with.
- Oh, okay.
- She told me that before the show.
- Thank you. That's a win for koechner, gang.
- And the win counts.
Let's see if k9 hector has what it takes to win.
And they're off!
- Up, up! - All right.
Let's see how the smartest dog in the world does.
- Attaboy! Up! Attaboy!
- Quick start over the high jumps.
- Through, through!
Here, here, here. Through, through!
- He's like, "no, you go through the pipe."
Smart dog. - Exactly.
Oh, once he got it, he got it.
- Let's go, bub! - Now, on to fire escape.
No trouble so far for this handler.
- He's in the lead, way ahead of his handler.
- All right, let's see if he can get the red button.
Got it. And remember,
This k9 needs to finish in the top three
To go on to the doghouse.
- I'ma call this one. He's gonna make it.
- At this pace, why not? - There we go.
- And he catches it right away.
- This is impressive.
- Here, here! - Now up to the top.
- Top of escape.
- We'll see if he can grab that tug and pull on it.
- Tug! Drag, drag!
- Got it. Just needs to pull it.
- Uh-oh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh. - Drag, drag!
- There we go. - Got it.
The flag goes up. - Uh-huh.
- All right, here we go, and they're still under a minute.
- Wow. - Back down to street level.
This pair have been together for 5 years
There in charleston. - Really?
- Oh.
- It's teamwork that gets this done.
On to the dominoes. - Teamwork, teamwork,
And of course, teamwork.
- Boom, boom, boom.
Nothing slowing them down so far.
Now, walk the plank.
- Wow! Wow!
- Okay, now on to splashdown.
- I want this dog to get a nice jump.
- Come here, hector.
- Can you get in that pool?
- Jump, jump! Attaboy!
- There we go. - That's a jump.
That's a good boy. - That's a good dog.
- That's a good swim for a big boy.
- Here, here, here! - And now for the finish.
- Attaboy! Attaboy!
Up, up!
- Out of the water. - Come on, now.
- Tug! Here, tug!
- They always gotta shake it off first.
- That extra water. - Hey, come on, come on.
Come on, come on, come on, tug it.
- Oh! - Attaboy.
- And hector tugs it just enough to stop the clock.
- Boom! - And what a time we have
To start tonight's edition of "america's top dog."
1 minute, 50 seconds.
That's the third-fastest time we've had all season long.
All right. Take your hat off.
- All right. Yes, sir.
- Put your baseball cap on
Because we're about to see an underdog
That's also a bat dog for his local baseball team.
From wisconsin, it's kate bucci
And her border collie, colt.
♪ ♪
- My name is kate bucci.
I am from oconomowoc, wisconsin.
This is my dog, colt.
He is a 5-year-old border collie.
♪ ♪
Colt is a bat dog.
He retrieves the bats off the field instead of a bat boy.
He has his own jersey. He has baseball cards.
He actually has his own bobblehead.
♪ ♪
Colt is an incredible athlete.
He has been clocked at over 21 miles an hour,
And he can go up a 10-foot wall.
♪ ♪
Colt is one of the highest-drive
Border collies I've ever met.
♪ ♪
Over the last year,
I've noticed that he's slower than he could have been,
And I realize it's because of me.
I didn't keep myself in good shape.
I've gone from about 178 pounds down to 138 pounds,
And I wouldn't have without him.
♪ ♪
[chuckles] this dog is my world.
He affects so many aspects of my life
That are gonna change someday when I don't have him.
Oh, thanks.
- Colt's got a little bit
Of a toy happening here. - Yeah, yeah.
- I can take this bat. - Go take it.
- Sir, I'm going to take your bat.
Oh, okay.
We definitely need some helmets down here.
- [laughs] - thank you.
- Will this be a home run?
- Or will the mighty colt strike out?
- Oh. - Let's find out right now.
Colt!
- We look like a couple of top dogs
Right now, don't we? - We certainly do.
- We keep the hats on? No?
- Come on, over!
- Whoa. - Hey!
Quick start, colt and kate, just like that.
Three walls, no problem. On to the pipe dream.
- Uh-oh, alert. - Tunnel, tunnel.
- Yeah, he doesn't want to go. - Tunnel!
- There we go.
- This dog likes to be with the handler.
- Well, they say that collies are velcro dogs,
They call them, 'cause they like to stay
So close to their handlers.
Now up fire escape, right up the ramp.
No problem.
- Button, button, who wants a button?
- Collies are really smart, so this should be no issue.
- All right. - None whatsoever.
On up to level three.
- Of the fire escape. - Good boy.
- They're flying through this course right now.
What an impressive dog.
- Very impressive so far.
- Touch, up! Come on.
Get it, get it! Yes!
- And the "lee-ver" goes down.
- So does the lever-- [laughter]
- And the ramp. - And the ramp.
- Now up to the top, got to grab that tug.
- Oh! Not--
- He didn't even need kate. - Not even prompted!
I like this bat dog.
They've lost tiny seconds here and there
'cause the dog was so energetic,
But maybe this made up for it.
- Yeah, I think they more than made up for it.
Back down to street level. - Wait.
- Kate and colt hustling. If they keep this up,
They may even take hector's first-place spot.
♪ ♪
- Oh! - Oh, parkour dog!
- He looks like a trick dog when he did that one.
Walk the plank, no problem whatsoever,
And now they've got a chance to beat team hector's time.
Can they do it?
- We'll see.
Really racing the clock now.
- Go get it, get it, get it! - Toss.
Nice! - He's in the water quickly,
But can he get out in time?
- Come on, buddy! - Dock-diving dog.
- Michael phelps has nothing on this dog.
- Watch out, phelps-ie.
- To the finish. - Get it.
- Oh! - Wow!
- And he does it!
That's the second-fastest run we've had
All season long.
- Holy cow.
- 1 minute, 49 seconds!
1 second faster than k9 hector's time.
So underdog colt now moves into first place.
That's a home run. - That is.
Hey!
- They've gotta finish in the top three
To move on to the doghouse.
They should feel comfortable right now.
- Very good. - But you never know!
- [laughs] - up next,
It's a canine behavior consultant
And her incredible cancer-sniffing dog
From lathrop, california.
It's didi mcelroy and her black lab, karma.
[mid-tempo music]
- I'm didi mcelroy. This is my working dog, karma.
She's a 6-year-old black lab.
Unlike a lot of the trainers here,
I don't actually own karma.
She works with me by day,
And then she goes home and lives with her mom at night.
I see that.
Oh, thank you.
Karma is one of only 20 certified biodetection dogs
Specializing in ovarian and prostate cancer.
In clinical trials, dogs have proven to be
Up to 99% efficient
At finding cancer in a urine sample.
We can actually find the cancer before stage one.
We've been able to save lives
And prevent devastation in a family.
It's incredibly rewarding.
♪ ♪
She can scale a 6-foot fence.
Her jumps and dock-diving average is 23 feet.
Last time we got a radar detector out,
She runs 24 miles per hour.
One thing in the combine
That might throw us for a loop
Is the pushing buttons.
She's never had to push buttons
For anything we've ever done,
But I think it's gonna come down to more,
"can her handler keep up?" [laughs]
- Okay, I am down here with didi, karma and sandee.
So I know karma detects cancer in people, and she's, like,
What, one of 20 dogs in the world that do that?
- Correct, we're hoping it will definitely catch on,
'cause it's noninvasive,
Inexpensive, and highly effective.
- That's amazing.
- Black labs are the best dogs in the history of mankind.
- Wow, that's quite an announcement there.
- Well, my oldest, abbie, she's a black lab.
- Oh, I see. All right.
- They're so sweet, just like you.
- Thank you. - All right.
To secure a spot in the doghouse,
They'll need to beat team colt's
First-place time of 1:49.
- Let's do it together. - Yeah.
Both: Karma and didi are ready to go,
And they're off!
[countdown beeping]
- Come on, karma. Come on.
Ready? Front!
- The lab. - Go, go, go, go, go.
Over here, over here! - Karma and didi.
- Curt's favorite dog, folks. - Well, it is.
It's the number one dog breed in the country.
- Oh, okay, all right. - Good girl!
- Over here!
- They make it over the high jump with no problem.
- Yes, go! No, no, go!
Good girl, good girl! Uh-uh!
- But the same can't be said about the pipe dream.
- She wants to go with mama.
- Yeah, she wants to stay close.
- Karma, ready? Good girl.
Go, tunnel! Come on!
- Oh, she heard mama on top and wanted to go there.
- Ah, get in the dream pipe,
Pipe dream.
"dream pipe," I said. What's wrong with me?
- Right here. Rest.
- I see. She had her stay,
And now she might get her through there.
Here we go.
- Here!
Good, all right! Let's go, good girl!
Come on! Let's go, let's go!
- There we go.
All right, so karma makes it through.
- Up!
- Up the first ramp on fire escape.
- Now, they got a lot of time to make up.
- Yeah. - Go, go, go!
- And that was the section didi was worried about.
- Buttons, get 'em!
Get 'em, right there!
- Can they step on it by accident?
- [chuckles] - off, off, off, off!
Push! - Nope.
- She's just right over it each time.
- You know, this dog's got amazing talents,
But it is not being applied right now.
- Paws! - There we go!
She's like, "you want me to push a button?
Dude, I sniff out cancer, okay?"
- Going up to level three.
- Didi's a little winded. - Yeah.
- Ready? Yes!
Good girl. - All right, okay.
- She's been working just trying
To get karma on track here. - Yeah.
- And since hector was only a second behind,
It looks like they'll be in the hot seat
With two dogs left. - Tug!
- Now it's about putting up the best time
To avoid future elimination. - Get it, get it, get it!
Pull! - Pull it!
There we go! - Yes!
- Flag goes up, ramps go down. - Okay, let's go.
- Yeah, and they're 2 minutes already.
After this run, they're gonna be in third place
Of the three dogs that have run so far, so.
- But--
- Three fasted dogs move on, so all they've got to do
Is finish faster than two others.
Let's see how good a time they can put up there.
♪ ♪
Known down the dominos. - Good, good, come on!
♪ ♪
- Time to walk the plank. - Go, go, go!
Walk it! Walk it!
♪ ♪
Oh!
- Oh!
Didi's fatigue getting to her there.
This course can be taxing on the dog and handler.
- Wait for mom.
- And look at karma's lab loyalty,
Patiently waiting for didi.
- Labradors love to swim, too, don't they?
- Love to swim.
♪ ♪
There we go!
- No hesitation on that jump,
Finishing strong here.
- Come on!
- I figured this wouldn't be much of a problem.
"let's meet at the finish line."
- Here.
Tug. - And stop the clock.
- Pull, pull! - She does.
- Whoo!
- So a little bit of trouble there at the pipe dream
Cost them some time.
In the end, they'll end up with an official time
Of 3 minutes, 6 seconds.
That puts them in third place right now of the three dogs
That have run, but keep in mind,
As long as they stay there in third place,
They'll be okay. - Yep.
- How do you feel about that run overall?
- Oh, I'm always proud of karma.
It's her human that slows her down.
- There was a little bit of a spill.
- Yeah. - Are you all right?
- I'm totally fine. Yes.
- Okay. - [laughs]
- You can await your fate in the bark park.
Kate and colt, you're going to the doghouse!
Congratulations!
- That's awesome. - Good job, guys.
Boys? - Thank you, rachel.
Up next, it's an underdog from seattle, washington.
Apollo is an incredible athlete.
He can run 25 miles an hour,
Can jump vertically over 5 feet,
And he's dominated nose-work competitions.
- Okay.
- So what makes him an underdog here?
- I don't know. - He's completely deaf.
- Ah!
- Zookeeper kat donald
Has spent the last 10 years training him using
Hand signals and body language.
Let's check out team apollo.
♪ ♪
- My name is kat donald. I'm from seattle, washington.
This is apollo, and he is an american pit bull-terrier mix.
Apollo was born completely deaf.
I was fostering dogs through a local rescue.
The rescue called me up and asked
If I would want this deaf puppy that was at a kill shelter
And at risk of being euthanized.
I had never worked with deaf dogs before,
And I was a little nervous about it,
But I took a chance on him, and it was 11 years ago,
And here he is now.
♪ ♪
Apollo is the first deaf dog
To be a certified therapy dog.
He also was the first deaf dog
To get a nose work 3 elite title.
We do obedience competitions together, rally, agility.
Being deaf has not slowed apollo down in the slightest.
♪ ♪
When he was 8,
He was diagnosed with a really aggressive form of cancer,
And the vets weren't sure he was gonna make it.
That was absolutely devastating for me,
But he went into surgery, got it removed,
And he's been cancer-free for 2 years.
He has overcome so much and such huge hurdles,
And we're here today at "america's top dog"
To show that deaf dogs can do everything that a hearing dog
Can do and more.
Pound it. Good job.
- How many hand signals do you think that you guys have?
- He knows about 50 hand signals.
- 50?
Oh, there's one right there. Wow, amazing!
- What a cute dog, man.
They've been together for a decade.
You can tell the bond there, and I like the fact
That she decided to keep it and work with it
And make sure that she comes on this show
And shows people you can do anything.
- Yep. - You put them together.
- Let's see what they do.
- If they can beat team hector's time of 1:50,
They can secure a spot in the doghouse.
But if they don't beat karma's time of 3:06,
They'll be eliminated.
Are you gonna say, "showtime at the apollo?"
- Showtime at the apollo! - Let's go!
Hopefully they don't get the hook.
- [laughs]
- At 11 years old, apollo is the oldest dog
Ever to compete on "america's top dog."
- And he's jumping the walls like a puppy.
- Pretty good time over the walls.
Now through the pipe dream.
- Oh, please stay in there.
- Pipe dream proving to be a nightmare for teams tonight.
There we go, she's got him in the pipe for pipe dream.
- Keep going.
- Yeah, he doesn't know where mommy is,
So he's going back to the beginning.
- No! No!
- Nope, that's not gonna do it.
- Yeah, this is a tough challenge here.
- And we're losing time.
- And again, she has to give him hand signals,
So he has to visually stay in contact with her.
- Yeah, they've got some good times to beat,
But karma had trouble here, too,
So don't count them out just yet.
♪ ♪
- All right, so they make it through the pipe dream
As they approach 1 minute climbing up the fire escape,
Just about even with karma's pace.
- Come on! - Come on, old fella!
- Come on, buddy! - Ooh!
- You can do it.
- Oh, she put the leash back on.
- Now, she's allowed to guide him using the leash,
But you can't pull him or force him
Up the ramp in any way.
- All right, come on, now, apollo, let's hit it.
- Kat using a treat to direct apollo to the button.
And we see that with other handlers as well.
There we go!
♪ ♪
It's not looking great for them to beat 1:50
And claim that second spot,
But they still have plenty of time
To beat karma's mark of 3:06 and avoid elimination.
- Come on, buddy! Come on, buddy!
- Uh-oh.
Apollo seems to be refusing to move.
- Every second counts now, apollo.
You've got to keep going, doggy.
- They pass hector's time, so they won't
Automatically advance,
But they should have plenty of time still to stay alive.
- It's okay, buddy. Buddy, buddy, buddy, hey.
- But if kat can't get apollo to move,
They'll be in big trouble. - Come on, sir.
- They haven't even made it up to the third level just yet.
- Oh, boy, oh, boy. - You know, this course
Requires a lot of different skills of these dogs--
- It's okay, buddy.
- And having that many dynamic asked,
Sometimes we see dogs get overwhelmed,
And I think that's what we're seeing with apollo tonight.
[dramatic music]
Trying to give him a little bit of incentive
With a treat here. - Come on, sir.
- "I've had enough treats in my life."
- [laughs]
- All right. We're gonna go down.
- She calling it off? - Yeah.
We see kat saying, "that's it."
- All right. - Apollo won't continue.
Kat gonna call it off.
They are officially eliminated
Because they don't complete one of the obstacles.
So that means airport-police k9 team hector
And underdog team colt-- - nice job, dude.
- Are officially moving on to the doghouse,
And team karma avoids elimination
With one team remaining.
Our last squad comes to us from the great state of texas.
It's k9 officer breg anderson and his partner,
A belgian malinois named jaeger.
- Oh, I love jaeger.
Big fan back in college. - [chuckles]
- Now I like a nice glass of chardonnay or water.
- No, no, no, no. Jaeger the dog.
- The dog, right, right, right.
♪ ♪
- My name is k9 officer breg anderson.
I'm from sherman, texas.
This is my partner, k9 jaeger.
He's a 5-year-old belgian malinois from the netherlands.
I've been an officer for about 3 1/2 years,
And he and I have been together
For a year and a half now.
[speaking dutch]
- You can throw it.
- Somebody's gonna have to grab it, he's gonna--
If I throw it, he's gonna bolt.
My wife and I at home, we've got five dogs,
40-plus snakes, seven tarantulas,
And a 4-1/2-foot-long lizard.
We've got a whole zoo at home.
♪ ♪
Jaeger is a complete goofball.
I take him into briefing with the rest of my crew
Every night, and he's usually in there
Rolling over, laying on his back,
Throwing his toy up in the air,
Interrupting our briefing,
But when it's time to go to work, he definitely knows it.
Deputy k9, come down!
If you don't, I will release my dog.
You will be bitten.
♪ ♪
We definitely have been training
For "america's top dog."
We've been building a few obstacles at home.
We've been going to dock-diving places.
We kind of want to throw everything that I can at him
Before getting out here.
That way, not everything is super new to him.
When jaeger wins "top dog,"
I'm gonna give him the biggest top sirloin
Texas-sized steak he has ever seen.
[dog whimpers]
- What is jaeger named after?
- Jaeger means "hunter" in dutch.
- Okay, cool. - And he is a very good hunter
When it comes to apprehending criminals.
- Okay, awesome, and maybe a good hunter
When it comes to $10,000,
'cause that is what is on the line today, sir.
- We're gonna see. We're gonna see.
- All right.
Time for our final run of round one.
Remember, these guys have to beat
Team karma's time of 3 minutes, 6 seconds.
[countdown beeping]
- [speaking dutch] - here we go!
- Here, here, up!
- A little hesitation on that second wall,
But they get over it.
On to pipe dream.
- [speaking dutch]
- Do you hear breg speaking?
He's speaking dutch. - [speaking dutch]
- Oh, no!
Gosh darn it. - [speaking dutch]
♪ ♪
- Jaeger hunted the wrong way. - Here!
- He didn't go through the dream pipe.
Pipe dream, I keep calling it dream pipe.
- It's funny how separating from their handler
Is no problem for some dogs, but tonight,
This is the third dog we've seen have trouble here.
- Jaeger!
- The run is starting off with some of the same issues
Team karma had. - [speaking dutch]
- I never in a million years
Expected the pipe to be our problem.
- Under! - There we go.
- Okay, he's gone, and he made it to the finish.
- [speaking dutch] - don't go back to the start!
- Stay with daddy! - He had to wait for breg.
Now he's on to the fire escape.
- They've lost a little time. Can they make it up here?
- And they're crossing the 1-minute mark now
As they get up to that second level.
- Touch. - Got it.
5-year-old belgian malinois,
But they've only been together for a year and a half.
- I see.
♪ ♪
- Here. Up.
- That helps. - [speaking dutch]
- Going up to level three.
♪ ♪
- Nice, quick pull. Good, good.
I've some dogs have trouble here,
But this one dispatched it with aplomb.
- After the early hiccup, they are crushing
The second half of the course.
- Yeah, we're out. [laughs]
- I'd call--some people call this dominoes.
I call it knock-'em-downs. - Oh!
Not knock 'em down, already knocked down.
- Also known as "bing, bang, boom."
- They'll walk the plank,
And then on to splashdown. There we go!
- Good pirate! - Yes!
Both: Oh! - Nice dive!
14 feet!
- We both got excited with that one.
- Why not?
It's one of the better dives we have seen.
- Good swimming dog. - Here, here, here, good boy!
- Crushing the second half of the combine
Has put them in position
To easily move on to the doghouse.
- Good boy! - 2 minutes, 2 seconds!
And team karma is eliminated as team jaeger
Advances to the doghouse.
What a comeback from that shaky start.
- Oh, quick pee break.
[laughs] quick potty break.
[laughs]
- All right. So we know our three dogs
That are moving on, and all had really good times:
Team colt, team hector and team jaeger.
This is where we take the fun to another level,
As we throw even more obstacles at our teams.
The team that escapes the doghouse
The fastest will leave with tonight's "top dog" title
And $10,000, so don't go anywhere.
These teams passed the k9-combine
With flying colors, but now it's time
For the final exam. We call it the doghouse.
- Yes, we do. - Three teams enter.
One will leave with the title of tonight's "top dog,"
$10,000, and the other two?
Well, they'll go home empty-pawed.
Taking on the doghouse tonight
Will be aviation-police k9 unit team hector,
Bat-retrieving underdog duo team colt
And the young police k9 partners, team jaeger.
Any predictions for us?
- Yes, one of these teams will go home with $10,000.
- Okay. [laughs]
Great prediction, considering...
- Thank you. - We just said that, yes.
For more on the ins and outs of the doghouse,
Here's our canine correspondent, rachel bonnetta.
- Thank you, guys.
It is one of the biggest, most fun,
Exhilarating things that you will ever see.
It is called the doghouse, and it gives me anxiety.
[dramatic music]
First, in a game of trust, our teams will transform
Into super dogs as they zip line 20 feet down
And 80 feet across to door breach,
Where the handler will use a battering ram
To knock down the front door.
Inside is the game room.
Our dogs will have to find two hidden scented items.
Tonight, scents are hidden under the mini-basketball game
On the side table
And the brown book on the wooden shelf.
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.
- 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.
Who is it gonna be?
We're about to find out. Back to you guys.
- Grueling challenges all over the doghouse.
- Takedown, it's my fave.
- Yeah. - Attaboy, attaboy.
- The first team to run the doghouse
Puts the pressure on everybody else
By setting the mark to beat.
Police k9 team hector
Will get the first shot at doing just that.
Before they take flight, let's see if they have
Any advantages over their competitors.
♪ ♪
- Hector's best quality is he's got a pretty good nose, man.
He's, you know, way above average.
He's been exposed to everything
That you can think of.
You want to put the training into them
So they're able to perform when you need them
To do those things.
♪ ♪
Attaboy! I'm not nervous at all.
We're ready to take on the doghouse
And take home the trophy.
♪ ♪
Attaboy. - All right.
Ready to begin our run through the doghouse.
♪ ♪
- Let's go, hector!
- [high tone] team hector takes off,
And the doghouse is officially underway.
That's my dog voice. - [laughs]
- Beautiful dog.
- 5-year-old german shepherd.
- Nice bang down that door. What's in here?
- Two scents they are looking for.
One is underneath the brown book inside the bookcase.
The under is underneath the mini-basketball game.
- Find it.
- Marijuana is the scent that he looks for.
- Ah. - Jay switched over,
Started working at the airport.
In 1 month, they found 16 pounds of marijuana.
- Wow!
- What's that? Come on, hey!
- He found the first one. Okay.
- This being a police k9, you think he might have
A little bit of an advantage here.
- Scent, scent, where's the scent?
♪ ♪
- They're all over that second scent.
- Attaboy.
- Got it.
Less than a minute,
They go through the game room,
And now up to divide & conquer.
- Hey, here. - Divide & conquer,
'cause they have to go up two different ways.
- Up. Attaboy.
Up, up, up! - No hesitation whatsoever.
Really doing well so far. No mistakes.
Hector at the top, just waiting.
- Here.
- Across low crawl. - Wow.
- All right, they're gonna have a good time,
And we say police dogs may have an advantage here.
Keep in mind, two of our last three dogs are police k9s.
This could be a competition that goes down to the wire.
- Good job. - Spider web,
Not difficult for this couple.
♪ ♪
- Here we go. - Let's get that decoy.
You know this dog wants that.
I was once a decoy. - [laughs]
How'd that work out for you? - [chuckles]
- Hey, hey, hey! - Down, down.
- Here we go. Hector--
♪ ♪
- Got him!
♪ ♪
- Hector, release! Here!
- All right. Now back to the finish.
Good release, and a good fast time!
- Attaboy! - Way to start.
[dog yipping]
1 minute, 49 seconds. Great time--
- Very good time. - Through the doghouse
For jay christmas and hector.
- These two had no trouble anywhere.
- They did not dilly, nor dally.
- No.
- Well done. You got through quick.
- It didn't feel like it was quick.
- You were the second-fastest
Of the season, 1 minute, 49 seconds.
- What do you think about that, boy?
- That is a good start.
- That's what I'm talking about!
Attaboy! - Oh, yeah!
So you get to head on over to the hot seat
And await your fate.
Let's see if that time will hold up.
- 1:49 was their time.
They was the second-fastest time all season long.
Our next dog is underdog team colt,
And after that, police k9 team jaeger.
They'll both try and take out team hector.
♪ ♪
It all happens when we return,
Right here on "america's top dog."
But before we go, time to check in
With a former "top dog" competitor.
♪ ♪
- Hi. My name is gary pigott,
And this is my american pit bull terrier, creasy.
We took first place in the second-chance episode
In season two. [whistle blaring]
Whoo-hoo!
I knew we could do it if we got that second chance.
And we made it all the way to the finale,
And missed that top spot by a little bit.
- Creasy is not responding to gary.
- Ah.
- Since we were on "america's top dog,"
We are training for a new sport we're trying out, psa.
It's probably one of the most difficult
Bite sports out there.
There's a lot more distractions on the field
When you're competing, but I know we can do it,
And I know creasy is up to it.
I just want to say good luck
To all the competitors out there.
I just got to be honest.
Me and creasy are rooting for all of the pit bulls.
Now, we just saw a police k9, hector, run the doghouse
In a blazing time, 1 minute, 49 seconds.
- I can do this, okay. - Yes, you can.
- Can team colt beat that time and steal tonight's "top dog?"
They may. In fact, kate actually
Built her own version of the spider web to prepare.
- Yes, come on!
♪ ♪
Yes, good!
So the thing I'm looking forward to the most
In the doghouse is zip lining.
I have wanted to zip line with him forever.
[laughs]
It's a mic, lay down. [laughs]
Probably what worries me the most is the scent detection.
I mean, we've done as much of it as we can,
But we don't get the amount of practice
Some of these other dogs do on a daily basis.
Yes, good boy!
I'm the most nervous about it,
But, then again, I always am nervous,
And he never lets me down, so who knows?
♪ ♪
Dude, I'm terrified. I'm gonna scream.
- Let's find out. - Let's do it, curt.
I'm chomping at the bit over here!
- Let the dogs run. - Let them out!
♪ ♪
- I can go? Oh, god.
- You can go, kate.
♪ ♪
- Oh, my god. Ah!
- Kate said she was excited for this part.
- Oh, she's having fun.
Underdog only gets a top-flight canine.
I'm sure gonna use all of this commentary
That I'm throwing down.
Can we just cut his mic, please?
- 1 minute 49 seconds is the time to mark.
- They have reached the door with a kick.
Almond extract, I believe, is the scent for this dog.
- Yes, it is.
- She's kind of gingerly going through the game room.
The dog has to pick up on a scent twice.
- They found one. - Ah, that was quick.
- Find it. - And now they will look
For that second one underneath the brown book.
♪ ♪
All right, right there.
♪ ♪
And they found the second! - All right!
- All right. Good time, less than a minute.
Colt the underdog collie found both scents
Faster than k9 hector.
♪ ♪
And they're on to divide & conquer,
So they should have a chance.
- Go! - Hmm.
- Colt goes all the way to the top.
- Colt's ready, no hesitation.
- Wait.
- Oh, oh, oh!
- Oh, no! - He's going back down!
- Oh, no! - Colt!
- Ah! That's not gonna help.
- Go up, reverse. - Nope.
- Get back up. Come on.
That's why this is so difficult right here.
- No, no, no, no!
- They want to follow up the ladder.
- No, no! Uh-uh.
- Oh, my gosh! He almost did it!
- He's climbing the ladder! - If he does it,
We should give him 30 seconds off.
[timer beeps] - so after 30 seconds,
The handler can go up the spiral staircase.
- Ah, that's unfortunate.
- K9 team hector keeping an eye on them from the hot seat.
- I wonder if he's sitting there counting in his head.
I'm sure he is, right?
- He's trying not to show emotion,
I think is what he's doing.
He's like, "I know I got it." - [laughs]
♪ ♪
- And they're coming up on the time
To beat right now.
- Wait, no!
Come on! - Okay, well, their night
Is over, but we still want to have some fun
And watch this underdog take on the decoy.
They were making such good time before that.
- They were. They were, yep.
- All right, let's finish this thing off strong, kate.
♪ ♪
She says colt likes bite work.
- All right. - He needs to find the decoy.
- Let him go!
- There we go! He spotted him.
- Get him!
- Bites him on the leg.
♪ ♪
- Come, colt! - Release.
- Come, here! Come, come, come, come.
- And they finish with a nice ankle-biting takedown.
But unfortunately, they're eliminated,
As they finish with a final time of 2:14.
Team hector is still alive.
- Attaboy, right there.
- We saw the police k9 finish in 1:49.
Our next dog is also a police k9.
They have an incredibly tough time to overcome,
But we've seen bigger upsets.
10k can be a heck of a motivator.
Let's hear what they think their biggest strengths
And potential weaknesses might be.
- I'm game.
♪ ♪
- When I first met k9 jaeger,
I decided that I wanted to put on a bite sleeve
And see what a bite felt like from this dog.
It was pretty phenomenal.
I've loved him ever since.
♪ ♪
Bite work is definitely his favorite thing to do.
His only downside is letting go.
Good job, buddy! Good job!
Once you're his, you're his.
I think I'll be able to do a good job motivating him
To let go and come back to me,
So we'll see how it goes.
Hey, you.
♪ ♪
Am I good, or can I scoot forward a little bit?
- You're fine as long as you're gonna stay there.
- Right now, police k9 hector
Is holding on to first place with 1 minute, 49 seconds,
The second-fastest time of the season.
Now it's time for team jaeger to go.
- Curt? Curt, do you feel that?
That's anticipation.
- Is that what that is? - Yeah, you can feel it.
You can smell it.
- Ah, you sure? - Yeah.
- I think that just might be dog scents you're smelling.
- Okay, well, then I have dog scents.
- Okay. [laughs]
- Are his feet off the ground?
- He's got one on it, but just barely.
- Okay. - 1 minute, 49 seconds
Is what stands between them and $10,000.
Team jaeger, they're ready.
[dramatic music]
- All right, coming down-- - whoo!
- Whoa! - Yeah!
- Oh, yes! He's from texas.
- Yes, sir. - [laughs]
- It's the texas twosome of breg and jaeger.
I guess that's one way to make sure the dog knows,
"we're having fun!"
♪ ♪
Here we go. - All right.
- 1 minute and 49 seconds,
The time they need to beat.
- This dog wants it. - [speaking dutch]
- Okay, let's see if their k9 duties help them out here
As they look for the two scents.
Once again, beneath the mini-basketball game
And inside the brown bookcase.
- What's our scent? - Narcotics.
- Uh-huh. - They haven't found anything.
Oh, there's an alert! - There we go.
♪ ♪
Yes, you got it. - Got one.
- [speaking dutch]
♪ ♪
- This is where hector was able to get some time,
And they do too. - All right.
♪ ♪
- Finding both items in less than a minute,
Just over 40 seconds, in fact.
♪ ♪
- Here, here.
- Let's see how they divide & conquer.
♪ ♪
Oh, he's got to get him off the leash,
It takes--oh, there we go.
Come on, come on, come on. Yep, yep.
No problem there.
- [speaking dutch] - all the way to the top.
- [chuckles] - gets him to stay.
Even though they're speaking dutch, I understand that.
- [laughs]
- All right. Here they go.
- [speaking dutch]
- Uh-oh, just a little hiccup.
- Over the low crawl.
- This is gonna be tight. Oh!
- This one is gonna be very close.
- He's ready to go.
- Fighting their way through
That 1,000 feet of bungee cord.
♪ ♪
Got about 30 seconds to play with.
- Ooh.
♪ ♪
- They are through the spider web.
Door is open.
- Now they got to hurry up. - The race is on.
- All right. Here we go.
- I want to see what his bite is like, though.
- Oh. - About 15 seconds left.
- Go, go, go, go!
- Can he bite and let go?
Look at the bite! - Oh, he's biting.
♪ ♪
He's not coming off. - It's gonna be close.
- Loose! Here!
- He's gotta race back,
And they do it!
- Good boy!
Good job!
Good boy!
- 1 minute, 45 seconds. - Oh, wow!
- They do it by four ticks of the clock.
Wow. - Wow, that was tight, man.
- Imagine team hector runs 1:49,
And they get eliminated! - That's impossible, right?
I mean, that's-- - well, it's possible,
Because it just happened. - I just saw it.
- It's improbable. - It's improbable.
Thank you very much, yes. - Absolutely crazy.
- Hey, good luck, brother.
Take it home.
- 1 minute, 45 seconds.
They are now tied with alabama's underdog team aiko
For the fastest time in the doghouse this season.
So the young k9 team from texas,
Tonight's "top dog," winners of 10 grand.
The smile is on his face. The joy is in his heart.
- Good boy, good boy. - Whoo-hoo!
- [speaking dutch] - okay, so by now, you know
You won $10,000.
- Looks like it. Looks like we did.
- How do you feel?
- Amazing. This dog,
He has worked his butt off, and it really shows,
So I'm gonna go find him a steak.
- Amazing. That's what we love to hear.
- The biggest one I can find. - That's great.
Okay, so you were tonight's "top dog," but--
- All right, love it. - That's not it.
- Right. - Now you get
To come back for the grand finale--
- Absolutely. - To compete for $20,000
And the title of "america's top dog."
How are you going to prepare until then?
- We're gonna keep working day in and day out
Like we always do, and he'll make it.
- Congratulations to both of you guys.
- Thank you, thank you. - Guys, that was fast.
- Good job, buddy!
- Might be a favorite over here.
See you at the finale. - Absolutely.
Buddy, you did great.
You did great!
- That team has only been together for a year and a half.
- Oh, wow. - Imagine what they're gonna
To be able to do. Breg is like this
The whole time, man. - Oh, man, yes, yes.
- All night, we've seen some amazing dogs,
And if you feel inspired to help, look no further
Than the natural disaster search dog foundation.
They rescue and recruit dogs
And then partner them with firefighters
And other first responders to find people buried alive
In the wreckage of natural disasters.
They are both strengthening disaster response in america
And helping find homes for dogs in need,
So please, visit searchdogfoundation.Org
For more information on just how you can help.
That'll officially do it for us.
Thank you so much for joining us.
For rachel bonnetta and david koechner, I'm curt menafee.
We will see you next time on "america's top dog."
♪ ♪
[dog barks]