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I confess to being a Food Network junkie; I have it on all the time, especially while I am cooking. I hardly ever flip over to it's neighbor on my cable lineup, HGTV.

Apparently the home improvement and decorating network has decided to venture into the reality genre with a show called "Leader of the Pack."

I have never seen it. Don't think I want to.

Blog reader Sharon sent me an e-mail yesterday and asked if I had heard of it. I had, actually, from my boss last week, who had pretty much the same reaction Sharon did to this show.

Here's the premise of it from HGTV's Web site:

"The Reckseit family believes that their home isn't complete without a dog, but they can't agree on what kind to adopt. So they choose eight dogs to bring home, where they will begin a series of challenges to test their skills and compatibility with parents Milena and Peter, along with their children Stuart, Adam and Molly. Seven of these dogs will be adopted by new families, but one will eventually become the beloved best friend and Leader of the Pack to the Reckseits."

Here's Sharon's take on it:

"They started off with eight (dogs) and the one I watched (Sunday) was so heartbreaking that I will not watch another one. The middle child, Adam, was so heartbroken because one of his favs was voted off I was crying with him and all his mom had to say was it's gonna get harder next week. No hugs or anything from his brother, sister or mom or dad. In fact he seems to be the only child that would make a great pet parent and he is a child.

Anyway this family, barring Adam, have absolutely no concept of what it entails to have a dog much less any pet. I could go on but I believe you get the idea. On a last note they proclaim that the dog voted off does go to a good home, but that stinks as some of them have already bonded at this house. Just all in all a terrible show to do.

I guess HGTV went this route cause the housing market is on a skid and they got tired of doing alot of rerun shows. Bad idea. Whoever thought up this awful show obviously doesn't have a pet of any kind. ...If you do watch an episode, please keep a box of tissues handy. Hubby has never seen me so upset as he did at the end of (Sunday's) episode."

There was a show on Animal Planet called "Who Gets the Dog" that wasn't much better than this. One dog spent the night with three different families and the families have to perform tasks, recording everything to be critiqued later by a panel including an animal behaviorist, a vet and a comedian (what??)

The panel, with input from the dog, decides where the pooch would eventually live. I thought that was pretty awful for the dog, bonding with people and then getting yanked away. This "Leader of the Pack" show sounds even worse.

Animal Planet is now showing it's second season of "Groomer Has It,"but the only casualities of that reality show are some rather annoying dog groomers.  No dogs are ever harmed during that show. Physically or emotionally, that is.  Some of them suffer some pretty jacked-up haircuts along the way.
 
Last summer I blogged for a while about CBS'  "Greatest American Dog," until that got to be unbearable.

While the dogs were always with their owner, and no dog ever seemed to mind being voted off, the challenges were clearly stressing some of the pooches and just got to be no fun to watch.

What do you think? Are reality shows like this sending the wrong messages? Are they stressful for the dogs?

He's nearly 70 in human years, but Stump, a Sussex spaniel from Texas, took the Best in Show title at the Westminster Kennel Club show last night, proving the old dog still has a few tricks left.

The 10-year-old pooch came out of retirement on a whim and stole the show at Madison Square Garden, earning the first Westminster Best-in-Show title for his breed and the second for his handler, Scott Sommer.

According to a report from the Associated Press, Stump retired from the show ring in 2004 after winning 50 best-in-show titles and winning his group at Westminster. He was later treated by vets at Texas A&M for a mysterious wasting disease that nearly ended his life.  Sommer said the spaniel spent 19 days in the hospital.

After he recovered, Stump lived a dog's life in Houston with Sommer and Sommer's other Westminster champ, J.R., a bichon frise who took the top prize in 2001.

Five days before this year's show, Sommer told the AP that he thought Stump might enjoy one more go around the ring. After the media tour that goes with winning the Super Bowl of dog shows, Sommer said Stump will permanently retire.

Stump faced stiff competition for this victory. He defeated a Scottish deerhound named Tiger Woods, a puli named Conrad and a Scottish terrier named Sadie. Others in the final seven title contenders included Yes, a standard poodle with 94 prior wins, Spirit, a giant schnauzer that is currently the nation's top show dog, and Lincoln, a Brussels griffon that was favored by Vegas odds-makers.

But Best-in-Show judge Sari Tietjen pointed to the reddish-brown spaniel for the coveted silver cup.

"He showed his heart out," Tietjen said. "He was everything you want."

(All photos by Associated Press)

Douge de Bordeaux compete in the ring during the 133rd annual Westminster Kennel Club dog show Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2009 at Madison Square Garden in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Once again I watched the Westminster Kennel Club dog show from the comfort of my home. I wanted to siphon a little travel money into the Wag budget this year for a trip to the Big Apple so I could bring your first-hand accounts of the glamour and action from Madison Square Garden, but alas, I could not get the funding.

Maybe next year.

Last night the hounds, the terriers, the non-sporting and the herding groups took their turns around the ring. The first two pooches to move on to Best in Show were the Scottish deerhound (named Tiger Woods) and the Scottish terrier (named Sadie).

Guess they could have shared a celebratory shot of Glenlivet backstage.

Next group winner was the standard poodle, a pooch named Yes that had my hubby saying no, no, no. Hubby thinks the deck must be stacked in favor of the poodles because there always seems to be one or more of the three possible sizes in the Best in Show round.

He's also not a fan of the poofy haircuts they wear in the show ring.

I admit I dozed off before Conrad the puli was crowned champion of the herding group. Insert your favorite Rastifarian mop joke here.

Tonight we see the working group, the sporting group and the toys strut their stuff before the big winner is announced. If you follow The Happy Wag on Twitter, tweet along as the pooches parade through the evening.

Puppy Bowl returns for a fifth season this Sunday.

What? You were going to watch something else on Sunday?

In case you haven't seen any of the four previous incarnations, Puppy Bowl is three hours of puppies frolicking in a playpen that looks like a little football field. A human referee keeps order in the game (and cleans up any fouls, if you know what I mean), and you get a unique view from the Bowl Cam, a camera located below a clear-bottom water dish located in each end zone.

All of the puppies, including beautiful Bella here, are from shelters. And for the feline fans, the kittens take the field for the halftime show. According to the Web site, a parrot will start things off with the national anthem.

I would include a link to the Puppy Bowl page, but it has the most annoying pop-up window that I have ever encountered on the Internet and I cannot in good conscience send you there.

I'm here for you, my peeps.

Puppy Bowl is on Animal Planet and starts at 3 p.m. with replays throughout the evening. I highly recommend it over the seemingly endless pre-event chatter on the network showing that other game.

Click here to read a review of the movie, "Hotel for Dogs," which opens here in Roanoke this weekend.

The reviewers, by they way, are 11-year-old girls, who I think are the perfect choices to voice an opinion on a movie about orphans and dogs. Personally, I value their opinion above any middle-aged film critic.

The movie is about two kids who take over an abandoned hotel as a home for every stray dog they can find. Then they outfit the hotel with various contraptions that make life better for the dogs. A happy tail.

Pedigree, the makers of the dog food, will make a donation to its own charitable foundation for every ticket sold this weekend. The charitable foundation helps dogs in shelters across the country.

Remember Geronimo, the itty bitty kitty who took a big plunge off the Memorial Bridge in Radford last May? Click here to read how the orange tabby has adjusted to a grounded life with his adoptive family. It's a happy tail.

Speaking of pet tails, I did not have a chance to go see the movie "Marley and Me", but apparently millions of other people did as it was the number one box office draw over over the long holiday weekend.

I loved the book and, as most of you who love to read can attest, the movie is seldom as good as the book. I think that has more to do with the experience of reading, where you see the story in your mind, verses seeing that same story through someone else's imagination.  But I am hoping to get to the theater and see it some night this week.

In a surprising move, the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals actually gave the movie two paws up. That's surprising because PETA normally objects to amy project that involves animals for human entertainment. The group released a statement that the movie presents the right message that pets are a lifetime commitment, no matter how they behave.

(If you are not familiar with the story, Marley is a hyperactive and ill-mannered pooch that caused his family endless household turmoil, but provided his pet dad endless bad-dog fodder for his newspaper column.)

Of course, PETA also approved that, in the film version, Marley is adopted from a rescue group. Those who read the book know that the real Marley was purchased from a breeder.

If you saw the movie, post a comment. Did you love it? Hate it? Eh, not much emotion either way? Did it compare well to the book? Not even close?

The reviews have been mixed so I would love to hear what pet lovers think of it.

"Dogtown," the series that introduced viewers to the rescued pooches at Best Friends Animal Society in Angel Canyon, Utah, returns to the air with new episodes early next month.

Best Friends is the largest no-kill shelter in the United States. On any given day, roughly 2,000 animals find refuge there. Most become adoptable and will move on to forever homes; some will live out the rest of their lives in the sanctuary, where nothing bad will ever happen to them again.

The new season premieres with a two-hour episode Sept. 5 at 9 p.m. on the National Geographic channel.

Viewers will see what became of some of the dogs that were rescued from Michael Vick's house of horrors. Twenty-two of the most abused dogs were sent to live in Dogtown, and according to the BFAS Web site, they have made amazing progress.

Read more »

If the opening ceremonies of the Olympic doesn't thrill you, or you just can't wait until next Super Bowl Sunday to watch frolicking puppies, then tune into Animal Planet tomorrow night for Puppy Games 2008.

Dozens of adorable athletes take the field, and apparently the pool, in hours of footage designed as a distraction for those who just aren't into sports, or international pagentry. Click here to see a promotional video, and click here for profiles of the little athletes, including this cocker spaniel-mix named Nelson.

Go for the gold, little namesake!

While watching "Greatest American Dog" last night, I came to the conclusion that reality television should not go the dogs.

The toll of competing in silly challenges is too much for many good dogs. It strains the relationship between pooches and their humans.

And in the cut-throat, win-at-all-costs realm of reality television, good people are usually at a disadvantage. And even the most annoying dog people are usually pretty good people. Dogs bring out the humanity in humans.

Read more »

I was sorry to see Tillman, the skateboarding bulldog, eliminated from the "Greatest American Dog" show. Then again, he's probably better off.

I had pretty high hopes for this reality show, but it has not lived up to expectations. This show has focused more on the humans than on the pooches, which is a pretty big mistake considering the dogs are entertaining and most of the humans are not.

Tillman was a bright spot on the show. He was a real dog. Even though he rides a skateboard, which seems to be a talent shared by a few English bulldogs, he usually behaved like any other dog.

He didn't always do exactly what he was told. He slept a lot. He drank too much pool water and then tossed it back into the pool. He farted. Often.

If this show had lived up to it's potential, Tillman's human, Ron, could have learned about ways to make Tillman less gassy, a solution to a problem shared by many dog owners that logically make up the viewing audience of this show. Useful training tips would be appreciated, too.

But instead, we get to watch some childish behavior from Brandy toward Travis and Laura in what is shaping up to be a classic love triangle that many of us can relate to, if indeed we want to re-live middle school.

What has this got to do with the dogs?

Last night's competition had the humans trying to get their dogs to strike a pose for a photographer that illustrated an emotion. Ron and Tillman were expelled from the Canine Academy because Tillman's photo did not adequately express "lazy."

Are you kidding me?

Spared from eviction was Teresa, who curses and yells at her border collie, Leroy. She was chastised for using a rubber band to make Leroy snarl to demonstrate "angry." Judge Victoria Stillwell said she thought that was inhumane.

I think that's stretching it a little, no pun intended. While I certainly don't think you should make a habit of putting a rubber band on your dog's snout, and realistically why on earth would you, the dog was never harmed.

Still, if the judges thought Teresa was mistreating her dog, as she does almost all the time, why was that a more forgivable sin that a less-than-artsy photo of a sleepy bulldog? Great message there.

If you are watching this show, post a comment and let me know what you think. I am about ready to bail on this nonsense.