America's Top Dog

America's Top Dog
Original release
Network	A&E
Release	January 2020 (2020-01)

America's Top Dog is a television series that premiered on A&E in January 2020.

In the show, five dogs and their handlers—usually four police K-9 teams and one civilian team—compete in a three-phase competition. The first phase, the Canine Combine, is an obstacle course that includes the car slalom (where the dogs jump in and out of cars), the fire escape (where the dogs pull down the doors to get to the next level), the high jump (where the dogs jump over walls, or in some cases, crawl under them), the rope bridge (where the dogs run across an unstable rope bridge), and the splashdown (where the dogs swim across a small pool to the finish). The fastest four dogs through the Combine advance to the next phase. The next phase is the Boneyard, a scent detection test, where the dogs try to find as many scented objects as possible (out of five), and alert their handlers to the find, in a maze of rooms in five minutes or less. For each dog's run, the scent used is whatever the dog is most familiar with. The two dogs that find the most objects (or that find them the fastest, in case of a tie) advance to the final phase. In the last phase, the Doghouse, the dogs and handlers make their way through a "house," including knocking down the door, climbing through the window into a spider-web of bungees, low-crawling, climbing boxes, running through a duct-work tunnel, breaching two doors (with the dog pulling the door open), and finally apprehending a "suspect," including taking him down and then releasing on command and returning to the handler. The dog that completes the phase the fastest wins the title of "America's Top Dog," $10,000, an additional $5,000 donated to the animal charity of their choice, and the opportunity to compete in the grand finale, which has a $25,000 prize.

Contestants and winners by episode

Season One
Episode Number	Episode Name	Air Date	Dog Name	Handler Name
1	Raising the Woof	January 8, 2020	Falco (winner)	Dave Cochran
			Dax	John Forlenza
			Maker	John Kuendig
			Duco	Nathaniel Anderson
			Maverick	Casey Skelton
2	The Fast and the Furriest	January 15, 2020	Bear (winner)	Dan Rhoades
			Kato	Charles Duvall
			Bonito	Dawn Jauernik
			Rocko	Stan Smith II
			Duke	Ed Soares
3	Small Dog, Big Bite	January 22, 2020	Minion (winner)	Amanda Caldron
			Murphy	Patrick Newbill
			Blitz	Randy Stein
			Skoot	Alexander Lindsay
			Demi	Jared Backey
4	Double Down on the Underdog	January 29, 2020	Mattis (winner)	Mark Tappan
			Fuze	Sarah Cole
			Riddick	Amy Leishman
			Wolverine	Otto Sturm
			Moto	Jill Viggiani
5	Young Dog, Old Tricks	February 5, 2020	Django (winner)	Heather Vanhemmert
			Rico	Tim Bradley
			Capo	Juan Rivera III
			Leonittis	Alex Chavarin
			Tango	Jordan Jones
6	Country Boys and Rescue Dogs	February 12, 2020	Eddy (winner)	Todd Thompson
			Cam	Justin Wilmot
			Kuma	Michael Victorino
			Jago	Mark Grube
			Scrappy	Kristi Kummer
7	Are You Not Entertained?	February 19, 2020	Bowie (winner)	Bob Schwarting
			Pele	T.J. San Miguel
			Crixus	John Shahor
			Tater	Chuck Mehr
			Bala	Daniel Salander
8	The Battle of the Garden State	February 26, 2020	Kai (winner)	Mike McMahon
			Hunter (Top Overall Boneyard Time)	Stan Balmer
			Rogue	April Vaillancourt
			Blizzard	Aaron Peterman
			Mesa	Joseph Benke
9	Young Pups and Silver Foxes	March 4, 2020	Bane (winner)	Jesse Matthews
			Kobe	Candice Snyder
			Kyra	Brian de los Santos
			Macie	Megan Devoe
			Bullet	Lance Montee
10	Gaga for Doggles	March 11, 2020	Rony (winner)	Brad Larsen
			Simon	Michael Garber
			Casus Belli	Todd Mona
			Bruce	Sandy Reeves
			Garry	Aaron Steere
Finale	It Ain't Over Until There's a Top Dog	March 18, 2020	Kai (winner)	Mike McMahon
			Mattis	Mark Tappan
			Rony	Brad Larsen
			Eddy	Todd Thompson
			Django	Heather Vanhemmert
			Falco	Dave Cochran
			Minion	Amanda Caldron

See also

• 2020 in American television