It was family night again last evening as the Hoefinger’s gathered in front of the television to watch episode #2 of Greatest American Dog (GAD).

The kids (Bo, Copper and Logan) all agreed that this week’s episode seemed to flow better. This may be because we knew what to expect…a reality show with dog owners and their precious pets. Personally I think they’re following the reality TV formula a bit too closely (the dramatic music, the interviews driving conflict, the selection of who goes into the doghouse), but it’s still fun to watch.

The show started out with a scuffle and ended with an owner meltdown, with a bunch of doggie goodness in between.

We saw a little bit more of the human-canine bond. When Bill was sitting on his bed, missing his wife and family, Star came over to comfort him. You can tell, these two just have a great relationship. Also, Bill’s concern when Star got hurt, brought me back to the times waiting in the veterinarian’s office with my own dogs, hoping things will be ok. We need to see more of this with the other owners. They have the relationship, CBS just needs to show it to us.

Since this week was obedience week, the challenges were pretty easy. I think my dogs could have passed most of them. Well, except that back up command.

The line of the night came from Tillman‘s father Ron as he prepared for the ‘dining event. “We’re going to try as hard as we can. If he does a backflip and talks Japanese, right on! If he runs off the stage to smell another dog’s butt, well that’s my dog”. I think a lot of us can relate to that!

I couldn’t stop laughing when Tillman was presented the steak, but not allowed to eat it. I can’t believe he held off.

I thought the judges did a good job in who they selected to take the last lap. It was obvious the entire night who should go, but looking to grasp defeat from the paws of victory, Beth Joy went off on the judges for criticizing her for dressing up Bella Starlet. I’m not saying the content of what she was saying was right or wrong, but there’s a time and place for everything. The judges could have let their egos get in the way and vote for Beth Joy’s and Bella Starlet’s exit, but they didn’t sending Elan and Kenji home instead

I was surprised the judges weren’t a little tougher on Elan for the way she handled Kenji. I thought it was great when guest judge, Wendy Diamond, kept interrupting Elan when she was trying to respond in the same way Elan interrupts Kenji. I hope when Elan sees the episode she’ll be able to take a step back and see the error in her ways, especially in the grabbing of the snout.

I’ll be watching next week.

So what did you folks think?