NFL commentator Curt Menefee is branching off into a new kind of sport — with much furrier athletes.
Menefee, who co-hosts “Fox NFL Sunday” and is the play-by-play commentator for the Seattle Seahawks, will host A&E’s new series “America’s Top Dog,” which pits police dogs, known as “K-9” dogs, against “civilian” dogs in various canine competitions.
“Everybody behind the scenes are all dog owners and dog lovers. So this is a passion project, if you will,” says Menefee, 54. “It wasn’t just a show about competition, it wasn’t just about dogs. It was about showing how different breeds can be trained to do different things. But also about the relationship between the handlers and the dogs.”
Premiering Jan. 8 at 9 p.m., “America’s Top Dog” sees man’s best friend competing on a specially designed obstacle course built in the California desert. Think “American Ninja Warrior,” but for canines. In each one-hour episode, four police dogs — including dogs that previously appeared on A&E’s other hit series “Live P.D.” — and one civilian dog face off in three rounds of competition that tests their speed, agility and tracking capabilities. The winning team gets $10,000, with an additional $5,000 to donate to an animal charity of choice. In the last week of the show, winners from past episodes will compete for an additional $25,000 prize.
While it might seem strange to put civilian dogs in the same competition as highly trained K-9 dogs, Menefee and his co-host, celebrity dog trainer Nick White, say that’s part of the fun.
“That’s why I love the show format — it shows that if you put the time and bonding and training and all those things into your dog, it can compete with some highly trained police dogs,” says White. “I think [the show is] going to do a lot of good for dog owners saying, ‘Wow, I didn’t know that my Dalmatian or my Yorkie could also do these kind of things!’ We have everything from a 20-pound dog competing up to a 100-pound dog, and they go through the same exact course.”
The obstacle course contains areas such as a wall to jump over or a pool to swim across. Both commentators say it was touching to watch the handlers often do the course right alongside the dogs.
“It’s really awesome to see that bond and that teamwork,” says White. “People think of a police dog as, ‘the handler tells them to do something and they do it.’ Though actually, you’ll see it’s more about the bond and the relationship versus control and obedience. I think that will be a big message that a lot of people can take away from the show.”
Menefee, himself a lifelong dog owner, currently has two rescue dogs — a shepherd Lab mix and a French bulldog/Corgi mix.
“So much of [the show] is humanizing the dogs,” he says. “We get the backstory on a lot of these dogs … they’ve come from different circumstances and were rescued at a young age. You learn about some health issues they’ve had or other obstacles they’ve overcome. But also as you do this, sometimes you just have to laugh, because they’re like your dog at home — you can’t get them to jump over something when you want them too, even though they may have done it 5,000 times.
“So you can sit there and laugh and go, ‘Hey, I have the same problem at home that this highly trained police dog has in this moment!’ I think that makes [the show] fun for everybody.”
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