‘America’s Top Dog’: David Koechner Previews a ‘Touching’ Season 2

It’s a dog-beat-dog world when this pup-filled competition series, America’s Top Dog, returns with a fresh format and tricky new course.

Canines and their human companions start by racing the K9-Combine in snout-to-snout matchups within their class: police dogs, “underdogs,” and working dogs (such as Niko, a German shepherd–Belgian Malinois mix trained in human-remains detection, above, with his owner Alison Case).

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Obstacles like “Pipe Dream,” a 30-foot-long tunnel the dog must run through without its handler, and the self-explanatory “Shaky Bridge” test speed and agility.

But the most important skill necessary for these duos to make it to Round 2, where the group winners face off for a $10,000 prize (and an additional $5,000 for charity)? Teamwork!

(Credit: A&E)

“The amazing discipline and love between the dog and the owner — that’s always touching,” says The Office vet David Koechner, another Season 2 addition who joins NFL broadcaster Curt Menefee to call the action. “It seems to me that every dog jumps into the owner’s arms. The fact that they are able to do that, on top of all these tasks, that’s pretty incredible.”

America’s Top Dog, Season 2 Premiere, Tuesday, June 29, 8/7c, A&E