Partners seek ‘America’s Top Dog’ title, finale airs Wednesday

Published 12:43 pm Tuesday, March 17, 2020

DALTON, Ga. — While Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Todd Thompson and his K9 partner Eddy have accomplished numerous feats together, including finishing as the winner during their episode of “America’s Top Dog,” it wasn’t until that episode of the A&E series aired on Feb. 12 that Thompson truly realized how much support they enjoy in this community. 

Since that episode aired, “it’s been an unreal experience,” with people greeting Thompson in the grocery store to congratulate him, stopping him on the street to introduce him to their families, and honking their horns while driving to give him a wave or a thumbs-up signal, Thompson said. “I do realize, now, this town is rooting for us, and that’s one of the best feelings in the world.”

While not every winner of each individual episode’s competitions was selected for the series finale, Thompson and Eddy were chosen for that tournament of champions, and that episode will air at 9 p.m. on Wednesday. Competitors will battle for the title of “America’s Top Dog” (and an additional $25,000 cash prize) in the season’s final episode.

 While Thompson’s group of five was the first to compete in the series in California in June, his initial episode was actually the sixth to air, and he was “on the fence” about whether to have a watch party for that episode, he said. “I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it,” but numerous other competitors already had watch parties in their own cities, and “they recommended it.” He is not having a watch party this time around.

Even though Thompson knew he’d won, he was still “nervous” that evening, because he didn’t know how the show might be presented, he said. “It was a sea of emotions.” 

When the show began that night, “the place went nuts,” he said. “It still gives me cold chills, even talking about it now.” 

While in the midst of competing, Thompson believed the boneyard portion would prove decisive. 

“I remember it like it was yesterday, even though it was eight months ago,” he said. “I told my wife, Ann, ‘If I can get through the boneyard, I’m going to win this competition.’” 

The five-minute time limit was among the tests in the boneyard, he said. Typically, when Thompson and Eddy are, say, searching for drugs, accomplishing the goal is all that matters, not how long it takes. 

“Slow and steady usually wins the race, so it was unnatural for (Eddy), but sometimes you have to change things up a little and take a gamble,” Thompson said. “Roll the dice.” 

He was also curious about how Eddy, a German Shepherd-Malinois mix, would fare in the boneyard drug search.

“In my opinion, the drug search aspect of the show was the hardest part, because there were so many unknown factors,” he said. “We were filming in an open canyon, at night, with the wind swirling, which can give false impressions.”

Furthermore, “they were hiding odors in common household items, like soap dispensers, picture frames and alarm clocks,” he said. “You had to trust your dog.” 

Fortunately, Eddy possesses an exceptional nose for drug-sniffing, Thompson said. In fact, the dog’s talents in that arena earned the pair a spot in a national drug-detecting competition last year in New York’s capital of Albany. 

Dogs possess up to 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses, compared to about 6 million in humans, and “the part of a dog’s brain that is devoted to analyzing smells is, proportionally speaking, 40 times greater than ours,” according to the PBS program “Nova.” “Dogs’ sense of smell overpowers our own by orders of magnitude — it’s 10,000 to 100,000 times as acute.” 

The boneyard “stumbled people, and it’s really stressful,” Thompson said. That anxiety was felt “down leash” by Eddy, but the pair performed commendably and advanced to the last stage, which was similar to the first, albeit on a higher order of magnitude. 

The concluding stage was demanding athletically and culminated with Eddy pursuing and taking down a “fugitive” in a bite suit, Thompson said. “I felt like we’d won, and then it was confirmed.”

“I told my wife ‘Pinch me,’ because I could not believe this was really happening,” he said. “It was the bond, the teamwork, and the trust (Eddy and I) have established together” that allowed for the victorious performance. 

Even though filming didn’t conclude until roughly 3 a.m., “I was not at all sleepy,” he said. “I was on Cloud Nine.” 

Back at his hotel, he was approached by Nick White, an expert dog trainer and co-host of the series, who commended the work of Thompson and Eddy. White is a Marine and former member of the Secret Service with years of experience working with K9s.

White reminded Thompson to “enjoy the moment.”

Thompson and Eddy “set the standard all K9 teams should strive to (reach),” White added. They were “confident in competition and humble in victory.” 

Thompson’s triumph earned $10,000 for the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office and $5,000 for the charity of his choice. He selected the Retired Police K9 Foundation.

Thompson did prepare Eddy for other challenges prior to flying to Los Angeles last summer. For example, he took Eddy to a friend’s pool to practice jumping into water on command. 

“He’ll jump in the water for a purpose, like to apprehend a suspect, but to do it for no (apparent) reason is a little strange for him,” Thompson said. “I utilized his reward toy to encourage him.” 

Thompson dedicated his performance on the show to Lt. Fran Rice, a longtime member of the sheriff’s office who died last year, and Eddy wore Rice’s retirement badge on his chest during the competition. 

Rice “was a dog handler, and I wanted to represent his family,” Thompson said. He invited the family to his watch party at Cherokee Brewing + Pizza Company, and Rice’s widow, Kim, “came up to me after the episode with emotion in her heart and tears in her eyes and whispered some things in my ear I will never forget.” 

In addition to the Rice family, White attended, as did a couple of other episode winners, along with their dogs, Thompson said. “The atmosphere was really neat, and it was as perfect of a night as a night could get.” 

Cherokee was not only packed, but Thompson received numerous phone calls and texts that night, too, he said. “I wanted to thank everyone I could, because I had to let them know what their support meant to me,” so he answered every text and call, even though the volume was “overwhelming.” 

He’s grateful to his department for letting him do this show and all the other training and competitions he does with Eddy, and to his wife, who has been “my biggest fan,” he said. “I couldn’t have done this without her.” 

Eddy has risen in Thompson’s esteem several times since their relationship began when the former was roughly a year old, and the dog made another leap in California following their victory.

“I looked at him differently again and thought ‘What a great dog,’” he said. “My life has changed so much because of Eddy, and I know I’ve changed his life.” 

“He has feelings and emotions, and he aims to please,” Thompson said. “I feel like we can accomplish anything together, because we have this unbreakable bond, and we feed off of each other.” 

Eddy turned 5 on Jan. 17, and Thompson remains in a state of wonderment at the strides the dog has made in four years. 

When they began attending training sessions in Chattanooga, “it was embarrassing,” he said. Eddy was virtually clueless, and “I had no idea what I was doing.”

Pure “hard work,” however, has been the recipe for success, he said. “Hard work does pay off.”

Thompson believes part of the show’s success — and a reason his partnership with Eddy resonates with so many — is “all of us have had an animal in our lives who was special to us,” he said. “All of us can relate to seeing this bond on TV.”

“Eddy, I think, is a one-in-a-million dog, he very much has a soul to him, and he loves me to death,” Thompson said. “I’ve had dogs my whole life, but this bond with him is something I’ve never experienced before.” 

“He’s so much more than just a dog,” Thompson added. “I look at him as a partner and a friend.”