Called to the Wild

First, this was fun to watch if you like the outdoors and dogs. I've considered finding a camping dog for a long time. This made me want to get one.

However, the contest portion of the show is not well done. They should have left that out. The scoring was either fixed or the judging was not professionally done. Some episodes like "Barking up the wrong tree" had the scoring backwards. For example, wasting your time building an elaborate shelter while not eating for ten days is not surviving. That should not be rewarded.

Many of the contestants were also exaggerating as to the amount of help they received from their dogs. Although I think this was more in good fun to share an experience with their pet.

Rather than "survivalists and their dogs teaming up to survive the wilderness" it seems more like "semi-normal people who happen to have dogs enter the wilderness and don't really know what to do." Unlike say Life Below Zero where the people they're following know a thing or two about survival.

I think it might be possible to package it better than this though - the story skips days on end, like you've only been watching a guy for a few minutes and all of a sudden he's on day 3 of the challenge even though he hasn't managed to find a single bite to eat in the wilderness - yet seems in good spirits rather than starving because he's clearly being fed off camera. The dogs don't really know what to make of the whole thing and who can blame them.