I hope everybody reading this thread and deciding if they will or will not go see this movie will read the entirety of the article linked by both Kelly and Connie. It is worth five minutes of your time. It gave me a totally different perspective than that edited video clip aired by TMZ. Connie posted a quote from the article, and this is the paragraph following that:

"Wouldn’t it be better to fix the problems that led to this unfortunate and anomalous event and ignore the manipulated media and half-truths disseminated by those with either financial or extremist agendas? I swear to you, whether I make another dime on this movie or not has no effect on my life. But if studios stop backing films like A Dog’s Purpose because they fear being attacked by groups like PETA, and kids who are now the age I was when I formed my understanding that animals are deserving of love and protection can’t see those movies, it will absolutely have a negative effect on animal welfare in the future."

I won't be seeing this movie for the same reason as Kelly. It will be too emotional for me, and I don't want to be crying in the movie theater. But for those who like movies featuring dogs or believe their children might enjoy them, I hope they will be open to hearing the producer's side of the story and then making a thoughtful and considered judgment about whether a movie like this is in the best interest of animal welfare or not. Each of us has to make up our own minds, but it should always be done after weighing the whole story, or at least as much as is available to us.

This thread is very interesting. I had the family excited about the movie and then we heard about the clip and lost interest. I think it's worth a second glance. I already know its going to be a cheesy heartwarmy goosebumpy movie (not usually my thing) but I may still want to see this one.

PETA and TMZ are not credible sources of any truths, IMO.

 Quote: Cheri Grissom

I hope everybody reading this thread and deciding if they will or will not go see this movie will read the entirety of the article linked by both Kelly and Connie. It is worth five minutes of your time. It gave me a totally different perspective than that edited video clip aired by TMZ. Connie posted a quote from the article, and this is the paragraph following that:

"Wouldn’t it be better to fix the problems that led to this unfortunate and anomalous event and ignore the manipulated media and half-truths disseminated by those with either financial or extremist agendas? I swear to you, whether I make another dime on this movie or not has no effect on my life. But if studios stop backing films like A Dog’s Purpose because they fear being attacked by groups like PETA, and kids who are now the age I was when I formed my understanding that animals are deserving of love and protection can’t see those movies, it will absolutely have a negative effect on animal welfare in the future."

I won't be seeing this movie for the same reason as Kelly. It will be too emotional for me, and I don't want to be crying in the movie theater. But for those who like movies featuring dogs or believe their children might enjoy them, I hope they will be open to hearing the producer's side of the story and then making a thoughtful and considered judgment about whether a movie like this is in the best interest of animal welfare or not. Each of us has to make up our own minds, but it should always be done after weighing the whole story, or at least as much as is available to us.

I guarantee you that EVERYONE will be Sobbing Aloud in the theater, so you would not be alone on this, Cheri -- I am a HUGE cry-baby, lover of dog stories, frequent movie-goer, and longtime Dennis Quaid fan ... But I was put off by the whole "talking dog narrator" format when I watched the trailer, along with the reincarnation theme (two issues that both leave me cold, just personally speaking, no big ax to grind there) so I will leave this film for my Netflix queue.

The IDEAL situation is for those who chose the animals for movies would select animals that were trained for the particular jobs they will be used for.

In this instance just the change in what side the dog worked form made a difference.

Shouldn't a dog trainer know these limitations? After all anyone that has trained knows dogs can be VERY situational with what training means to them.

I would have expected that in this movie but my guess (just a guess) is that those who offer their animals for such work would know what the dog can and can't do.

No doubt though, like any player in a movie, their hype is probably greater then their abilities.

"The IDEAL situation is for those who chose the animals for movies would select animals that were trained for the particular Jobs they will be used for."

I agree fully, Bob. I would even go a bit further, I'd leave out the "IDEAL". In my eyes this is an essential prerequisite. Without this responsabilty, anyone should stay from such thing whether it is for a movie or not.

In dog training. as in life, things come up that we can't foresee. I had no idea that simply changing lanes in flyball would throw Toni completely off her game - she had run fine in the left lane, and in a single lane, in both directions. But having the competition on her left confused her. I gave her 3 tries at it, and she deteriorated so much in those 3 tries that I called it quits and stopped for the night - we were doing single dog races and I pulled her after 3 heats. This is a dog that already held a FD (Flyball Dog) title - it's just that all her races had been on the left, something that I did not even notice until the problem came up.

Part of dog training is learning these little quirks about our dogs. Learning to work through them. No dog is perfect, nor is any trainer perfect. Every trainer I've ever talked to - including Michael Ellis - has said that they wished they could go back and apologize to their past dogs for their mistakes.

Sometimes in training we don't have the opportunity to work with each and every eventuality there is. In dock diving, I can't work my dog on every single dock it might ever come in contact with. I may have access to one pool, so getting the dog to generalize to having people on the left, the right, the dock facing into the sun, out of the sun, etc etc, is not possible. Most dogs see the water and go - Tyra is like that so she is no problem. But other dogs have to work through it - we can't work through it until we know it's a problem though.

It's a catch 22 - can't fix it til you know it's broke. Can't know it's broke till you try it.

For this movie, they likely chose the dog they thought would work the best, They didn't know he couldn't work from the opposite side of the pool until they tried it. They gave it 2 tries and gave up - 84 seconds worth. My understanding is that the final shot was filmed with the dog working on the side of the pool it was familiar with.

I've made mistakes with my dogs. I will be the first to admit it. I've had to back up and rethink things more than once. I would hate it if someone got hold of video from one of my mistakes and decided to air it all over the internet and use it to declare me a horrible dog trainer, or animal abuser. One tiny moment, in a lifetime of moments, does not define who you are or what you are as a person.

All just my opinion, of course. Take it for what it is.

Kel

 Quote: Kelly

Every trainer I've ever talked to - including Michael Ellis - has said that they wished they could go back and apologize to their past dogs for their mistakes...

I've made mistakes with my dogs. I will be the first to admit it. I've had to back up and rethink things more than once. I would hate it if someone got hold of video from one of my mistakes and decided to air it all over the internet and use it to declare me a horrible dog trainer, or animal abuser.

Kel

I hear U on the above, Kelly, as all honest folks must -- I also remember numerous trainers I've studied, including Ed Frawley (IIRC) saying, "Dogs are NOT 'generalizers' so they don't naturally apply a specifically trained behavior to OTHER situations In General" ... Of course I have to add that SOME individual dogs are better at Doing So than others, as with everything else, either when handler-directed OR by personal extrapolation In my own limited experience training family pets, my Basenjis and Akitas were rather GOOD at it, comparatively speaking !!!

Hi Kelly, I do agree fully with every word you wrote. My critic and my indignation was not in the least about making mistakes it was and is about forcing.

 Quote: Kelly

Part of dog training is learning these little quirks about our dogs. Learning to work through them. No dog is perfect, nor is any trainer perfect. Every trainer I've ever talked to - including Michael Ellis - has said that they wished they could go back and apologize to their past dogs for their mistakes.

I've made mistakes with my dogs. I will be the first to admit it. I've had to back up and rethink things more than once. I would hate it if someone got hold of video from one of my mistakes and decided to air it all over the internet and use it to declare me a horrible dog trainer, or animal abuser. One tiny moment, in a lifetime of moments, does not define who you are or what you are as a person.

Of all the posts on this thread, this one stands out to me the most. Especially that last paragraph. It hits me personally because I can sit here and recall almost every single time I've ever done wrong by every single one of my dogs, and I will regret all of those times for the rest of my life, long after each of those dogs are gone. Now, I happen to be feeling extra emotional tonight, but the thought of someone broadcasting any of those times that I let my dog down and labeling me a monster brings tears to my eyes. For all we know, the trainer was a good person who loves that dog, and for whatever reason, just made a mistake, just like we all have.

I don't know whether I will end up seeing the movie or not, but I personally feel that the truth to the story is probably somewhere between the two extremes, especially if PETA is on one side and people making the big money are on the other. PETA is known for being anti-animal everything, they don't advocate FOR animals so much as AGAINST anything that has to do with animals, including keeping them as pets. And it's naïve to think that animals don't get exploited when there is money to be made. But I don't think we have access to any unbiased sources of information about all this, so we'll probably never know for sure what really happened and why.

I wonder if any humans were harmed in the filming of this one?

https://www.facebook.com/rocketjumpdotcom/videos/1635998239760651/