There has been much controversy recently throughout social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook over the new film adaptation of W. Bruce Cameron’s A Dog’s Purpose. The movie, which depicts some cuddly and lovable dogs in the trailer, is under heavy criticism for some leaked footage of production. Recently TMZ exposed evidence of shocking treatment towards one of the dogs in the film. After seeing the clip, this would make any dog lover’s blood boil. (You can see the clip here). There are two scenes in which a German Shepherd is being treated in an abusive way by being forced into rapid water.
Being a dog owner myself, I am appalled by the careless manner in which the production team and dog trainer treated the animal. In the clip, it is blatantly clear that the dog does not want to go into the water as his trainer pushes him back in. The poor dog is seen clawing at the edge of the pool of water, desperately trying to get out. While yes, it is a movie production and sometimes animals need to be coaxed in order to get the necessary shot, the producing team took it too far. In the second clip that TMZ obtained, the dog, again in the rapid waters, appears to go under and someone frantically yells "Cut!" as people are seen rushing over to the dog. The scene is chilling as an animal lover. It's ironic that a film, created to show the joy animals bring us and how we should appreciate them, is borderline abusing them.
The fact of the matter is, this innocent German Shepherd can't speak for himself. Animals don't have a voice against harmful people and situations. I'm sure if an actor had been in the dog's situation and did not want to go in the freezing and turbulent water, producers would have compromised to fit his pleas. Unfortunately, dogs can't talk and in this situation, no matter how much the dog protested, he was still subjected to this cruelty. While we can't go back in time and try to protect the dog (whose name is actually Hercules, by the way), we can do something now as animal lovers to voice our opinion and show that we won't tolerate the abuse of animals for entertainment purposes.
Since the incident has been recently brought to light, the studio has cancelled the premiere of the movie, indicating that people's complaints and concerns have been heard as there is a fear for Universal studios that PETA might get involved. While the studio insists that the dog is fine at the moment, the fact of the matter still remains that they did something selfish and wrong to a distress a dog in order to profit from it in a movie. Universal studio has since put out a statement that they are completley against any type of animal abuse and are looking into the matter, yet it was reported that at least a few of the production team members felt disturbed during shooting by the trainer pushing the dog into the water.
This whole incident should teach us that animals need a voice, there are too many people who do not understand the type of physical and psychological abuse that dogs can undergo when put in these situations. So if anyone still feels the need to see the movie which depicts humans loving and appreciating these dogs, not everything is as it seems when the camera stops rolling on set.
