Disturbing leaked video of animal abuse on set of A Dog's Purpose

[teekay]

So distressing to see that poor poor dog. He's terrified. After Googling it appears this is legit and so sad.

 

Needless to say I will not be going to see the film. I hope charges are brought against the people responsible for this.

 

Extract:

 

In leaked footage obtained by TMZ and reportedly filmed on set in Canada in November 2015, a terrified German Shepherd is seen struggling to escape as a handler forces the dog into a turbulent body of water.

 

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/movies/upcoming-movies/animal-cruelty-disturbing-leaked-video-from-film-set-horrifies-viewers/news-story/98be114add016b7fbf312875226ab791

Edited January 20, 2017 by teekay
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[Loving my Oldies]

1 hour ago, teekay said:

So distressing to see that poor poor dog. He's terrified. After Googling it appears this is legit and so sad.

 

Needless to say I will not be going to see the film. I hope charges are brought against the people responsible for this.

 

 

 

This popped up on my FB feed.  Needless to say, I did not look or read  but wanted to ask if it was just a horrible horrible and cruel stunt and the dog wasn’t actually drowned.   

 

Is there no limit to the cruelty people want to pursue in the name of entertainment.  

 

Everyone there who did NOT go to the dog’s aid should be charged as accessories.   

[Rebanne]

The dog certainly went under water at the end and there was some panic by the handler who was in the water by that stage but "they" say the dog was fine. The video stopped after the dog went under so who know's what the truth is. It was very disturbing and I wouldn't recommend any one watch it. I can't get it out of my mind.

[Scottsmum]

Not nice at all.  

 

I wont be supporting the film (but to be fair, I probably wouldn't have seen it anyhow). 

[~Lisa~]

I wish I hadn't watched the footage, I can't stop thinking about it. Sickening

[Simply Grand]

It was awful, the poor thing was terrified and when he went under...

 

i really hope he was physically ok but no doubt he would be traumatised. Why on earth didn't they use a dog that was happy in water and a stronger swimmer? Or CGI, as I saw someone comment on FB somewhere.

Edited January 20, 2017 by Simply Grand

[Rozzie]

He was terrified before he went in.

[The Spotted Devil]

Absolutely disgraceful. As I've said elsewhere my mind was spinning with ways to produce this scene such that the dog regarded it as a GAME of FUN and CHOICE.

 

The so-called dog trainers should be ashamed of themselves.

[teekay]

It's just so awful. I've always taken it for granted that "no animals were harmed in making in this movie" 

Now I'm beginning to wonder.

[Tempus Fugit]

Probably no worse than the training that CWDs get over there. I've experienced a similar reaction trying to lift a dog into a tub to give it a bath.

[Loving my Oldies]

43 minutes ago, teekay said:

It's just so awful. I've always taken it for granted that "no animals were harmed in making in this movie" 

Now I'm beginning to wonder.

 

You need to take ALL labelling with a grain of salt, teekay.  While doing a short term job with a company who consulted to the makeup and alternative medicines industries, I learnt that “Not Tested on Animals” applied only to the finished product.  That product still could contain items that had been tested on animals.  So much dishonesty in every tiny facet of our lives.   

[Tempus Fugit]

Here is an update: http://deadline.com/2017/01/a-dogs-purpose-producer-author-says-unedited-tape-the-dog-was-in-no-danger-1201891070/

[Loving my Oldies]

2 hours ago, Tempus Fugit said:

Here is an update: http://deadline.com/2017/01/a-dogs-purpose-producer-author-says-unedited-tape-the-dog-was-in-no-danger-1201891070/

Can I read that without seeing any video footage?

[Simply Grand]

There's no video DDD buy it's a very tabloidy story - PETA says vs the film people say. Hard to know the truth

[rubiton]

They do have some good points - the footage was edited to cut off the end so many questioned if the dog was OK.  And the fact that it was held until just before the film was released as obviously after filming like it says there are many months  between filming and film release.  BUT if the dog had been fine from the other side/different angle (and assuming it had been trained from the 'other angle') when it hesitated they should have stopped.  The dog should have been trained to jump in from both sides willingly (which according to someone who is a dog trainer has said elsewhere - a confident dog will jump in without a problem) - dont think with the proper training the stunt in itself was that bad as it was controlled conditions - only that the dog was forced in when it clearly wasnt confident.  They should have stopped and had the trainer go through the stunt with the dog so it was confident with jumping in and then got the crew to film - yes time is money but so are activist videos going viral going to stop people seeing the movie.

Mind you the description of the movie a dogs birth, life death and reincarnated as other breeds - we go through enough hell losing our own pets why would we want to see a movie described like that?  Geez movies like Marley and Me & My Dog Skip about dogs in their prime are bad enough when you get near the end anyway.  

[RiverStar-Aura]

As someone who really, really, REALLY, loves the novel I was deeply disgusted and angered by this video. I didn't/couldn't watch to the end because seeing the poor, clearly terrified dog being thrown into the water was enough.

 

I can't understand why a dog comfortable with rushing water wasn't used and horrified by the lack of caring shown by all those on set. Had it been my dog being used for that scene and I saw that going down, there's absolutely no way in h*ll I'd be letting it continue.  

[Little Gifts]

This confuses me a little. We are talking about a movie which is full of dogs doing a range of extreme and normal tasks - sourcing skilled trainers with suitable dogs would've been far harder than finding the human cast. Maybe this poor dog was ok with jumping into still water and it was the noise of fans and the choppy water that frightened it? I find it hard to imagine they employed a dodgy trainer and a dog not trained in this kind of work on a big budget flick. I actually blame this trainer for forcing his dog to do something it was clearly terrified about. Either it was the wrong dog for the scene or he should've told production that something wasn't right for the dog - he should've been the dog's voice. Forcing the dog to get into the water at that point was abusive. Unless the trainer stood up and said nup, it aint going to happen I can imagine the production crew would just keep the cameras rolling.

 

I thought there were supposed to be animal welfare checks done on films like this so they could use that phrase at the end? Means that the trainer and production team all lied to an inspector on whether there had been any issues on set. Maybe that is why someone on the crew leaked the footage? Serves them all right. They've ruined a potentially beautiful movie by being negligent. It is a book I also loved but I refuse to see the film now. I don't even want to see it in 10 years time on FTA TV.

[rubiton]

The thing at the end of the movie usually says 'no animals were harmed'.  A dog in the water and then gets out of the water after the camera was off is not 'harmed' .

But again the dog should be trained to jump in from that spot not just 'lets see how it looks from the other side'.

[asal]

On 20/01/2017 at 6:27 PM, Rozzie said:

He was terrified before he went in.

rewatch the video

 

the dog never went in all the way, its hinds legs and its hips went in then the trainer pulls the dog up back to him its cut  the second the trainer begins lifting the dog back up out of the water ,  YOU DO NOT SEE IT GOING INTO THE WATER. your mind is finishing what isn't there. so frankly I believe the chap below.. agree the trainer should have stopped immediately the dog said no.  as said above so many have assumed what actually didn't happen too.

 

as this   http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/gavin-polone-a-dogs-purpose-outcry-what-happened-whos-blame-967160      link says, its cut at that point and the second half shows the dog in the second shoot when it had jumped in willingly from the other side AND as he so tellingly says, , it was cut at the point the dog when under, you don't get to see it resurface or its behavior when back out of the water yet all that was on video. Although now the shit has hit the fan I for one think all the footage should be released so people can see for themselves and make a decision as to how manipulated the editing was that was released by peta, if they don't then we only have his word for it there is full footage that peta deleted.

 

AND the most telling they waited a year to release it? 

Edited January 25, 2017 by asal

[Little Gifts]

The delay in releasing the film could be nothing to do with this issue though. They give new movies to test public audiences and will often go back and re-edit based on the feedback. They've been known to change whole endings because of this feedback and to even go back and reshoot new scenes. Given the use of animals there would need to be a lot of editing for continuity too as the dogs probably just did a couple of tasks at a time rather than a whole continuous scene. So this means you have a longer editing period after shooting has finished. They also hold over films if other films being released at a similar time by different companies might take away their box office impact or if there is some big world event happening that might distract people from hitting the cinema. It is all about money.

 

Asal you are right that we made assumptions about what we saw but I never saw the trainer pull the dog back up - I saw the dog clawing its way back up and the trainer still giving it commands to go in and rearranging its body so it could do so. As I said in a previous post I would assume the dog was trained for this purpose but something on the day was clearly terrifying it. That's the trainer's job to manage (ie protect the dog) because the dog can't talk and call cut or for a break. Maybe it was the wind machine noise or something we are not privvy too but for that particular section of filming that dog was clearly terrified and actively avoiding getting into the water.