Those individuals should be held accountable and never used again by that studio or its affiliates. So should have whomever was running the set. The American Humane Association (AHA) representative who is paid by the production to “ensure the safety and humane treatment of animal actors,” as its website states, should have also intervened immediately on both of those parts of the filming. The dog trainer should have stopped trying to get the dog to go in the water as soon as the dog seemed uncomfortable, and the trainers should have had support under the dog as soon as he came to the side of the pool and/or had less turbulence in the water so he never would have gone under. These two things are absolutely INEXCUSABLE and should NEVER have happened. As with the TMZ video that you saw, two things were evident: 1) the dog handler tries to force the dog, for 35 to 40 seconds, into the water when, clearly, he didn’t want to go in and 2) in a separate take filmed sometime later, the dog did go into the water, on his own, and, at the end, his head is submerged for about 4 seconds.
Last Thursday, I went to Amblin’s office and watched all the film shot on the day in question, as well as saw video from the trainers and still photographs. Cynically, I could say that the executives at the studio were looking to protect their asset, and that is true, but I also know they are all dog lovers and caring people, and I believe they were genuinely concerned about the welfare of all the animals on the movie. She told me they were investigating how this could happen and would hold those responsible to account: what I wanted to hear.
I spoke to Holly Bario, the president of production at Amblin Partners, the film’s studio. I wasn’t surprised nor resistant to this messaging, as I have also called for boycotts against those whom I felt are doing wrong to animals.
Seeing that distraught dog in the video did not comport with what I had observed in the prior weeks of production.Īs soon as the video was displayed on TMZ, PETA called for a boycott of the movie and I began receiving messages on Twitter that ranged from polite questions about what happened to harsh anger. I live alone with a dog and two cats (and earlier in my life shared my home with as many as four dogs and five cats) and am very sensitive to their emotions. Not once did I perceive any animal caused any discomfort or put in danger - and I am very aware what a distressed dog or cat is like. Though I was in Los Angeles when the scene in question was shot, I was on the set of the film for about 70 percent of the 11-week production and witnessed the animal trainers, from a company called Birds and Animals Unlimited, handling the animals daily.
When the fog cleared from my brain, I knew I had to find out how this happened, who was responsible and what my part in all this may have been. The most consistent and closest relationships I’ve had throughout my life have been with animals. I am a vegan who has fewer close friends than most and no relatives with whom I speak regularly. My will is set up so that all I have shall be donated to charities benefiting animals when I die. I have participated in, helped pay for and written in this publication about animal welfare causes. Unlike you, the terrible feeling engendered by that video was heightened for me because I am the producer of that film and because much of my identity is fused with the belief that I am a lover and defender of animals and their welfare. Like you, I’m sure, I was appalled when I saw the video, shot on the set of A Dog’s Purpose in Winnipeg in October 2015, of a dog trainer trying to coerce a frightened German Shepard into a pool.