Yesterday a video posted by TMZ had many outraged at the sight of a clearly frightened German Shepherd being forced into the water on the set of A Dog’s Purpose. Now that the video has gone viral, producers are finally speaking out about the incident.
Gavin Polone, the producer of A Dog’s Purpose who is also an animal rights activist and has actually written publicly about making sure animals are treated properly in the entertainment field, told Deadline that he was “horrified” about what happened in a second unit shoot on the set of his upcoming Universal film. He went on to say, “The first thing I asked was, ‘Is the dog OK?’ He’s fine. But if I had seen that, I would have stopped it in a minute. People have to be held responsible for this. It was someone’s job to watch out for this kind of thing. Why didn’t they? This is something I’ve written about before, whether it be circus animals or animals on set. American Humane are supposed to be there supervising. That’s their job that someone is paid a lot of money to do. Why wasn’t this stopped? There needs to be a better system than this. That’s what I’ve called for in the past. I agree with PETA that they not only need to make sure animals are treated properly on set, but they also need to find out where the animals are kept outside of the set. To make sure they are treated properly at all times.”
PETA has called for a boycott of the film after the video surfaced and many on social media are doing the same. The film was tracking to have a decent opening next weekend but this could turn many away from the film.
Amblin/Walden Media’s A Dog’s Purpose is based on the bestselling book of the same name by W. Bruce Cameron. It centers on a dog who realizes the meaning of his life after being re-incarnated, which puts him into the lives of many owners.
The video of the incident is posted below but please be advised if you are a dog lover it’s a bit hard to watch:
