An independent, third-party investigation has found that no animals were harmed on the set of A Dog’s Purpose, American Humane announced Friday on its website. Further, the animal welfare organization stated that the disturbing leaked video first published by TMZ, which shows a German Shepherd forced into water before being submerged, “mischaracterized the events on set.”
As backlash to A Dog’s Purpose settled in after TMZ’s video first went viral, those involved with the film—ranging from author W. Bruce Cameron to actor Dennis Quaid—maintained that there was no mistreatment of animals during the shooting of the film. But other animal rights organizations such as PETA still called for a total boycott, citing the video as evidence of “cruelty.” (According to Deadline, the film’s opening weekend numbers were “doggone good” nonetheless.)
American Humane, which provides the “No animals were harmed” certification found in the credits of Hollywood movies, did say that the leaked video should not be altogether discredited. “American Humane believes that the handling of the dog in the first scene in the video should have been gentler and signs of stress recognized earlier,” the statement explained. “That being said, it is important to note that this was recognized and the scene did not proceed as insinuated by the misleadingly edited video.”
The organization also laid out several further conclusions in bullet-point form:
— The video was deliberately edited for the purpose of misleading the public and stoking outrage. In fact, the two scenes shown in the edited video were filmed at different times.
— The first video scene was stopped after the dog showed signs of stress. The dog was not forced to swim in the water at any time.
— Prior to shooting the scene, safety meetings were held to go over and reinforce safety precautions and protocols.
— The dog was selected for his love of the water, and had been professionally trained and conditioned for the water scenes over the course of six weeks, using positive training techniques.
— In addition to one of American Humane’s Certified Animal Safety Representatives, five experts—including safety specialists and animal handlers—were present to supervise and safeguard the dog throughout the water scene.
— During the last scene, handlers immediately assisted the dog out of the water, at which point he was placed in a warming tent and received an examination that found no signs of stress. Eyewitnesses report that the dog wanted to go back in the water. Still, out of an abundance of caution, American Humane stopped filming of any more scenes with the dog.
— A veterinary checkup was performed last week at the request of American Humane, which confirmed that the dog is healthy.
