Regardless of the press giving reasons for this incident, this dog was clearly not enjoying his job and training should have ended.
I can appreciate that you feel the movie is tainted and respect your (and others) decision not to see it, but in the interest of keeping the facts clear:
Based on numerous reports (and based on things the footage itself doesn't even show) when the trainer saw the dog was not enjoying his job,
the training WAS ended.
The footage splices together an altogether different footage from a later time, and footage of the dog ultimate performing the task from the original location he practiced it as shows the dog eagerly and excitedly jumping into the water (even "having to be held back" from jumping in on his own before the camera was ready).
I love dogs. They are my life. I would never want to see them in pain, and I am angered and horrified when animals are exploited or abused. But I also know the public shame that burns my face with embarrassment when my little sheltie girl, who I've never mistreated at all and adopted from a breeder at age 1 after she was too small for shows, cowers away in an unexpected, but naturalized fear on random occasions even when I just 'call her over' at the dog park. She cowers and turns her back and hides under objects... My ex-wife, having witnessed those scenes, spread rumors to all of our family and friends that I was abusing our dogs, and even to a breeder to whom I had submitted an application for adoption. It took me months of working one-on-one with that breeder until she realized my intense devotion and overcame her concerns about adopting out to me. So, I guess I have felt the sting of misplaced condemnation in the face of false accusations of abuse.
Given my background, then, to extrapolate less than 30 seconds of footage into an assumption that Hercules "didn't like the training" and "wasn't meant to be a trained dog" doesn't seem fair, to me. As someone who's trained even my initially shy girl and several other agility dogs myself, I've personally had many dogs who have bad/off days, moments when they ran away or cowered for some unknown reason. I may have tried to coax them or encourage them to try again for a moment or two, and then realized I needed to end the session. I would think that experience is fairly common for virtually EVERYONE who trains or works with dogs in some capacity. But, as my wife did, to prematurely allege abuse or presume that this few seconds of sensationally-edited film demonstrates this dog was abused just doesn't seem right.
To me, the director's and writer's explanations, apologies, and admissions speak for themselves... and again, to me, to mount a boycott an entire film with hundreds of hours of work put in by a cast and crew of literally hundreds of workers, many of whom admittedly and presumably are animal lovers themselves, based on the footage of less than 30 seconds of one dog which was edited to achieve a seems... excessive.
Again--I know this is just me, and I can appreciate anyone feeling that the film has already been tainted, and the only reason I'm even responding is in the hope to keep the facts straight and not promote false assumptions.
With that, I've said all that I think I need to say, and I'll probably bow out of this thread. Thanks for allowing me to share. And best wishes to all and your furkids.
