In the era of click-bait journalism and fast breaking news, readers can often be misled by headliners and space filled stories. Such was the case earlier this week after TMZ released an article headlining; 'A Dogs Purpose' Terrified German Shepherd Forced Into Turbulent Water.

The article went viral all over the Internet, inciting other media outlets to follow up with their own similar headlines. People went berserk over the alleged mistreatment of the dog during the filming of the movie. Mainstream media went as far as asking for the boycott of the movie, which PETA stood behind to support. So what's the problem? Well... the story has too holes that must be filled. We all know what happens when we assume... we make an ass(out of)u(and)me

Since then, the story has blown up more information since it surfaced. If you watch the video yourself, you'll notice it starts with a dog handler dipping the German Shepherd's feet into the water followed by, the body, before the German Shepherd was pulled back out of the water; as if to demonstrate that the water was safe to the dog. Then there's a drastic a cut that shows the dog submerged in water with handlers and divers pulling the dog up from under the water. The rest has been left for us to figure out and that's where the accusations commenced.

Defending themselves from those accusations of animal abuse, Amblin Entertainment released the following statement:

The Dog, named Hercules, had "several days of rehearsal of the water scenes to ensure [he] was comfortable with all the stunts... On the day of the shoot, Hercules did not want to perform the stunt portrayed on the tape so the Amblin production team did not proceed with filming of that shot."

This could explain why there was such a drastic cut in the video released, seeing as Hercules was uncomfortable, they chose to film again at a later time. Lasse Hallstrom, the director of the film also released the following statement over Twitter;

I am very disturbed by the video released today from the set of my film 'A Dog's Purpose.' I did not witness these actions, which are unacceptable and would never happen with my knowledge. We were all committed to providing a loving, respectful and safe environment for all the animals in the film. I have been promised that a thorough investigation into this situation is underway and that any wrongdoing will be reported and punished.

Lasse released this statement after the initial report was written by TMZ claiming that he was on set during the filming of the scene. The American Humane Association (who was on set during the film) is responsible for enforcing safety guidelines for animal actors. They are an organization that ensures no animals are harmed during the making of a film. AHA are the ones that have set forth the investigation after releasing the following statement;

We are placing the safety representative who was on the set on administrative leave immediately, and are bringing in an independent third party to conduct an investigation into this matter.

Now, many believe this proves that the dog handler was found guilty, but it's quite the opposite. All this states is that the man has been put on temporary leave until the investigation has come to a conclusion.

The main take away is not to discredit the possibility of there being actual animal abuse, but instead to encourage readers to constantly check their information!! You should always have more than one source of news and you should always double check the information you are receiving. Remember not to base your news off of your opinions. You should always base your opinion off credible information.