*Spoiler Alert: References to movies and their subsequent events and endings regarding dogs are made. Read at your own peril. I’m not trying to ruin all the movie endings, I’m trying to save a life.
I am a colossal dog lover. I have dog detection radar on 24/7 and most of my encounters with man’s best friend begin with me making an audible gasp as my brain reverts to a 4 year old and excitedly registers, “Dog!”
I believe every dog can be referred to as a puppy, regardless of its age, and I’m the kind of person that saves adorable canine memes and pictures to my phone so that I can text them to my friends later with a “Happy Friday” caption attached.
I love dogs.
It’s why I believe the dog should never ever die in the movie. Ever.
Dog deaths in movies are the absolute worst. Sure I get upset about sad or emotional movies with human deaths in general, but a dog dying is guaranteed to bring instant water works to my eyes and have me drafting a nasty letter to the director of the film in between sniffles. The only way James Cameron could have made “Titanic” more gut-wrenchingly sad is if a litter of Golden Retriever puppies were whimpering by the banisters. I would have burned my DVD copy of “The Notebook” if Allie and Noah’s aging Border Collie would have crawled into bed with them too at the end. Seriously, don’t kill the dog.
Especially if the dog has no reason to die in the first place. I don’t care about the body count of Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, and Jason Voorhees combined, but harm one little whisker on Fluffy or Max and we’re going to have problems.
Now I’m aware of my bias (and my ridiculousness in regards to this topic) but I’m also prepared to defend my claims as to why a director or writer should never ever include or feature a dog dying (that is not central to the plot) if they want to keep their audience members’ attention.
But first, we have to understand why audiences react this way.
To put it simply, a dog is often regarded to as a symbol of unconditional love, loyalty, and innocence. A dog will protect you. A dog will comfort you. A dog is pure unadulterated joy, because their days in a happy home basically consist of food, belly rubs and playing fetch. In simplified form, dogs are innocent symbols, like children but less irritating. Dogs are also generally regarded to as brave and self-sacrificing at times and as one of the most popular pet preferences, very many people own one or more of their own beloved pooches.
When we watch a movie that harms an innocent dog, we relate it to our own pets and experiences with animals and we empathize with the dog on screen.
Dogs however, (no matter how much we love them) are not humans. The death of a dog is generally not on the same level as the death of a child, so directors and writers in a movie can often use them as an emotional stepping stone of sorts. A dog dying in a scary movie heightens the emotion for the viewer without the filmmaker being seen as completely heartless, because “hey the child survived.”
However, it’s still a horrible plot device to use and event to include in a movie for several reasons.
Reason 1: If I’m worried about the dog’s safety, I’m not paying full attention to the movie. I’m paranoid throughout the rest of the film.
I’m not paying attention to what characters are saying. I’m not picking up on plot devices or admiring the cinematography, I’m only thinking, “please don’t kill the dog.”
If the dog survives, my relief masks everything else. Seriously, the dog is safe, turn off the movie here and call it a day. My sigh of “oh thank God!” also generally disturbs whoever I’m watching the movie with and makes it hard to hear the dialogue.
If the dog dies, I immediately become upset and I don’t care what really happens to the rest of the characters. I do care what happens to the bad guy/killer/heartless human being on screen though.
Reason 2: It’s a cheap use of instigating emotion in the viewer.
Congratulations, director. You killed the dog so that I would be aware of the true danger the main characters are in. Now I’m crying ugly cries. Snot is coming out of my nose, I’m hugging my own dog for comfort, and his ears are pulled back in confusion as he licks my face. We’ve missed half the movie (see above) but damn it you made me “feel something”. You didn’t woo me with your impressive dialogue or fancy words, and the plot wasn’t so beautiful that you moved me to tears. You offed the dachshund and now I’m done. Where’s the damn tissue box?
In other words, killing the dog is the cliché equivalent to using a cheap jump scare or having the main character wake up and realize it was all a dream.
There is good news though!
I’m happy to report that evidently I am not the only person that feels so strongly about dogs dying in movies, which is why I’m happy to refer all my fellow canine fans to a website called, Does the Dog Die (there’s even an app you can download!) where you can type in the name of a movie (they feature over 3,500 titles) and it will tell you whether the dog survives, is hurt or threatened, or dies.
It will inform you to stay away from “Marley and Me,” “Where the Red Fern Grows,” and “Eight Below,” to be patient during “Beethoven,” “Dante’s Peak,” and “Homeward Bound,” and to just go binge watch “Bridesmaids” because you will identify with Melissa McCarthy’s character as she takes 9 puppies as a party favor. You’re welcome.
