“A Dog’s Purpose” was once a beloved novel that has now been turned into a movie. I read this novel when I was in middle school and absolutely loved it. I have been following this movie since the very first trailer came out late December last year.

A couple weeks before the movie’s opening night, a photo of a nearly-drowning dog appeared on TMZ from the set of the much anticipated movie. I personally hadn’t even heard about this until I was sitting in the theater prior to watching the movie on opening night.

This became a controversy and went viral rapidly. Protests formed by animal rights activists, including PETA, escalated to a point of many protesters planting themselves outside movie theaters to stop people from supporting the movie.

It was a German shepherd that was seen nearly drowning in the footage that was leaked to TMZ. It was eventually released by multiple media companies that the company forced the German shepherd against the flowing current of water for a scene he was being filmed for and it was clear the shepherd did not want to do it.

The production company that produced A Dog’s Purpose released their own statement days later that the shepherd wasn’t reluctant to the water, but more that they changed the point of entry in which he entered and it stressed the dog to the point of what ‘seemed’ like reluctance.

The movie itself was very good, despite what several news sites are saying. It was an emotional roller coaster from beginning to end, and overall I enjoyed it. I would have to say I feel I’m quite obsessed with dogs. This movie appealed to just about everything I love in life.

That was until the German shepherd scene about half-way through the movie.

I could barely watch because of what I had read just an hour before about this scene. During the scene itself, the dog did not seem to be struggling or reluctant. But, then again, the scene could’ve been changed from the original footage provided to TMZ.

I found myself taking neither side. I personally don’t think there was enough footage to prove animal abuse at all, but I also think that the TMZ footage did show the German shepherd not being treated as gently as the producers should have treated him.

Despite the wild controversy regarding this movie, as of January 29, “A Dog’s Purpose” did manage to reach #2 at the box office, just behind “Split.”

If anything should be done in result of the German shepherd, it should be the beginning of a movement for kinder treatment of animals on movie sets. “A Dog’s Purpose” has not been the only movie accused of animal abuse in the recent past. Regardless of the controversy, A Dog’s Purpose is a family-friendly film for all the dog lovers out there.