Does The Dog Die?

[Are_grits_groceries]

Do you turn off Old Yeller before the end so you can pretend that he lived a long and happy life? Did a cute pet on a movie poster make you think it would be a fun comedy but it turned out to be a pet-with-a-terminal-illness tearjerker instead? Are you unable to enjoy the human body count in a horror movie because you're wondering whether the dog's going to kick the bucket? Have you ever Googled "Does the [dog/cat/horse/Klingon targ] die in [movie title]?"

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, then welcome - DoestheDogDie.com is here for you! If you answered "no" to every question, then you might possibly be lost. Don't worry - have some lolcats and everything will be fine.

Click on the title of the film for an explanation (may contain spoilers). 648 movies so far!
http://www.doesthedogdie.com/

I have stopped reading some books because something happened to an animal or was going to happen.
One novel opened with a man drowning puppies. That was it for me.

[Scootaloo]

1. Wait, what?

The Neverending Story is listed as "A pet is injured or appears dead but ultimately lives. ?"

Horse gets sucked into a swamp. Horses don't live through that!

[joshcryer]

2. Artax gets resurrected at the end though.

I guess they are talking about finality within the movie itself or even possibly within the whole movie arc (haven't gone over the list completely).

[Scootaloo]

3. Aha!

Dude, you know... It's been at least 20 years since I watched that movie. The horse getting stuck in the swamp is the ONLY thing I remember. Well, that and Falkor because who doesn't remember the flying dragon-dog thing?

[aikoaiko]

11. Woah. Spoiler alert!

Just kidding.

[polly7]

4. I turned it off.

I asked my friend for War Horse, the book or movie on DVD, for Christmas and haven't been able to watch or read either one - he got me both.

[joshcryer]

5. Watch it, it's amazing.

Had me in tears even if it was an easy heart grabbing moment.

[polly7]

6. No, I can't.

I used to rescue PMU foals that were headed for the meat trucks and have had horses all my life ... I know how many died during WW1 and I just can't bring myself to watch them hurt or killed, even though I know they played an amazing part in the war and that the story must be amazing.

It took me about seven years before I could watch The Titanic. I've seen many people die during my time with EMS, it's just something weird about seeing it on the screen ... with all that music.

[joshcryer]

7. So sorry to hear that.

Given that background then I must say not to watch it because all the horses are mistreated in the film, badly. And the main horse sees some insane stuff. It has a very very happy ending though.

(For what it's worth Spielberg went to great lengths to assure animal safety in that movie, but it's still rather graphic.)

I hope one day you are able to see it as for me it has maybe one of the best endings. At least my top 10 for a happy ending.

[orleans]

8. i'm mesmerized by the two little movies you have running in your post n/t

[Are_grits_groceries]

10. No animals died

or were even remotely scared in the making of those gifs.

[orleans]

13. Aw...you changed it...i liked the two dogs with the arm around one n/t

[nolabear]

15. Nor were any in the making of those movies.

Sometimes a wonderful story includes the things in life that make it rich. Old Yeller was about growing up and doing what was the kindest, most humane and loving thing even when it hurt terribly. I think stories about animals, and our real relationships with animals, allow us to experience things through the astonishing eyes of being ultimately responsible for lives not our own. I think you miss out on a lot of the beauty of life if you don't include death. But I appreciate your taste being different.

Is it the same for cartoons? The Lion King? Bambi? Just curious.

[get the red out]

9. This is me

I always want spoilers, they can keep me from losing sleep and feeling miserable.

My husband had on Water for Elephants and there was a scene of abuse and I started seriously freaking out and basically told him to change the channel or I start screaming. I felt horrified for the rest of the day, my emotions were wrecked.

[Javaman]

12. The dog dies??? Great, just great. This is why I hate spoilers.

LOL

[kiva]

14. I've stopped reading books for things like this,

and have been happy to notice that Amazon reviewers tend to mention these things.

[NCarolinawoman]

20. I am still mad at Jimmy Carter for sending 100 mules to help the "warriors" in Afghanistan

fight the Russians. Of course those "warriors" turned into the Taliban. It DID remind me of those poor horses in WW1

[hfojvt]

16. I bought a copy of "Where the Red fern grows"

It said on the DVD that this was a "wonderful family movie" or something like that. I spent the whole movie pretty much bracing myself "I know something is gonna happen to those dogs. I know something bad is gonna happen to those dogs."

So when it happened, I was more ticked off than saddened.

Now I am reminded of "The chronicles of Thomas Covenant" by Stephen R. Donaldson. A series which has been lost in the annals of history. Six books in that and I read them all, but Donaldson kept having the bad guy slaughtering all these creatures. When all the Raynhyn were wiped out - which were these imperial horses, and the main character says "curse you Foul" (the bad guy's name is Lord Foul)

But every time he said that, I would think "Curse you, Donaldson".

[XemaSab]

22. That one was the worst

[Liberal_in_LA]

17. cats in horror or supernatural movies . never ends well

[Jeffersons Ghost]

18. yes but rabid animals must be destroyed

[dflprincess]

19. Remember the "Friends" episode when Phoebe walks in on the rest of the group watching "Old Yeller"?

Turns out her mom had always turned it off right after Old Yeller saved them from the wolf, but she walked in just at the point where the dog gets shot and screamed "What kind of sick doggie snuff film is this?"

[Bolo Boffin]

21. Killing an animal (pet or otherwise) is so often a cheap exploitation of emotion

But sometimes that's necessary to the story - "Old Yeller" being the primary and best example. When it works right, I can live with it on screen or in a book. (Ever read Old Yeller? His death in the books is even more powerful, if you can imagine that.)

Far worse is the narrative tactic of letting the pet or animal get hurt and then recovering. I could probably count on my left hand the times I've seen this actually work in a movie or book. Every other time it has been the worst sort of emotional manipulation.

War Horse is an example of it working, after the horse gets tangled in the barbed wire of No Man's Land. That's one of the few times I thought the device was not misused. It led to a scene that struck at the heart of the movie's theme, and they didn't sugarcoat the damage to the horse.

My worst example is from Dante's Peak, though. It's a volcano disaster movie starring Pierce Bronson. The "magic returning pet" put me off of what had been a pretty good story. It follows a very powerful moment, one that had me putting the movie rather high in my estimation. Then the dog came back against all odds and just undercut the whole theme of sacrifice. Sickly saccharin sweet doesn't help the medicine go down, I'm sorry.

[blogslut]

23. I couldn't make it through the dog scene in "The Thing".

I will never, ever, watch that film or its remake, ever, ever, ever.

[Warren DeMontague]

24. Then for fuck's sake, don't watch Game of Thrones