Dogs and cats appear in so many movies, and in some they are shown getting hurt or dying. However, according to regulations, the filmmakers have to make sure and convey to the audience that ‘no animals were hurt during filming’. You must have seen it when the credits roll at the end. To find out more about it, I searched the internet and found www.doesthedogdie.com — a website that answers the most important movie questions, or I should say a rescue site that can help keep away the soft-hearted from the sad scenes.
Does the dog die answers questions regarding scenes in movies which show animals being hurt or dying by listing hundreds of films and indicating one of three options: No pets die, a pet is injured or appears dead but ultimately lives, or no pets die.
Clicking on a particular film, will take you to a more in-depth explanation of what happened to the pet, but this is where you come across other plot spoilers (for instance, if you haven’t seen the movie, you come to know about the story).
The site’s creators are adding movies, both new and old, so the list keeps on expanding. Films from 2014 that have made the list include Pompeii (a pet dies), Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (no pets die) and Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (no pets die).
Older films include Bringing Up Baby (no pets die) and Lassie Come Home (spoiler alert: a pet dies). The site doesn’t focuses on just dogs and cats, but it also tells about other animals or birds, like horses, hens, alligators, fish etc.
So if you are a sensitive person, you can spare yourself from unnecessary devastation from a scene by visiting the site prior to watching the movie or at least prepare yourself for the sad part.
Published in Dawn, Young World, February 24th, 2018
