‘A Dog’s Purpose’ Video Showing Animal Abuse Was Edited To Mislead Public

A video which appears to show a German shepherd distressed on the set of a movie circulated all over the internet after it was leaked last month. The video sparked massive outrage and led to calls from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) to fans to boycott the movie, "A Dog's Purpose".

An investigation by an independent third party organization has now revealed that the entire video was heavily edited to "for the purpose of misleading the public and sparking outrage." The investigation was carried out by American Humane, an organization that seeks to ensure the well-being of animals used in movies. The organization confirmed that no animals were harmed on the set of "A Dog's Purpose" and that several "preventive safety measures were in place".

The minute long video was posted on TMZ last month in January and drew plenty of backlash against the film shortly before its January 27 release date. In the video, a German shepherd can be seen panicking as its handler tries to put the dog in to a pool of churning water. At first glance it looks like the dog is being forced to do something against its will, but according to American Humane, they viewed additional footage and spoke to people present on the set before coming up with the conclusion that the video "mischaracterized the events on set".

However, the report does state that the handler should have been gentler with the dog near the edge of the pool as evidenced by the signs of stress shown by the animal. The investigation also confirmed that the two scenes were shot at different times. Furthermore, the dog shown in the video was chosen for the scene because of "his love of the water" and was trained by professionals for the water scene in the span of six weeks.

Dennis Quaid, one of the stars of the film, called the video a "sham". In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, the actor claims he never saw any form of abuse towards the dogs while he was on the set. The box office earnings of "A Dog's Purpose" do not seem to have been affected by the video despite PETA's calls to boycott the film.