In the movie and TV industry, whether animated or live-action, when dogs have been involved, there has been little to almost no mention to the general public that the simple fact is that these are professionally trained or, in the case of animation, fake, animals, and that you should do your research before acquiring any animal or specific breed.
The fact that no public service announcement of the sort has ever been standard in regards to animals in movie and tv, has caused some serious problems in the past and will likely continue to do so in the future. The general public will often see these trained animals as being typical of the breed, and they end up often liking what they see as they have no idea that it's common place to have multiple animals play a part in a movie, much less the amount of training that goes into these animals so they can play these parts.
The best example of the problem is that many people wanted their own "Pongo" or "Perdita" after seeing 101 Dalmatians, after all those spotty little puppies were just so adorable and would grow into elegant adults! However, the Dalmatian breed was developed to have a fair amount of energy. Those who expected the spotty pups to turn into easy going adults laying by the fire without any training or work, were surprised to find that these were active and athletic dogs! In addition, because of the movie and the sudden increase of popularity, there were dogs being bred to fill the market with little regards to proper temperament or health. It wasn't hard to find partially or completely deaf Dalmatians and those with temperament issues in shelters as they were surrendered by people who could not handle the breed's energy, much less a special needs one. Responsible breeders of Dalmatians were upset, and many Dalmatian rescue groups sprung up as a result. In the first decade of the 2000's, Dalmatian registrations in the AKC dropped by a whopping 90%, as the public interest in the breed died off from the live-action remakes.
This trend has happened multiple times with different breeds, and since the development of breed rescues, responsible breeders are always worried that their breed will be the next in the spotlight, increasing the need for rescue and foster homes for their beloved breeds to try and save as many as they can. The dogs are the ones who pay the price, sometimes with their own lives, simply because the public fails to understand that movie and tv is not real life, and that every breed has it's downsides that can make them unsuitable for the wrong home. In the future, I hope that the outcry from responsible breeders wanting to prevent their breed from falling into the wrong hands continues to ground and will hopefully encourage the movie and tv industries to encourage research before getting any animal.
In the meantime, with the movie "Max", right around the corner, social media has erupted to try and educate people that while, yes, Belgian Malinois are amazing dogs, this is not a breed for most people. Belgian Malinois can be very driven, and very, very high energy depending on the individual breeder's line. They do have an incredible amount of flexibility, capable of herding, police and military work, search and rescue, tracking, agility, flyball, and much more. This is a breed that can typically work all day and still be ready for action while you're ready for bed. Without the proper outlets and training, which can take a lot of time, money, and effort, the breed can easily become destructive.
And while the breed is highly trainable, it still took 5 different trained dogs to play one in the movie.
My own biggest concern, as someone who loves the various breeds, is that the breed is more popular in the working dog community than the show dog community, and many of the working lines are even more unsuitable for the average household. The pups are often started early on jute tugs to make the transfer to the padded bite sleeves used to train protection work and sports easier, and Malinois use their mouths a lot which leads to their nickname of "Mali-gator". As the working lines are more plentiful, they would be easier for the unsuspecting public to get a dog from. I can only hope that the working dog community also does their best to protect their breed from falling into hands that would not be able to cope with this amazing working breed.
For more on breed popularity due to movies, please see the following links:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140910152512.htm
http://consumer.healthday.com/mental-health-information-25/behavior-health-news-56/films-featuring-dogs-seem-to-boost-a-breed-s-popularity-691551.html
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