I personally love documentaries because I always get inspired and learn something new every single time. It wasn’t until recently that I started watching documentaries for dog owners. I watched a few over the weekend and boy was I hooked.

In this article, I’ll cover the top must watch documentaries for dog owners like myself. Get that popcorn ready cause the shows about to start!

Beyond the Myth is a film about dogs commonly referred to as “pit bulls” and those who love and defend these breeds. It explores the contributing factors behind the public’s generalized fear of “pit bulls,” and examines the conflict existing between advocates and opponents of breed discriminatory laws, as carried out in three cities that ban pit bull-type dogs: Denver, Miami, and Cincinnati-along with San Francisco, which requires the animals to be spayed and neutered.

I actually enjoyed this one a lot especially the personalized interviews with dog owners.

National Geographic produced this worth watching documentary on the constantly developing relationship between man and dog. Through breeding, rearing, and training, humans have designed and shaped canine evolution for over fourteen thousand years to suit every generation and every walk of life.

Working closely with scientists, National Geographic deconstruct the genetic history of human’s favorite companion and explore how man has consistently re-engineered the dog to adapt to a changing world. An amazing story of how we have taken qualities we cherish from the wolf-loyalty, territory, protection, and family-and bred them into a sweet, compliant animal that we call the dog.

Like with most National Geographic documentaries, this one is pretty straightforward and professionally themed. It’s 90 minutes long and worth a watch.

Dogs on the Inside follows a prison dog program in Massachusetts that teaches prisoners how to care for & train stray dogs. Prison dog programs help inmates by giving them skills they can use on the outside, and by helping to remind them of their own compassion. The bond that develops between these inmates & dogs is deep, and they’re helping to give inmates & shelter dogs a second chance.

What I love about this documentary is how it shows the different type of bonding a dog and a person can have. It doesn’t matter if the person is a criminal or not, bonding can still happen. It’s worth a watch! One of my favorite dog documentaries.

This was a great exposure to the world of service dogs and those who need them and those who train them, as well as the fact that not all dogs work out with all owners they are paired with and must be “recycled” to some extent. Being the owner of an Obedience Trained (but not service dog Australian Shepard), I was particularly sensitive to the bonding of the dogs and their selection of an owner rather than the prospective owners selecting their own dog. As I tell people who comment on my dog’s obvious training and obedience with “I wish my dog behaved like that”; that “they don’t come out of the box like that. You have to commit to training them.” So it is true with these magnificent dogs.

For some people, it is more than they expected, even though the tough and lengthy parts have already been done for them.

I was moved by the trainers as well, for they breed these dogs, raise them, train them (for 18 months if I am correct), and then have to say goodbye to them after a successful pairing with an owner. I don’t know if I could do it. Perhaps knowing what impact their dogs will have on the lives and homes of those they go to be with makes it easier, and perhaps it is nothing more than business, but I know I would get attached to all of them!

Martin Clunes takes a wry look at why we are prepared to take the risk of sharing our homes with dogs who are genetically still 99.8 percent like wolves. This epic journey takes Martin to Africa, Australia, and America to find the surviving wild ancestors of pampered pets like his own beloved dogs, and seeks to answer the question, did we choose dogs, or did they choose us?

Episode one looks at our dog’s origins and the differences domestication has had by studying wolves & dingoes. Episode two explores how highly trainable our dogs are by visiting some working Border Collies and a search & rescue dog.

DOG BY DOG is a documentary that aims to wake up the American public to the horrible realities of puppy mills by following the money trail across the US and confronting those that have maintained this corrupt and irresponsible system.

This is a very worthwhile film on a number of levels. The most important aspect of the film is to educate people about where those cute, fluffy little puppies in the pet stores come from. Regardless of what the ads for the pet stores say, if they are retailing dogs, then those dogs are from puppy mills. Not some of them – ALL of them – in ALL pet stores. Good breeders don’t sell their dogs to others who will resell them to strangers with the only qualification being their ability to pay for the dog. The good breeder will have you come to their house or kennel. You will meet the mother dog and many times the father dog. You will also be interviewed and judged and that breeder will make sure they approve of where their dogs go. If the conditions aren’t right, you may be denied an animal if the breeder doesn’t like you, or think you can appropriately care for their dogs. It may not be fair, but it’s the way truly reputable breeders work. No good breeder will wholesale their dogs to pet stores, so even when the nice man or woman at the pet store tells you their dogs are from “local” or “reputable breeders,” they are lying to you. It’s that simple and straightforward. The film also goes into how legislation efforts aimed at making puppy mills more humane are often entangled into other legislative agendas of big Agra in their efforts to limit regulation on livestock. One of the most disappointing things I’ve learned about puppy mills is how deeply involved the Amish and Mennonite communities are in this cruel flesh trade. Finally, the film takes several well-deserved swipes at the AKC, who continues to allow puppy mills to get AKC pedigrees for their “products.” If you were ever under the impression that AKC registrations or a purebred pedigree are some measure of quality you will be enlightened by watching Dog by Dog. Pedigrees are a profit center for the AKC and have nothing all to do with the quality of purebred dogs or the conditions under which they are produced. Great film, great message – get informed.

An in-depth look at the commercial pet food industry, the total lack of oversight, and what nutritional requirements cat and dogs actually have, compared to what they are being served. An eye opener, on a subject rarely exposed.

Love this and it reinforced what some of us know but don’t want to take the time to investigate. We lost our 2 cats recently when their body systems simply started shutting down. The only link was their food and after this, we started looking at things a little differently for our 2 dogs, one of which has had multiple health problems. Do yourself and your fur babies a great service by not listening to all those advertisements about this food or that food and look into what they are eating.

Do yourself and your fur babies a great service by not listening to all those advertisements about this food or that food and look into what they are eating.

Centering on Anderson’s beloved rat terrier Lolabelle, who died in 2011, Heart of a Dog is a personal essay that weaves together childhood memories, video diaries, philosophical musings on data collection, surveillance culture and the Buddhist conception of the afterlife, and heartfelt tributes to the artists, writers, musicians and thinkers who inspire her.

This isn’t an easy film to watch, almost ninety minutes of voyeuristic practice in the art of feeling sad without being sad from a thoughtful artist who in recent years has lost her mother, dog, and husband. But this isn’t a wallow in the morose. It’s a meditation, presented as disorientingly as Laurie Anderson fans might expect. Her monologue reminds me of the homely story structure employed in The Ugly One with the Jewels, more voice than instrumental or electronic magic, full of wonderment, not tears. We’re told that crying at the death of a loved one is forbidden. It confuses the spirit of the deceased. The visuals are full of water though: rain, snow, ice. If she takes a little bit of an easy out at the end, there’s no sense of victory in it, just the next thing. We’re left with a moment of honesty about human nature not to be applauded or condemned. I admire that.

Her monologue reminds me of the homely story structure employed in The Ugly One with the Jewels, more voice than instrumental or electronic magic, full of wonderment, not tears. We’re told that crying at the death of a loved one is forbidden. It confuses the spirit of the deceased. The visuals are full of water though: rain, snow, ice. If she takes a little bit of an easy out at the end, there’s no sense of victory in it, just the next thing. We’re left with a moment of honesty about human nature not to be applauded or condemned. I admire that.

If she takes a little bit of an easy out at the end, there’s no sense of victory in it, just the next thing. We’re left with a moment of honesty about human nature not to be applauded or condemned. I admire that.

Well, I hoped this article got all my readers some movie ideas for the night! These are all highly recommended. Some of them are up for free on Youtube.

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