Marley & Me: What do ya think Lab owners?

 I'll watch cuz I've read the book and am curious to see how they did.

I'm always a bit nervous when a movie based around a dog comes out. Even thou I don't own the breeds in the movie. Lol. But (especially here), I always see an outbreak.

I can't imagine there being more Labs than are already out there!  In this case I don't think it will have as much affect as with some of the lesser known breeds.  I hope not anyway. That's all we need more Lab puppies.

I thought the book did a great job of describing life with a Lab and some of it was so funny I was crying.  But some of the things the owner did bothered me as far as keeping him safe and Vet care seemed sort of haphazard at times. 

I think they should mention the ASPCA or animal shelters in ALL movies with animals in them - so that **maybe** someone will rescue instead of breed.

As for the topic - I want to see that movie! I'm not sure if it will make people breed more Labs or not. I'd be more worried if it were a movie projected to young people, with lots of Pits or some thing. Pits are already as common(if not more common, in my area) then Labs are in a shelter. Lab's aren't this 'cool' or 'rare' breed - theyre fairly common. So, I'm not too worried about everyone wanting one.

BC's - I think they did a great job on Babe, it showed BC's doing what they were born to do! Yet, it also showed un-BC-like aggression. All-in-all, it was a great movie.

I never saw Beverly Hill's Chihuahua....I want to thou

ETA - there is a movie about Akita's coming out soon - I'm worried about THAT movie. Akita's need extremely dog-knowledgable people, they're temperments and attitudes are not something the normal person is prepared for, especially with other dogs and kids in the mix. I say all that with love, because I've had an Akita.

BlackLabbie

For the Lab owners especially, what do you think of the Marley & Me movie coming out?

If the movie is true to the book people will run away from the breedMarley was trouble with a capital T for his owners.I have a 3/4 lab but I found no similarities to their [Marley's owners]experiences and my own.Had I read the book before I got Jewel I might have chosen another breed!

Tena

JackieG

That's all we need more Lab puppies.

How many yellow Lab puppies with big red bows will be given away for Christmas because of the movie?

I don't think that Far From Home movie did much...did it? Don't recall...I think when a breed is common, and really Labs are what #1 overall in AKC stats? The ceiling has already been reached and the saturation level was reached long ago.

Now a rarer breed like the one in Winn Dixie, Dalmatians...or the upcoming Hachiko flick...potential exists for issues. esp factoring the respective breeds temperaments and home requirements.

Now when Underdog came out...it has negligible effects on Beagles...ditto Cats & Dogs....people already know what Beagles are, what they're like, etc. They too are in the Top 10 for stats.

To be honest we had more influx of inquiries when Uno won WKC than either movie I mentioned. But there is GOOD in that because you cannot find a dog that looks like Uno, in the paper for $75....his quality is such that GOOD breeders are getting a lot more inquiries from people...which is good for public education, actually.

ETA: Lab people may be able to reap a similar benefit to above if the puppy or dogs used are of a certain type.

4HAND

If the movie is true to the book people will run away from the breed

Ha-ha, no kidding. I liked the book and finished it on an airplane and couldn't keep from crying.

I think the best dog-related movie I've seen was 8 Below.

OH I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!! I was actually hesitant when I first heard they were making a movie too.

I have heard there is a lot of "theatrical license" going on, not too true to the book. That will disappoint me BUT all books are better thant the movie. I did see the trailer for this movie and I laughed, cried and laughed again in a 2 min time span. I have a friend who has a yellow lab she and her hubby, and me and mine are going to make a evening of it.... dinner and a movie! I don't see too many movies in the theaters anymore **kaching$$* but this one I want to. 

I do worry when cute animal movies come out at X-mas time. Of course Marley & Me if it is at all true to form, may make people think twice about a lab LOL 

I remember when "Seabiscuit" came out in the movies. I absolutely ADORED both the Seabiscuit books, he was one of my all time favorite race horses. While the movie did take theatrical license, I was extremely pleased with it. I hope I walk away from Marley as happy. Too bad I can't take my lab with me to see it!

 I agree with Gina, in that I think the number of labs around is what it is, I don't think the movie will increase it.

I'm in the minority here as a whole, I likely won't see the movie because although I did "like" the book in the sense that it was an entertaining and sometimes touching story the first time I read it, upon re-reading an awful lot of it ticked me off.  I think it gave labs a bad rep, not a good one, and as a lab owner I take issue with that since from the story that was told (which was the owner's story, after all) Marley's behaviour was almost entirely their fault, but they never seemed to admit that and they definitely seemed to blame Marley for it. 

I'm not meaning to start a debate or anything, I just feel that they made a lot of mistakes and Marley suffered for it.  To have all those mistakes (choice of breeder, getting a dog as practice for a baby, training and lack thereof etc) glorified on screen, with a breed I own, is not something I care to watch I think. 

I'm not a lab owner but I don't think the movie will cause people to want labs. It may have the opposite effect, actually. : P

Besides, there's already a Lab everywhere you look so people are already very aware of the breed and aren't going to be like "What is THAT?" like in movies such as Beethoven, Dog of Flandres,  101 Dalmations etc.

I'm not a lab owner, not that familiar with the story, but just based on the trailer it looks like maybe people will see what owning a lab REALLY can be like!  So maybe it's a good thing?

We had the same discussions about the GSD in I Am Legend.  Not sure if the numbers changed or not.  It was nice to see a GSD with correct size (not sure of the lines, but she came from a breeder in Cali I believe), and being depicted as something other than a viscious attack dog.

Liesje

We had the same discussions about the GSD in I Am Legend.  Not sure if the numbers changed or not.  It was nice to see a GSD with correct size (not sure of the lines, but she came from a breeder in Cali I believe), and being depicted as something other than a viscious attack dog.

I loved that dog! Her name was Sam in the movie. She looked like what, IMO, a GSD should be. And I've never really had much contact with the breed.

I bawled like a baby at the end of the book.  I thought it was a very good book, but truth be told, the entire time I kept thinking, "This dog would be so much better off if they had half a clue what they were doing in regards to training and consistency."  Yes, Marley was a difficult dog, but he could have been handled a lot better.

I like Owen Wilson & Jennifer Aniston -- I do want to see the movie, but will likely only go if I go with someone who pays (I'm poor!).  My dad wants to see it, maybe he'll take me.  lol

Liesje

I'm not a lab owner, not that familiar with the story, but just based on the trailer it looks like maybe people will see what owning a lab REALLY can be like!  So maybe it's a good thing?

Honestly, I have to disagree with that.  Yes, that is what living with a lab CAN be like, if untrained and maybe not very well bred.  However, it comes across, particularly to the uneducated, as a story of what living with a lab IS like.  If people get a lab and expect it to behave like that, where is the incentive to actually train it? Then dog winds up being excused for all kinds of shocking behaviour because "it's in his nature".  My lab isn't like that, and no lab I know owned by anyone else is like that, because the people I know take steps to prevent it.  The people in Marley and Me didn't take steps to prevent it, and perpetuating the myth that that is "how the breed is" isn't something I'm happy about.