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Streaming Video Guides

Use this guide to find streaming alternatives to Media Services DVDs.

Movies with Dogs

Titles Available as of July 2022

This is a selective list of streaming video holdings in the American University Library. Streaming guides are created by doing multiple keyword searches in the library catalog to capture as many titles on a topic as possible. For complete up-to-date streaming holdings, please refer to our streaming catalog.

DOCUMENTARIES 

America's Last Red Wolves

National Geographic follows in the footsteps of a pioneering pack of red wolves reintroduced to the wilds of North Carolina - the Milltail pack. Before this expedition, little was known about the red wolf in the wild. In this video, wildlife biologists observe wolf behavior never seen before and witness a virtually exterminated species as it gets a second chance. Viewers will learn that America's Last Red Wolves is as much a human story as a natural history program. It is a harrowing, sometimes heartbreaking, and ultimately triumphant tale of unsung heroes who refuse to give up on a great doomed canine - heroes whose legacy inspires today's attempts to save predators the world over. 

At the Spring Sea Camp, Part 3

The hunter is traveling alone with sled and dogs. There is a sharp sound and he sees a ground squirrel, sets his snare and soon catches it. He kills it by crushing the skull with his foot, leaving the skin undamaged. Skirting bare ground, he comes to a fish cache and loads his sled, feeding the dogs some morsels. The sled appears to drag, even on the harder snow of the sea ice. In camp a woman sews, a girl hangs fish on a line, and all stop to eat. Now the disintegrating skin sled is dismantled and the polar bear skin serves for conveyance. They break camp, moving ashore to put up their tents for summer. 

Clone Dog: Labrador Retriever - Cloning Animals With Exceptional Capability

Designing Life. Man has been doing it for over 10,000 years. You may not be aware of it, but we are surrounded by “Superlife," life-forms manipulated by Man. Clone Dog: Labrador Retriever, part of the Superlife Series, looks at cloning animals with exceptional capabilities. Note- Superlife explores the science of how mankind is manipulating life for its benefit. The series does not attempt to address the concerns surrounding cloning, genetically modified organisms or the ethics of certain farming practices.  

Deborah & the Prison Dogs

An inmate who participated in a dog training program in prison becomes a trainer when she is released, changing her life and the lives of others through canine companionship. A teenage girl trains a therapy donkey named Jupiter for her little brother with Down Syndrome. 

Finding Time to Walk the Dog

Ease The Load has recruited Gladeana McMahon, one of the country's top life coaches, to offer one of our viewers some much needed advice on time management.Pictor Primary is a Special Needs primary school in Greater Manchester where Jacqueline Wheble has recently been made the Assistant Headteacher. Four days a week Jackie teaches the very youngest children on the autistic spectrum, leaving one day a week for her management responsibilities. She is also the Behaviour Support Leader and the Team Teach Tutor for the school. At the moment she doesn't feel that she is performing any of these roles particularly well. She worries that she lets her classroom slide when she's absorbed by management issues.Spending most of her time at home planning and preparing for lessons, she hasn't found the time to decorate her house in three years. But even worse is the fact that she hardly ever gets time to walk Bea, her Airedale dog. Gladeana thinks it's time to change that. 

Making Dogs Happy, Part 1

In this instructional video, we learn how to tell when our dog is stressed or anxious. See an experiment that debunks the myth that dogs show guilt. Follow along with three owners and their dogs as Ryan Tate instructs them in learning theory using a bridging reinforcer to teach their pets to sniff out objects.

Making Dogs Happy, Part 2

In the second part of this two-part series, we learn how the challenge participants, Roxy, Poppy, and Angus are progressing in learning to find an object by smell. Hear how your personality traits can directly affect your dog's ability to learn and about new science, which reveals how you can adversely impact your dog via your emotions. Hear about an app that is designed to maximize your dog's quality of life and see how to teach your dog to be happy in its own space, such as a crate.

Making Drugs Just for Pets

Dogs and cats suffer from many of the same illnesses as people - allergies, cancer and even Alzheimer's disease. Currently pets are often given human drugs, but they're not always a good match. So researchers are working on newly designed drugs just for pets, that may be more effective and save pet owners money. 

Natural Wood, A Wild Dog's Story

This is a true wildlife drama based on the life of Newky, a remarkable African wild dog. Through Newky are portrayed the challenges, and conflicts of the lives of Africa's misunderstood and endangered wild dogs. Set in the Okavango, this emotive saga follows Newky's life from the dangers and joys of puppy-hood, through tense encounters with lion, hyaena, elephants and snakes, to adulthood. But even adulthood brings danger and hardship. Newky's pack is mysteriously wiped out by a disease epidemic: only he survived. 

Pitbull Fighting and Horse Abuse - What Every Officer Should Know
This program examines the growing problem of pitbull fighting as well as horse abuse, discussing strategies and techniques for law enforcement to put an end to both. 

Prison Dogs 

Incarcerated for murder and armed robbery, hardened New York criminals learn to love again by raising puppies behind bars. In this inspirational tale, three selected prisoners battle self-doubt, anger and regret in their attempt to transform dependent pups into service dogs for injured US veterans. Bound together by fate, this uniquely vulnerable trio of puppy, prisoner and veteran come to discover the redemptive power of second chances.

Prison Pups

Prison Pups follows four inmates as they raise and train service dogs for the handicapped and hearing impaired. At Concord Farm, a minimum-security facility in Massachusetts, these inmates learn to take on the responsibility of a puppy and find in themselves not only a sense of confidence but also a capacity for nurturing and affection.

Qimmit, A Clash of Two Truths

For the Inuit, the sled dog symbolized a way of life as well as a deep connection to the land. They depended upon the dogs for hunting, transportation and companionship: They were essential to survival. But from the 1950s to the 1970s, the Inuit's semi-nomadic way of life all but vanished. The sled dog population dropped from an estimated 20,000 to just a few hundred dogs. Many Inuit believe the dogs were deliberately killed by the RCMP as part of a government policy to force them off the land - and into "civilization."  The RCMP denies there was any conscious policy on their part. With the influx of people into settled communities, they argue, the sled dogs became redundant. Qimmit: A Clash of Two Truths explores the mystery of how and why the sled dogs disappeared, a mystery that has left deep wounds across Canada's Arctic. 

The Secret Life of Dogs: Episode One

With nearly a billion estimated worldwide, it is surprising that only recently have we really begun to understand the lives of our beloved dogs, with scientists just starting to uncover their emotional and intellectual genius. Through their extraordinary powers to read our emotions, take our perspective, and exceed our physical ability, our closest companions have been able to join us in all walks of life—truly earning the name man's best friend. 

The Secret Life of Dogs: Episode Two

We now recognize over 400 breeds of dog, each with its own fascinating, often mysterious history—in fact we have bred dogs for just about every job you can imagine; and as our modern world changes, dogs have adapted alongside us. The unparalleled cooperation between us and our dogs has led to some of the most remarkable partnerships on earth, from sheepdogs to guide dogs; and dogs bring everything from their super senses to obvious enthusiasm to all their various roles in our modern world. 

The Secret Life of Dogs: Episode Three

Dogs share over 99% of their DNA with the grey wolf, and yet during their more than 10,000 year history within our homes, several key features have emerged to mark them apart - most importantly the incredible bonds they can form with us. As the world's first domesticated animal, we've spent longer around our canine companions than the wheel, and as such they hold a special place in cultures around the world; in fact new science is revealing how even looking into your dogs' eyes releases love hormones in us both, just one reason our two species have grown closer than ever before... 

Sled Dogs to St. Paul

The film follows the dogsled run of former Minnesota State Representative Frank Moe, who mushed his team of ten sled dogs from Grand Marais, Minnesota to the capitol in St. Paul in March, carrying with him nearly 13,000 petition signatures opposing sulfide mining. 

Space Dogs

Laika, a stray dog picked up by the Soviet space program on the streets of Moscow, became the first living being to orbit the Earth when she was launched into space on Sputnik 2. The ghost Laika lives on in the present-day strays as they are seen navigating the urban environs of modern Moscow. Archival footage of the Soviet space program is interwoven throughout the film, showing the bizarre tests and procedures the canines were subjected to in preparation for space travel. 

To Be of Service

A film about veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, who are paired with a service dog to help them regain their lives. Returning home for these vets is often plagued by depression and a painful disconnect from the world they once knew. The film follows these warriors after they get their dog as this deeply bonded friendship restores independence and the ability to love for the men and women who so courageously served the country. 

War Dog: A Soldier’s Best Friend 

From executive producer Channing Tatum and director Deborah Scranton (The War Tapes) comes a deeply personal documentary that highlights the intimate relationship between veterans and their K9 companions, both during combat and as they readjust to civilian life. Focusing on three courageous dogs (Layka, Mika and Pepper) and the soldiers who served by their side in the most elite forces in the military, War Dog: A Soldier’s Best Friend recognizes the invaluable impact these war dogs have during their deployments, finding and disarming enemies while providing emotional support to troops in the bleakest of hours. 

What Dogs Tell Cops

Within a period of less than a year, two Tennessee officers put down dogs in separate and unrelated incidents. This led to a national outcry and the demand for officers to better understand animal behavior. This program is designed to provide officers with that kind of understanding as well as useful information to help them in case of dog attacks.

Wolves Unleashed

World-renowned animal trainer Andrew Simpson travels to Siberia in winter to make the biggest wolf film ever attempted, revealing the deep bond between human and wolf. 

FEATURE FILMS

The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

On 30 September 1659, the aristocratic British Robinson Crusoe's ship sinks and he miraculously survives on a deserted island somewhere in South America. He retrieves a dog, Rex, and cat, Sam, from the shipwreck together with some supplies, weapons, clothes and tools and builds a shelter. He soon learns how to survive by cooking, farming, harvesting the crops. Then the loneliness begins to haunt him, especially after the loss of Rex. When he sees a group of cannibals in the island, tension and fear become part of his life. Later he saves the life of a savage that was going to be eaten by the cannibals; he names him Friday and they become friends. When Robinson Crusoe sees Caucasians on the island, he finds that Captain Oberzo was the victim of a mutiny and he helps him to retrieve his ship. 

Because of Winn-Dixie

Based on the perennial best seller, a lonely young girl adopts an orphaned dog, Winn-Dixie (so named for the supermarket where she found him), who helps her make friends in the small Florida town. The bond between the girl and her special companion brings together the townspeople and helps heal her own troubled relationship with her father.

Beyond Puppy Love

The lives of six people are changed with the intervention of a young girl who spurs matchmaking through puppy adoption. She then tries to use her skill in the hope of reuniting her estranged parents. 

A Boy and His Dog

Based on the novella by Harlan Ellison, A Boy and His Dog is set in a post-apocalyptic future where canned goods are used as currency and where entertainment often consists of old porn reels. Vic (Don Johnson) is a violent, illiterate scavenger, principally interested in getting laid. He communicates telepathically with his deceptively cute-looking dog Blood (voiced by Tim McIntire); Vic finds food for Blood, while Blood sniffs out girls for Vic.. One of these girls is the sexy Quilla June (Susanne Benton), who, unbeknownst to Vic is a spy for an underground society, headed by a Mr. Craddock (Jason Robards Jr.). This subterranean civilization needs a human "sperm bank" to stay alive, and the oversexed Vic fills the bill. 

The Call of the Wild 

Jack London's The Call of the Wild, one of the finest wilderness novels ever written, is told entirely from the point of view of the dog Buck, a domesticated favorite in a wealthy California household who is stolen and brought to the far North to be a sled dog. This 1972 film adaptation, starring Charlton Heston, necessarily takes liberties with London's tale, while at the same time maintaining its essential atmosphere, particularly in its emphasis on the savagery of the frozen North. 

The Call of the Wild (2020)

Adapted from the beloved literary classic, THE CALL OF THE WILD vividly brings to the screen the story of Buck, a big-hearted dog whose blissful domestic life is turned upside down when he is suddenly uprooted from his California home and transplanted to the exotic wilds of the Alaskan Yukon during the Gold Rush of the 1890s. As the newest rookie on a mail delivery dog sled team--and later its leader--Buck experiences the adventure of a lifetime, ultimately finding his true place in the world and becoming his own master.

Catch That Kid

An action-packed caper film about a "mission without permission" - in which three young friends rob a state-of-the-art bank, overcoming high-tech security systems, attack dogs, and an overzealous guard. 

Dr. Dolittle

A talented physician, Dr. John Dolittle has long suppressed a very special talent he possessed as a child: the ability to communicate with animals. But now, as a "responsible" adult, more everyday concerns occupy his time. Unfortunately, Dolittle's wife and two young daughters have taken a back seat to his medical and fiscal ambitions. All that changes when, driving home one evening, Dolittle barely misses hitting a stray dog. When the pooch, Lucky, turns around and gives him a piece of his mind, Dr. Dolittle's long dormant talents are re-awakened ... with a vengeance! 

Far from Home: Adventures of Yellow Dog

Eleven-year-old Angus McCormick is washed ashore in the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest after a storm at sea separates him from his father. Angus has only his wits and a trusted canine friend with which to survive, in the family adventure "Far from Home".

Firehouse Dog

The world's most famous - and Hollywood's most pampered - pooch is separated from his owner and ends up as the mascot of a hapless San Francisco fire station. There, he helps a 12-year-old boy and his father, a veteran fire chief, and also turn the station into the city's finest.

Garfield

In his film debut, Garfield's owner, Jon, takes in sweet but dimwitted pooch Odie, turning Garfield's perfect world upside down. Now, Garfield wants only one thing: Odie out of his home and life! But when the hapless pup disappears and is kidnapped by a nasty dog trainer, Garfield, maybe for the first time in his life, feels responsible.

Geographically Desirable 

A driven, overworked and sleep deprived TV News woman's life is derailed when she inherits a house and dog in a small quirky town. 

Isle of Dogs

Isle of Dogs tells the story of Atari Kobayashi, 12-year-old ward to corrupt Mayor Kobayashi. When, by Executive Decree, all the canine pets of Megasaki City are exiled to a vast garbage-dump called Trash Island, Atari sets off alone in a miniature Junior-Turbo Prop and flies across the river in search of his bodyguard-dog, Spots. There, with the assistance of a pack of newly-found mongrel friends, he begins an epic journey that will decide the fate and future of the entire Prefecture.

Marley and Me

After their wedding, newspaper writers John and Jennifer Grogan move to Florida. In an attempt to stall Jennifer's "biological clock", John gives her a puppy. While the puppy Marley grows into a 100 pound dog, he loses none of his puppy energy or rambunctiousness. 

Marmaduke

Marmaduke, the world's most lovable Great Dane, leaps from comic strip fame (appearing in 600 newspapers in over 20 countries) to big screen stardom. In this family comedy event, the super-sized, ultra-awkward lap dog is living the good life with the Winslow family, including beleaguered dad Phil, Phil's wife Debbie, their three children, and feline pal Carlos. But when Phil uproots the clan from Kansas to California, Marmaduke finds his life turned upside-down. 

The Peanuts Movie

For the first time ever, Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the rest of the gang we know and love from Charles Schulz's timeless "Peanuts" comic strip will be making their big-screen debut; like they've never been seen before in a CG-Animated Feature film in 3D. 

Port of Shadows

A military deserter finds love and trouble (and a small dog) in a smoky French port city. 

Stray Dogs

Murukami, a young homicide detective, has his pocket picked on a bus and loses his pistol. Frantic and ashamed, he dashes about trying to recover the weapon without success until taken under the wing of an older and wiser detective, Sato. Together they track the culprit. 

Umberto D. 

When elderly pensioner Umberto Domenico Ferrari (Carlo Battisti) returns to his boarding house from a protest calling for a hike in old-age pensions, his landlady (Lina Gennari) demands the rent by the end of the month or he and his small dog will be turned out onto the street. Unable to get the money in time, Umberto fakes illness to get sent to a hospital, giving his beloved dog to the landlady's pregnant and abandoned maid (Maria-Pia Casilio) for temporary safekeeping. Nominated for an Academy Award, and the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival. 

White Fang

This 1973 adaptation of Jack London's classic novel follows the adventures of the half-wolf White Fang as he helps a reporter and a young boy clean up a wild town in the Yukon.