--- title: Dennis Quaid on A Dog’s Purpose Controversy description: Dennis Quaid and Ellen DeGeneres hope that people will not boycott A Dog's Purpose canonical: https://time.com/4645699/dennis-quaid-defends-a-dogs-purpose/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-24T20:38:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:40:25.030Z og:title: Dennis Quaid Addresses 'A Dog’s Purpose' Abuse Allegations og:description: Dennis Quaid and Ellen DeGeneres hope people will see the movie og:url: https://time.com/4645699/dennis-quaid-defends-a-dogs-purpose/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Dennis Quaid Addresses 'A Dog’s Purpose' Abuse Allegations twitter:description: Dennis Quaid and Ellen DeGeneres hope people will see the movie twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Watch Dennis Quaid Respond to _A Dog’s Purpose_ Animal Abuse Allegations by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jan 24, 2017 8:38 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jan 24, 2017 8:38 PM UTC The upcoming film [_A Dog’s Purpose_](http://people.com/movies/dogs-purpose-filmmakers-under-scrutiny-video-dog-being-forced-into-water/) has gotten some backlash since [PETA](http://time.com/4629357/tilikum-seaworld-blackfish-death/) called for a boycott of [_the movie_](http://people.com/movies/dogs-purpose-filmmakers-under-scrutiny-video-dog-being-forced-into-water/) after [on-set video footage](http://www.tmz.com/2017/01/18/a-dogs-purpose-german-shepherd-abuse-video/) obtained by TMZ showed a German Shepherd being forced into turbulent water. [Universal Pictures cancelled](http://time.com/4640460/a-dogs-purpose-peta-premiere-canceled/?iid=sr-link1) the film’s premiere in the wake of the public’s outcry over the alleged mistreatment of the dog. Now the film’s stars are speaking out in defense of the movie. Dennis Quaid, one of the human stars of the film, stopped by _The Ellen DeGeneres Show_ to discuss [_A Dog’s Purpose_](http://time.com/4394601/kaley-cuoco-dog-american-flag-photo-apology/?iid=sr-link3), saying this. “I don’t think this video tells the whole story,” said Quaid. “I would not be on a set that had any kind of abuse towards animals, any animals, or people.” Quaid teared up while talking about his love of dogs, adding that he believes the film’s director, Lasse Hallström, has the greatest respect for dogs. “I know in my experience that the dogs I worked with and the donkey were treated with the greatest respect and care and compassion,” he said. “They had lots of breaks.” Watch the segment below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4645699/dennis-quaid-defends-a-dogs-purpose/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4645699/dennis-quaid-defends-a-dogs-purpose/"},"headline":"Watch Dennis Quaid Respond to A Dog’s Purpose Animal Abuse Allegations","datePublished":"2017-01-24T20:38:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:40:25.030Z","description":"Dennis Quaid and Ellen DeGeneres hope that people will not boycott A Dog's Purpose","url":"https://time.com/4645699/dennis-quaid-defends-a-dogs-purpose/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","movies","Ellen Degeneres"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4645699/dennis-quaid-defends-a-dogs-purpose/","name":"Watch Dennis Quaid Respond to A Dog’s Purpose Animal Abuse Allegations"}}]}] ```