Puppy Love Movie Review

“Puppy Love” is a personal story of perseverance and devotion, filmed as a documentary and as a tribute. A litter of puppies suddenly develop a mysterious paralysis, and nobody can find a reason. The general advice is to ‘put the puppies down’, and chalk it up to bad luck. But the future holds a different fate for these cute little pups.

Available on Digital Platforms starting October 24, 2023

Gail Gilbert, who is an independent film director, lives in a rural part of Illinois. She has a good friend named Cindy who is a dog breeder. Cindy has raised and reared many AKC (American Kennel Club) Labrador dogs. Many have gone on to win at National Championship events. She has a prized Lab dog which has just given birth to a new litter of pups; two female and four males.

Gail is called into help with some of the puppies. These cute little fur bundles are about two or three months old, and they have been medically checked and have gotten all of the normal shots. Gail is taking care of the whole litter. Then she notices something is strange.

The female pups are fine, but all of the male Lab pups are starting to lose all motor functions. Almost all of them are showing signs of some type of paralysis. Cheddar is a one of the white Lab females, and she is growing up strong. But the male puppies are unable to move around much. They are stricken with some type of problem with being able to get up and move around like a normal pup.

Shooter (a male golden Lab) has some of the symptoms. Scout (a male golden Lab) is also having difficulty. Red (a black male Lab pup) is pretty much unable to stand up on his own. White (a black Lab male) is showing the worst issues. White is a black Lab, whose name is later changed to a more appropriate name ‘Oliver’ a bit later on. His puppy days are spent lying on his side, not able to move around at all.

Many people around Gail tell her that these dogs must be sick with a genetic disease. There is no chance that any of them will survive the first year, much less grow up to be strong healthy dogs. Some of the folks say that the best thing is to put these dogs down, and be done with it.

Gail calls upon a few of her close friends. Maybe these ladies will not have such dour attitudes and will work with Gail to give these little guys a chance. Her friends include Michelle Cullen, Amanda Marien and Penny Kurz. Each of them has been over and seen these cute balls of fur and all of them want to help. They all pitch in to make a place in their homes one of the paralyzed pups.

Every trick in the book is tried and every avenue is explored. There is a special diet for each pup. They are given some supplements and special meals. Oliver will need some special care, since all of his food needs to be put in a food processor and he is bottle fed. They are also given some Chinese herbs in their food.

Physical therapy, and then chiropractic work, and massage for the puppies all get tried. Red and Scout eventually regain all the movement that they would have normally. Red gets a lot better, and he can run and frolic again. His hind legs are still not as limber, and he tends to move and hop like a rabbit.

Oliver is getting even more treatment. This includes a bunch of genetic tests, to see if there are any odd abnormalities. Oliver gets some special care, since he has grown up with such a long time of being immobile — he only has a half the weight of his female litter mate. They even have Oliver walking on an underwater treadmill, to build up his leg muscles.

The odd period of paralysis eventually fades away. It disappears as mysteriously as it first came to affect these male pups. The four pups have received a lot of love and care from the four fine ladies who give these dogs a chance. Gail, Michelle, Amanda and Penny always believed in the Power of the Pup.

The dog breeder Cindy has all four male dogs training and she is getting them ready. They are ready for the AKC Regional Championships. Yes, even though each of these pups suffered some severe issues when they were growing up – that does not mean that they are out of contention now. Even the smaller body of Oliver, who never did gain back the body mass that would be normal for a dog his age — even he can find a way to compete.

“Puppy Love” is a really fun to watch documentary of the trials and triumphs of four small puppies. Director Gail Gilbert has a personal stake in this story. She is one of the people who helped to the raise the four Lab puppies. She, and her three friends, make it a point to ignore the naysayers who thought the pups would never survive.

With a positive attitude, and a great helping of TLC, these small dogs were given a fighting chance. There was a lot of extra work involved; lugging around a paralyzed puppy, getting all the food in a mush and spoon-feeding them, taking the pup to get massage therapy, and more things. The only repayment these ladies ever got was a puppy’s undivided devotion, and little puppy eyes!

“Puppy Love” could be the type of documentary that will make you ‘Sit, Stay’.

Available on Digital Platforms starting October 24, 2023