Dog lovers and film aficionados alike will delight in this fantastic almanac, an ideal holiday gift.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this book in exchange for my feedback.

This is a fun quick look at dog movies and the canine stars. Each film and star has a short one page biography and photographs. I really enjoyed the fun facts. This book will appeal to dog and film lovers. Enjoy

I would recommend this book to most any dog lover.Its a fun quick read that will bring back a lot of memories, like visiting old friends and catching up.

Who wouldn't enjoy this book about famous dog roles in movies? From Toto in the Wizard of Oz to Verdell in As Good As It Gets, each canine gets a page with photos, trivia, and information on who played the iconic role. Will appeal to older kids and teens, animal lovers, and movie buffs.

Who doesn't love dogs - charming, full of tricks and with such expressive doe eyes? They are some of the most memorable characters of films and normally it is their films that can make you tear up before the credits roll.

This book takes you into meeting the Hollywood pups who play such memorable characters as Old Yeller, Beethovan, Old Dan & Little Ann, Marmaduke and Hachi, just to name a few. Furthermore the book allows readers to get an inside view as to how the dogs were chosen, what breed they are and whether that was a need for the role and what it took to train them.

What I love about this book is that it use different shaped dog tags for each pup. And then each spread has pictures on one side of the dog in its role while the writing is on the other along with two additional trivia facts at the bottom of the page.

The part I didn't like is that it doesn't give any idea to the reader as to why these particular films were chosen while other notable movies like The Ugly Dachshund, Milo & Otis, Fluke, Racing In the Rain (probably too new) and The Incredible Journey weren't included. Within the same vein there didn't seem to be any explanation as to how one particular dog in a multiple dog movie was chosen over the others such as Chance instead of Shadow from Homeward Bound.

Another thing that I would have loved to have seen within this book was a list of other characters played by some of the same dogs such as the majority of unmentioned Snow Dogs characters were also used for 8 Below. To give props there were a few entries that did hint to other roles played by these canine actors but not many.

All in all if you can overlook these last few bumps though it would make for a nice read, especially for any movie buffs or dog lovers in your life.

***I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review***

It's hard to resist a good dog book and one that highlights sometimes the best actor in a movie or tv show? Yes, please! Some of the canines I was familiar with, others were new to me. I enjoyed getting to know a little more about these dogs.

Thank you to Laurence King Publishing Ltd and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

A great book for animal lovers. I like the style of writing and learned a lot about some known and some new to me entertainment dogs.
An interesting read, recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Citizen Canine - Dogs in the Movies, by Wendy Mitchell is a wonderful homage to all the dogs we’ve learned to love in movies. It will please movie buffs as much as dogs lovers

This landscape format book presents us 60 dogs in total, from Benji to Cujo with many inbetween, such as Frank the Pug from MiB. At the very first glance, it’s a delight to be reminded of all those dogs whose performances we’ve enjoyed over the years.

Each fictional dog gets a double page spread. On one side, snapshots from the movie and/or its shooting. On the other side, information on the character, and on the dog (or dogs) who played the part. Their origin, their training, their skills and their lives. We also get many interesting anecdotes, such as on their relationships with the actors, or the trick used to film specific scenes. And a lot of research has gone into the making of this book. Many of the anecdotes were unknown to me.

For example, I am a huge Stephen King fan, and constant reader. Who would have known that Cujo was so eager to get inside the car during the famous final sequence of this terrifying movie, only because his favorite toys had been hidden in it ?

Either to put it on your coffee table, or to gift to a dog/movie buff, this is a beautiful crafted and highly recommended book.

Thanks to Laurence King Publishing and Netgalley for the review copy provided in exchange for this unbiased review.

Dogs have appeared in movies from the beginning of cinema. A few like Rin Tin Tin and Asta became big stars. Most appeared in one or two films and then retired. Citizen Canine traces the history of dog actors from Scraps, a mutt who costarred with Charlie Chaplin in A Dog’s Life, in 1918 to Patrick, a pug in the 2018 film of the same name.
Each dog gets a two-page biography, including a photo and a brief summary of the film in which they appeared. Certainly not intended to be comprehensive, Citizen Canine serves as a short introduction to the subject of canines in the movies and will certainly be of interest to dog-loving kids and adults.
Sadly, this book may also serve as an epitaph to canine actors. The most recent dog-centered film, 2020’s version of The Call of the Wild features a computer animated pooch in place of an actual animal. As CGI effects become more realistic, directors may opt for fake dogs in future films. Thus, canine actors may become as unemployable as silent film stars in the sound era.

Is there any other animal more beloved in the movies than dogs? For a while horses were in the running, but when you examine the past century of film, it is clearly canines who have dominated. In the lightly amusing Citizen Canine: Dogs in the Movies, Wendy Mitchell writes about the performances of sixty cinematic pooches in their signature roles.

Mitchell covers a satisfying array of films, from the silent era to the current day. Each entry has a photo, a brief blurb about the dog’s performance in the movie and its history as a movie actor, and a couple of bits of trivia.

The entries don’t run deep, there’s only so much you can write about a performing dog, but it was interesting to learn about the many ways different directors approached working with these animals. Some of them wanted elaborate tricks, while others simply wanted a dog doing its thing.

Mitchell’s film selection also covers a wide range of moods. We tend to think of dogs being in either sweet, sentimental movies or horror, but in film they have been in as many different scenarios as their human counterparts. There’s a lot of variety between Benji and Cujo.

I was amused to read about the different ways the dogs approached filming, with some of them seemingly eager to work and many especially adept at performing. Trainers have used creative methods to get the animals to do what was needed for the camera, the most amusing being a pair of glasses lined with meat and the trainer who had to shut himself in a coffin so that a dog would follow it in a funeral procession as if in mourning for his owner.

For classic film fans the usual suspects are present, including Asta, Lassie, Petey, and Toto. Dogs from older movies take up about a third of the book, so there’s a satisfying representation, even though most of the entries are for modern films. It’s a fun book; not appropriate for young children because of some the films it covers, but essentially light in tone.

This book has pictures and biographies of many dogs that have been in movies over the past 100 years. This was a trip down memory lane and it was interesting to learn more about the dogs that I grew up seeing in the movies. As a dog lover, I enjoyed this immensely and recommend this to other dog lovers.

This is a little gem of a book for dog lovers, Citizen Canine by Wendy Mitchell.

As you can see from the cover and read from its blurb, that book is all about the actor dogs, about the character they portrayed but also especially about the dog who played the roles. Beginning with Scraps in Chalie Chaplin’s A Dog’s Life which came out in 1918, all the way to Bailey from A Dog’s Purpose (2017) and Patrick the pug from the movie that bears his name (2018), the book covers a century of dogs in movies.

It’s presented in two pages sections, one side with info about the role, the dog(s) that played it and the other side with pictures. There’s also a couple trivia on each dog that I really liked.

Really enjoyed this book that I would definitely see as a perfect gift for any dog lover that he likes movies or not. There were many movies I’ve seen and liked but I know I learned about a bunch of movies I didn’t even know about. Time to go hunting!

A definite recommended read for any dog lover!

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Laurence King Publishing who provided a free eBook advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review. This is as honest as it gets...

#CitizenCanine #NetGalley

This book is everything it promises. I’m a big movie buff and prefer dogs to people every day, so a book that takes a look at the stories in all the classic films? Of course it’s my idea of a great book!

Any dog lover, animal lover and many movie aficionados would love to receive this book as a gift. I would prefer an over~sized print version to set on a coffee table and page through at my leisure.
A great selection of varied breeds of canine actors from movies over the last century, this is by no means an all inclusive collection. Beginning with the most famous canine actors from 1918, with a few featured from the 1920s and 40s, into the years when movies were a steady Saturday night date activity, and on into the most recent decade past this book is an invitation to remember and to seek out wonderful film entertainment.
Fun facts about the actors' relationships with the dogs, how the canines came to their profession and how their earnings compared to their human counterparts, this compendium is a delight to page through over and over.
I requested a review copy through Netgalley and received a digital copy.
I look forward to purchasing a hard cover print copy for myself.

If you like dogs and movies (and dogs in movies!), you'll like this book.

This book celebrates a diverse range of canine acting over the last 100 years ... the talented pooches, the caring and dedicated trainers who bring out the best in them and the actors and directors who find the best way to work with their canine co-stars on set.

The first dog is Mut, a mixed breed who played Scraps in A Dog's Life in 1918 with Charlie Chaplin. The last dog is Harley, a pug who played Patrick in Patrick in 2018. Others include Toto (The Wizard of Oz [1939]) Lassie (Lassie Come Home [1943]), Yeller (Old Yeller [1957]), Old Dan and Little Ann (Where the Red Fern Grows [1974]), Benji (Benji [1974]), Hooch (Turner & Hooch [1989]), Puffy (There's Something About Mary [1998]), Bruiser (Legally Blonde 2 [2003]), Bonny (Seven Psychopaths [2012]) and more! Most of the movies I've heard of ... some I haven't, even more recent ones.

There are two pages devoted to each movie. One page has pictures and the other gives a brief description of the movie, the dog(s) involved and their stories along with a couple quick facts on the bottom.

This is just one of the cutest dog books ever. It covers many of the famous dogs from the movies over the last 100 years, devoting a page to each one with excellent photos and descriptions. It just brought back so many wonderful memories for me. I now have 3 dogs after recently adding a little puppy that was a rescue several months ago. I’m a bit of a dog nut I guess you could say, but they bring me so much joy. They are wonderful companions and company as I have been disabled for quite a while, and recently had to give up driving too, because of a medical condition. This book reminds me of all the dogs I loved in the movies through the years when I didn’t happen to have a dog of my own for some reason. I remembered how they could make me laugh and at times even cry, but most of all, they made me want a furry family member once again to share my life. Or, if I did have one when I watched the ones onscreen, I gave mine an extra affectionate hug of appreciation, so glad that they were in my life.

I would recommend this book to most any dog lover. I’m sure you’d enjoy the trip down memory lane to revisit these old favorites too. See how many you remember. I enjoyed the ones I didn’t recall, as well as the ones I did. It’s a quick but fun read, if you go through it all in one sitting or you can just enjoy a few an evening before you go to sleep, and extend the experience. I like to change things up from my true crime binges with delightful books like this now and then. Advance electronic review copy was provided by NetGalley, author Wendy Mitchell, and Lawrence King Publishing.

I loved this because I grew up loving so many of these movie pups. Each dog had a small bio and a few fun facts at the end. I would recommend this book to dog lovers of all ages.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy of this ebook in exchange for an unbiased review.

A great book that every dog lover should read! It has wonderful pictures of dogs and a write up about their acting careers. Dogs bring such great joy to our lives and it's always great to watch a movie that features an adorable pup!

I did not know/realize this was a PDF file when I requested it. I d not read PDF file on my Kindle, as I can not adjust the font size or even really bookmark it. I will not read a PDF on my Kindle. Sorry about the confusion.