Dogs with Jobs
Dogs with Jobs is a Canadian documentary television series about working dogs and show dogs.[1][2] Each half-hour episode consists of two to three segments on individual dogs from around the world.[1] The family-friendly series has featured service dogs, search and rescue dogs, police dogs, herding dogs, and others. Segments show footage of dogs on the job, and also include stories of their rescue, training, and relationships with their owners and handlers.
| Dogs with Jobs | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Documentary |
| Developed by | Merrily Weisbord, Kim Kachanoff |
| Written by | Sara Gilbert, Maura Kealey, Shelley Tepperman, Jon Kalina, others |
| Directed by | Serge Marcil, Susan Mawhood, Eli Gorn, Ole Gjerstad, Ramelle Mair, others |
| Narrated by | Jon Kalina, John Ralston, others |
| Theme music composer | Lance Neveu, Mathieu Vanasse |
| Country of origin | Canada |
| No. of seasons | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 65 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Glen Salzman, David York, Katherine Buck, Andre Barro, others |
| Producer(s) | Maura Kealey, Robert DeLeskie, others |
| Editor(s) | Barbara Brown, George T. Clarke, others |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Cineflix, National Geographic Channel, Slice |
| Distributor | CBC, National Geographic Channel, PBS, Slice |
| Release | |
| Original release | September 2000, 04 – September 2004, 07 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Animals at Work |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Production and broadcast
The idea for the series came from Canadian writer Merrily Weisbord and her daughter, veterinarian Kim Kachanoff. They made use of a "doggie-cam", giving viewers a glimpse into the dog's perspective.[3]
Weisbord and Kachanoff sold the show to Cineflix producer Glen Salzman, who presented it in a "market simulation" at the September 7, 1998 Banff International Television Festival.[3][4] The series premiered on Canada's Life Network (now Slice), where it received positive ratings and reviews, before premiering in the US a year later in the form of a 90-minute compilation during a PBS pledge drive.[3]
The series is produced by Cineflix, in association with Slice in Canada and the National Geographic Channel internationally. The series' initial run lasted five seasons, from January 8, 2000 to September 7, 2004, including 65 episodes, and airing in 57 countries.[1][5] As of November 2014, the first three seasons were available on Netflix instant streaming.[6][7] As of February 2016, the first two seasons were available to stream on Netflix instant streaming.[6]
Reception
In his The New York Times review, film critic Matthew Hays wrote that "the gently narrated, heartwarming stories of Dogs With Jobs are certainly the antithesis of other reality-based animal programming like Fox's When Animals Attack!", and called the show "as simple and as slightly absurd as its name".[3]
The series earned a cult following and achieved strong international sales. Said executive producer Glen Salzman, "This show really does work like magic with audiences." The series was featured on a segment of The Oprah Winfrey Show on September 4, 2000.[3][4]
Common Sense Media awarded the show four out of five stars for quality, and three out of five points for inclusion of positive messages. They deemed it appropriate for children aged five and older, calling it "a good TV choice for the family" and "a great way to introduce kids to the idea of a 'working dog' so that they can recognize and respect those they might meet in everyday life."[8]
Animals at Work dispute
On September 3, 2012, Merrily Weisbord, who developed the show, sued Cineflix and producer Glen Salzman in Quebec Superior Court for $400,000 over their program Animals at Work, also called Frisky Business. Weisbord alleged that the program was a knockoff or sequel of Dogs with Jobs, having the same structure, and even featuring at least fifteen of the same dogs.[5]
Episodes
| No. in series |
No. in season |
Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Maggie & A.J." | January 8, 2000 |
| 2 | 2 | "Bruno & Honey" | September 4, 2000 |
| 3 | 3 | "Sarcelle & Sweep" | September 5, 2000 |
| 4 | 4 | "Landris & Wolf" | September 6, 2000 |
| 5 | 5 | "Nipper & Bellow" | September 7, 2000 |
| 6 | 6 | "Endal & Dee" | September 8, 2000 |
| 7 | 7 | "Petro & Mel" | September 11, 2000 |
| 8 | 8 | "Willy & Rope" | September 12, 2000 |
| 9 | 9 | "Corky & Malcolm" | September 13, 2000 |
| 10 | 10 | "Clipper & Bam-Bam" | September 14, 2000 |
| 11 | 11 | "Kavik & Mas" | September 15, 2000 |
| 12 | 12 | "Dani & King" | September 18, 2000 |
| 13 | 13 | "Sled Dog" | September 19, 2000 |
| 14 | 1 | "Gracie, Tiger, & Klondike" | January 15, 2001 |
| 15 | 2 | "Popsicle: Drug-bust Dog/Popsicle, Harvey, and Tattie" | September 3, 2001 |
| 16 | 3 | "Tilly: Arson Dog/Tilly, Murphy, and Madison" | September 4, 2001 |
| 17 | 4 | "Tokkolos: Big Cat Parent/Tokkolos, Barkley, and Rookie" | September 5, 2001 |
| 18 | 5 | "Ginny: The Dog Who Rescues Cats/Ginny, Basil, and Freddie" | September 6, 2001 |
| 19 | 6 | "Rowdy: TV Star/Rowdy, Wizard, and Rio" | September 7, 2001 |
| 20 | 7 | "Tombre: Special Companion/Tombre, Rosa, and Gabe" | September 10, 2001 |
| 21 | 8 | "MacKenzie: Guide Dog/MacKenzie, Bear, Tess, and Blue" | September 11, 2001 |
| 22 | 9 | "Fay Wray: Artist's Muse/Fay Wray, Jake, and Toby" | September 12, 2001 |
| 23 | 10 | "Marty and the Madcap Mutts/Marty, Tasha, and Nana" | September 13, 2001 |
| 24 | 11 | "Kiyoshi: Double Duty Dog/Kiyoshi, Brix, Ellie" | September 14, 2001 |
| 25 | 12 | "Yukon: Search and Rescue Dog/Yukon, Biggles, and Kodak" | September 17, 2001 |
| 26 | 13 | "Johnny and the Sled Dogs/Johnny, Bozo, and Flip-Flop" | September 18, 2001 |
| 27 | 1 | "Tuffy, Lulu, and Wiley" | January 12, 2002 |
| 28 | 2 | "Kaze, Haci, and Paugan" | September 2, 2002 |
| 29 | 3 | "Stan, Fudge, and Rocky" | September 3, 2002 |
| 30 | 4 | "Kenny: A Hearing Dog/Kenny, Daisy, and Duncan" | September 4, 2002 |
| 31 | 5 | "Eagle, Vasala, Tillamook Cheddar" | September 5, 2002 |
| 32 | 6 | "Lucy, Harvey, and Chokydar" | September 6, 2002 |
| 33 | 7 | "Cheko, Ben, Sam" | September 9, 2002 |
| 34 | 8 | "Birba, Uga VI, & Maggie" | October 22, 2002 |
| 35 | 9 | "Speedy and Friends: London Police Dogs/Speedy, Bruce Wayne, and Mr. Gomez" | October 23, 2002 |
| 36 | 10 | "Elite, Valen, and Tracker" | October 24, 2002 |
| 37 | 11 | "Peek, Canaan, Willi" | October 25, 2002 |
| 38 | 12 | "Beau, Dar, and Jumpin' Jack" | October 25, 2002 |
| 39 | 13 | "Turbeaux, Killu, and Ruby" | October 25, 2002 |
| 40 | 1 | "Annie, Casey, and Sailor" | January 11, 2003 |
| 41 | 2 | "Zelda, Azili, Amy" | March 26, 2003 |
| 42 | 3 | "Moby, Morgan, Barney" | March 27, 2003 |
| 43 | 4 | "Part-Ex, Bingo, Morgan" | March 28, 2003 |
| 44 | 5 | "Teabag, Harris, Barack, and China" | July 31, 2003 |
| 45 | 6 | "Bonita, Lily, Wheely Willy" | August 1, 2003 |
| 46 | 7 | "Ben, Jonah, Koby" | August 4, 2003 |
| 47 | 8 | "Nikki, Kelsey, and Aron" | September 1, 2003 |
| 48 | 9 | "Kaiser, Tikva, Macho" | September 2, 2003 |
| 49 | 10 | "Vernon, Bodhi, Baron" | September 3, 2003 |
| 50 | 11 | "Eddie, Velino, Sir Lancelot" | September 4, 2003 |
| 51 | 12 | "Vera, Joe Cowboy, and Thirty" | October 7, 2003 |
| 52 | 13 | "Beauty, Cinder, and Blaze" | October 8, 2003 |
| 53 | 1 | "Nyack, Cinder, Clancy" | January 10, 2004 |
| 54 | 2 | "Cooper, Wasabe, Frito" | January 11, 2004 |
| 55 | 3 | "Zoro, Suzy Q, and Sven" | January 11, 2004 |
| 56 | 4 | "Dakota, Orca, and Target" | January 12, 2004 |
| 57 | 5 | "Cass, Buddy, and Mercedes" | January 19, 2004 |
| 58 | 6 | "Peewee, Zeke, Ozzy" | January 26, 2004 |
| 59 | 7 | "Cindy, Chipper, Hope" | February 2, 2004 |
| 60 | 8 | "Piripiri, Pugsly, Joshi" | February 9, 2004 |
| 61 | 9 | "Ana, Bill, and Banjo" | February 16, 2004 |
| 62 | 10 | "Pay, Fergus, Blossom" | February 23, 2004 |
| 63 | 11 | "Huntaway Steam, Heavenly Angel, Mike" | March 1, 2004 |
| 64 | 12 | "Jassel, Ingrid, Hogan" | September 6, 2004 |
| 65 | 13 | "Keno, Mentor, Prince" | September 7, 2004 |
See also
- K-9 to 5, an American television series about working dogs.
References
- "Dogs with Jobs". Cineflix Productions. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
- Dogs with Jobs on IMDb
- Hays, Matthew (December 3, 2000). "Wanted: Dogs With Jobs And Heartwarming Tales". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
- McLeod, Tyler (November 26, 2004). "A nose for hard work". Canoe.com. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
- Swaby, Nickeesha (August 23, 2012). "$400,000 Demand for Dog Show Sequel". Courthouse News Service. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
- "Dogs with Jobs". Netflix. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
- "Dogs with Jobs is now available on Netflix Instant". Twitter. November 15, 2014. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
- "Dogs With Jobs". Common Sense Media. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
- http://www.thetvdb.com/?tab=season&seriesid=306428&seasonid=653433&lid=7