MovieChat Forums > Ace of Hearts (2008) Discussion > Unique GSD

Unique GSD

posted 16 years ago by scott-861
5 replies | jump to latest

My family loves German Shepherds, and they've been the exclusive breed of my family for about 15yrs, so when we saw this movie advertised on Animal Planet, my little boy(6yrs) just had to have it. Now normally I wouldn't be one to buy a direct to dvd or made for tv movie, but this one was about a german shepherd, and one with a pretty unique color pattern, so I thought I would give it a shot. Believe it not, the whole family enjoyed it. It wasn't a cheesy dog movie where the use CG to animate the face, but a realistic scenario mixed with some humor. No one is going to win any awards for this film, but I don't think thats the purpose. Perfect film for little ones that like either police dogs or agility dogs or anyone biased towards german shepherds. The dog is no Rin-Tin Tin, but still a great example of the breed.

[–] etiedeman 16 years ago

I agree. I work with a German Shepherd rescue organization and have been training the breed since I was 10. I have to admit, some of the movie did make me cry, but only because of people being biased against the breed.
The quality of the production is lacking (lots of goofs in props, the use of multiple dogs and the like), but the story is great! I love how Ace "figures things out." People don't realize how crafty and intelligent these dogs are.

[–] redknight42972 15 years ago

I think that the reason why certain people are biased against the breed is because of it's origin. A German army officer created the breed by crossing a domesticated dog with a wolf. The original name for the dog was the "Alsatian Wolfdog". It was not until "Rin Tin Tin" that the German Shepard was popularised as a pet. I still wonder though, if Sacha, the Labrador Retreiver, were the K9 on the scene, instead of Ace, do you think that there would have been as much sensationalised suspicion? I mean would they be as likely to believe that a Lab viciously attacked a subject, than a German Shepard?

[–] thereseuphemiaabernathy 14 years ago

I think that the reason why certain people are biased against the breed is because of it's origin. A German army officer created the breed by crossing a domesticated dog with a wolf. The original name for the dog was the "Alsatian Wolfdog".

This is false.

And Shepherd is not spelled 'Shepard.'

The GSD does NOT descend from a wolf/domestic dog cross. It's no more closely related to wolves than any other breed is. They were carefully developed from old herding dogs in a concerted effort to produce an ultimate herding & flock guardian breed that was very versatile and could handle numerous other tasks as well. "Alsatian Wolfdog" was NOT the original name. In an attempt to dissociate them from Germany due to WWI, Britain temporarily renamed them that (and later dropped Wolfdog because it generated fear of the dogs among people.)

flowerpower

[–] jmrmpd 14 years ago

Alsatian Wolf Dog is what the British called them in the wakes of World Wars One and 2...

[–] Moondog-13 14 years ago

I really appreciate your interest in the film. I am the director and it warms my heart to hear that kids and parents alike, enjoyed the film. I actually grew up with Labs and retrievers, that's why I slipped one in the film, the dog named Sasha. In the script that dog was originally named TASHA, but when I found out that the trainers had a delivered male on the say of shooting, we changed the name on the spot. Also, to answer someone's question, it's essential to use multiple dogs to do all the stunts and tricks that ACE needed to perform in the film. We do everything we can to make them look like the same dog, with lighting and quick editing, but if you really know your German Shepherds you can see the difference if you look closely. Thanks for the kind comments! --David Mackay