Movie review: The Dog Doc

[Mr.Smile12]

Hi everyone,
I wanted to know if anyone had seen this documentary, and wanted to get feedback if it is worth showing to vet students or pre-vets. Wanted thoughts or recommendations.

The Dog Doc (2020) | Documentary Film

From filmmaker Cindy Meehl. A founding father of integrative veterinary medicine, Dr. Marty Goldstein and his colleagues in South Salem, NY have created a mecca for holistic care helping animals and humans alike.

dogdocthefilm.com

Thanks!

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[battie]

I haven't seen it personally though I have heard both good and bad about Goldstein specifically. I can post to a vet med Facebook page to see if anyone has opinions.

It sounds like a docudrama to a certain extent, which I think helps hook people in, but then frequently falls short of conveying the necessary science in a lot of medical documentaries. I'd also be wary of the premise including bashing on modern veterinary medicine.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Thanks, and I would appreciate the feedback! (I also had a feeling there were mixed reviews from the professionals.)

I'm trying to get some interesting documentaries together for prehealth students reflecting various fields... that anyone can currently access for free. I am interested in "Buck" (2011), but it costs money to view. It's also not about a veterinarian per se...

 

[supershorty]

Whoa. That's ... basically my hometown.

 

[JaynaAli]

Buck is a decently entertaining horse show but definitely has nothing to do with a pre-health field. I’ve never heard anything about the dog doc show, which probably goes to show that it didn’t make big waves either way among the vet community.

I feel like most TV shows and movies related to vet Med aren’t going to be that helpful for pre-health students? There is entertainment value for sure, but I wouldn’t recommend them for actual learning about the field. There’s too much dramatization, questionable quality of care (coughdrpolcough), lack of showing the struggles of the field, etc. That’s not to say that I didn’t love Emergency Vets on Animal Planet as a child, but college students interested in the field need to experience the field itself by shadowing or working and talking to real vets about the debt issues, not just seeing the idealized version shown to the public on tv.

 

[DVMDream]

I've not seen that documentary or heard of it. Like Jayna said, if it had been either horrid or amazing, there would have been talk about it among vets. Since we haven't heard anything, probably not super amazing or super horrid, could be a mixed bag of good/bad in general.

I haven't really seen any veterinary show/documentary where I have gone "This, this really shows people what vet med is like." It just doesn't exist, often a lot of what we deal with (client communication) can't be recorded for obvious reasons.

I did recently watch a documentary about home hospice/in home euthanasia only vets. Unfortuantely, it was only running through today, so appears to not be available for viewing currently, but if something anyone would be interested in, I will keep my eyes out. I am sure it will be available again at some point in the future. Just a fair warning, despite being a veterinarian and performing hundreds of euthansias myself, I was a damn blubbering fool through the documentary. Obviously, it isn't a good overall view of vet med as it covers one aspect of vet med, but definitely shows people some of what end of life care can look like for pets and their owners.