Toronto-based filmmaker Patrick Reed, left, is probably not the guy you want to be seated next to at a dinner party; ask him what he’s working on and you’ll find yourself discussing rape in the Congo or famine in Somalia — not everybody’s idea of a nice night out.
Reed’s latest effort, Pet Pharm, has given the doc maker a respite from the heaviness if not from the controversy; the film, which airs on CBC TV Thursday at 9 pm and on CBC News Network Friday at 10 pm, examines the provocative practice of treating animal behavioral problems with anti-anxiety drugs and mood stabilizers. “Being able to talk about the pet film has been a nice change of pace,” says the affable Reed. “I’ve discovered that a lot of people really enjoy talking about pets and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
Although Reed likes to approach his subjects from a neutral position, he admits that he was initially somewhat judgmental of the idea of putting pets on Prozac. “My knee-jerk reaction was that this is a sign of the apocalypse,” he says, “an example of our overly indulgent society.”
But as Reed started digging and meeting pet owners struggling with severe behavioral issues his own opinions began to shift. “I found it fascinating,” he confirms. “I was looking at a different world, a kind of sub-culture. And both of our experts — Nicholas Dodman and Dr. Ian Dunbar — were diametrically opposed in their positions yet I liked them both, they were equally engaging. Their hearts are in the right place and while I might disagree with their position, I certainly didn’t want to make a film that misrepresented what they say or make them into simplistic versions of themselves just to fit into the story.”
In Pet Pharm, Reed presents a series of cat and dog owners each struggling to hold onto their animal companions in spite of behavioral challenges. Sisters Claire and Claudette, above, have resorted to medicating their highly anxious white poodle Timi, who pushed Reed’s sound tech to the very edge of tolerance: “I’ve worked with him in some of the toughest locations imaginable and never seen him crack, but he told me not to call him the day after we shot Timi, he really needed a break.”
Reed, too, was less than enthralled with the yelping, yowling Timi, but his compassion for the dog’s owners is unmistakable.
“Timi is a very, very difficult animal,” says Reed, “but Claire and Claudette are keeping him. You can judge them for treating him with pharmaceuticals but as they say in the film, he’s not disposable. And frankly, there’s a lot of people who would not go that extra mile, they’d just get rid of the dog. At least they’re trying.”
“If nothing else,” concludes Reed, “one of the points of the film is not to be judgmental. Some of these pet owners are dealing with very extreme situations and they’re motivated by the sense of wanting to do the right thing for their pet. And we can sit on the sidelines and judge them for that and criticize their failure to properly train the animal in the first place but it’s the same thing with kids behaving badly in a supermarket, it’s often not as simple as poor parenting.”
Patrick Reed was photographed at a Toronto Animal Services shelter by Christopher Jones; photo of Timi courtesy of White Pine Pictures
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“Hello Kitty … indeed”.
EXCELLENT writing and well done docu. Love the pic CBC posted on its sight.
Thank you for your work. Much appreciated.