If you’re in the mood to cry, then go ahead and watchDog Gone on Netflix, a new movie streaming today about a lost dog.
Directed by Stephen Herek, with a screenplay written by Nick Santora, Dog Gone stars Johnny Berchtold as a college student who impulsively adopts a dog, while Rob Lowe plays his long-suffering father who wants nothing to do with it. But one day, the dog—Gonker—runs away. Father and son go on a journey together to find him, and discover a little something about their relationship along the way.
No matter how cheesy they are, dog movies always know how to make audiences cry. And, in the case of Dog Gone, the movie is even more touching when you know it’s based on a real-life story of a lost dog who finds his way back home.
Spoiler alert: In both the movie and the true story, the dog lives. Thank god, right? No one wants to see the dog die!
Read on to learn more about the Dog Gone true story, and how accurate the Dog Gone movie is.
Is Dog Gone based on a true story?
Yes. The Netflix movie Dog Gone is based on the nonfiction book, Dog Gone: A Lost Pet’s Extraordinary Journey and the Family Who Brought Him Home by Pauls Toutonghi, which in turn is based on a true story of a family who lost their dog, Gonker, in 1998, and launched an intense search to find him.
How accurate is Dog Gone to the true story?
While the basic plot of Dog Gone mirrors the true story, some changes were made for the film. In the movie, Fielding Marshall (played by Johnny Berchtold) is a college senior when he adopts a yellow lab retriever and names it Gonker, and he does it to impress a girl. In real-life, the actual Fielding Marshall’s story is far more tragic: He adopted a golden retriever mix after his baby daughter died on the operating table and the baby’s mother left him, in 1991, according to a New York Post report.
The movie moves the story to modern times, rather than the ’90s, and also speeds up the timeline of real-life events, as films based on true stories often do. In real life, Marshall spent years with Gonker after adopting him, before he ran away. As you see in the film, the real Gonker had Addison’s disease, a condition that meant the dog required monthly injections of synthetic hormones to stay alive. That meant when he ran away one day in October 1998, on the Appalachian Trail, Marshall had less than a month to find him, in order to find him alive.
It is true that the real Marshall’s parents helped him search far and wide for his dog, and that search was picked up by the local media. In the movie, however, the search blows up on social media and becomes a worldwide effort, with people in Zambia chipping in to help. This was not the case in real-life—it was the ’90s, so no social media, and the story of Gonker’s escape was not picked up by the national news until he was found on October 25, 1998, after 15 days away from home.
But hey, when you make a feature film, you have to raise the stakes. If you want to read more about the Dog Gone true story to find out what actually happened, you can purchase the book, which was written by Marshall’s brother-in-law, on Amazon.
FAQs
The feel-good film is based on a true story about one family's quest to find their son's lost dog. Johnny Berchtold and Rob Lowe star in the film about a recent college grad desperate to find his missing dog.
Is Dog Gone based on a real story? ›
“Dog Gone” is based on the true story of John Marshall and his son, Fielding, who repair their fractured relationship during a forced hike of the Appalachian Trail to find their beloved Gonker. Kimberly Williams-Paisley plays Ginny Marshall, Fielding's mother. Nick Peine is Nick, Fielding's college roommate.
Is Gonker still alive? ›
Unlike other tragic dog-focused movies such as Marley & Me, this film does not end with Gonker's death - phew! Instead, the movie ends on a high and a picture of the real Gonker shows with a message that reads, "Gonker has never separated from the Marshalls again."
How many days was Gonker missing? ›
The frantic search, along the Appalachian Trail in the US state of West Virginia, involved a whole community and gripped people around the world. And when, at the moment most had lost all hope, Gonker was found 15 days later and 111 miles away from where he'd gone missing, thousands shared in the Marshall family's joy.
Is the movie dog based on a real story? ›
The film was inspired by a real road trip director Channing Tatum took with his dying dog, a pitbull mix also named Lulu, after she was diagnosed with cancer in 2018. Tatum told Yahoo! News: "When I went on my last road trip with my puppy, [I experienced] that feeling of, 'There's nothing I can do.
How much of the Dog Gone movie is true? ›
While the basic plot of Dog Gone mirrors the true story, some changes were made for the film. In the movie, Fielding Marshall (played by Johnny Berchtold) is a college senior when he adopts a yellow lab retriever and names it Gonker, and he does it to impress a girl.
Was Gonker found in real life? ›
Was Gonker found in real life? Yes. The missing dog Gonker was found 15 days after he disappeared. A concerned citizen spotted the dog eating from trash cans behind a ski resort and reported his whereabouts to the police, who in turn phoned Fielding Marshall's mother, Ginny.
Where is Gonkers owner now? ›
The movie ends on an optimistic note with both Gonker and Fielding sleeping together in his hospital bed and recuperating. During the credits, it was revealed that Gonker never left the Marshalls again and Fielding now lives in Chile giving kayaking tours.
What disease did Gonker have? ›
In 2016, Pauls Toutonghi, associate professor of English, published Dog Gone: A Lost Pet's Extraordinary Journey and the Family Who Brought Him Home. It tells the true story of Gonker, a goofy but beloved dog with Addison's disease who got lost on the Appalachian trail in October 1998.
Is the dog alive in the movie Dog Gone? ›
Does the dog die? the titular dog, gonker, does not die. there is a scene where gonker has to go to the vet and he is diagnosed with addison's disease. another dog, oji, is implied to have died in a car accident but the death is not shown.
Saturday, October 10, 1998. Fielding Marshall is hiking on the Appalachian Trail. His beloved dog-a six-year-old golden retriever named Gonker-bolts into the woods. Just like that, he has vanished.
Does Dog Gone have a sad ending? ›
In the end in a feel good movie all has to be well. Happy endings are essential though it took us awhile to get there. It took a crisis to do it but boy and dog are reunited.
Why do they only have 20 days to find Gonker? ›
But they need to hurry; Gonker has a condition called Addison's disease. If he doesn't get his monthly shot of medicine within the next 20 days, he'll likely die.
What famous dog movie is based on a true story? ›
Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009) - This movie is based on the true story of a dog named Hachiko who waited for his owner at a train station every day, even after his owner passed away. It is a heart-wrenching tale of loyalty and love.
What is the best dog movie based on a true story? ›
1. Finding Rin Tin Tin (2007) tells the true story of a dog's rescue from a French battlefield during the first world war. Rin-Tin-Tin (1918 – 1932) was rescued from a World War I battlefield by an American soldier, Lee Duncan, who trained him.
Does Channing Tatum have a wife? ›
Jenna Lee Dewan is an American actress and dancer. She started her career as a backup dancer for Janet Jackson, and later worked with artists including Christina Aguilera, Pink, and Missy Elliott. She is known for her role as Nora Clark in the 2006 film Step Up.
WikipediaThe movie ends on an optimistic note with both Gonker and Fielding sleeping together in his hospital bed and recuperating. During the credits, it was revealed that Gonker never left the Marshalls again and Fielding now lives in Chile giving kayaking tours.
Was Gonkers owner sick? ›
Again, it's an ironic element of this story that both Gonker and his owner were suffering from potentially fatal illnesses at the same time, and the stress of losing Gonker could have made Marshall's illness even worse, but it is also true that Marshall suffered from colitis in real life, and thankfully doesn't suffer ...
What is the story of Dog Gone? ›
