A Dog's Purpose

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1

What is the meaning of life?

Are we here for a reason?

Is there a point

to any of this?

First, I had no idea

what was going on.

I... I couldn't see a thing.

It was warm.

There was my mother.

- -Every day, I had fun.

Was having fun the point?

The whole point?

No, it couldn't be

that simple.

Here's one.

And then it was over.

That's it for you.

No more fun.

It seemed like

such a short life.

I mean, what exactly did I do?

There was some playing.

There was some eating.

I dug in the dirt.

But when I really thought

about it,

it didn't add up to much.

I was back.

And I was a puppy again.

Alive and ready

to ask the big questions.

To dig for answers.

Just let me in there.

Um, where am I?

So what else do you have?

-Uh, this one here.

-Oh.

-What is it?

-It's a red retriever.

Oh. Oh, yeah.

- Oh!

-Nice dog.

Good breed. Easy to train.

You got something smaller?

I got some

cute yorkies over here.

-Oh.

-I got this Japanese chin.

-Ah!

-Uh, poodle.

Corgi over here.

Got a pomeranian.

Look at all this great stuff.

Somebody knew I was coming.

Oh, yeah.

Hey, look at this.

What do we have here?

Look at this little guy.

Bet it's worth a couple bucks.

Yeah, it was a knockout

in the second round.

I lost everything.

Hang tight, guy.

- Now, you're buying this time.

- Not today, buddy.

I thought about my life.

I still had so many questions.

But I kept coming back

to the same one:

How do I get a drink of water?

Do you want to get

an ice cream?

- Sure.

What flavor?

Mom, I hear something in there.

Hey, honey.

Ethan!

Hey, mom, come here.

My god.

It looks so thirsty.

It's too hot in there.

I think we need to get him out.

I can't open the door.

Wait, it's locked.

Please, mom.

Okay, stand back.

- You poor thing.

You poor, poor thing.

How are you, boy?

- Good?

- What... what is this?

-Mom!

-A boy?

-Boy...

-A boy!

-Are you okay?

-I-i never knew there might be

-such a thing as a boy.

-Tired, huh?

I think this little guy

is gonna make it.

Can we keep him, mom?

-I don't know.

I think your father

might not...

I decided right then and there

I am definitely

keeping this boy.

Yeah! Dad, can we keep him?

--Well, who's gonna feed him?

-I will.

-Who's gonna clean him?

I'll do everything, dad.

-You think you're ready

to do it? -Yeah.

-Oh, I don't know, son.

-He's a good boy.

- He's a good boy.

Come on, please.

He's a retriever, dad.

He'll fetch your slippers.

And the paper when it rains.

Name something

you want fetched.

He can do it.

Look.

Hey, come here!

--What are you doing?

So, Ethan and I discussed

that the dog

-would be his responsibility.

-Come here! Yeah. Good boy.

Please, dad?

Come on. He needs a pal.

All right, this thing

that you two are doing,

it's dirty pool, okay?

-Hey...

-Take him away.

I want to talk

to your mother alone.

Okay.

We'll keep it till tomorrow...

You nervous, boy? Don't be.

It'll be okay. Yeah.

We don't have much choice.

They make a mess.

-You gotta clean 'em.

-Oh, come on.

-He's gonna be bored with it.

-Oh, come on, Jim.

You know it.

You know how he is.

If he says no, we can run off

and go find another family.

Ethan?

Yeah?

You have a dog.

- Yes! Oh, my gosh, yes!

Come on, boy. Dad!

-Whoo! Yes!

-All right.

Oh, my gosh, thank you!

Come on! Come on!

Bailey.

B-a-i-l-e-y,

i-i would think.

And I'm Ethan.

I'm the owner.

Do you think he knows

how to spell my name?

I would think so, honey.

Here you go.

Good boy.

Here you go.

Ready?

- Come on, Bailey.

Bailey, sit.

Sit.

Roll over. Roll over.

Get that out of your mouth!

Get that out

of your mouth.

Okay. Come here.

Shake your paw.

Shake your paw.

Come on. Yeah, good boy!

Turn around. Turn around.

- Come on.

- What's he saying?

-It's too many words.

-Ethan:
Come on. Okay.

-I'm gonna do this now.

-Ethan:
Come here.

Good job. Good job.

But one word got said

more than any other.

Bailey, Bailey,

Bailey, Bailey, Bailey.

After a while,

I came to understand

the words that mattered.

I had a boy,

and his name was Ethan.

I got a name.

My name was Bailey, Bailey,

Bailey, Bailey, Bailey.

Oh, gee, honey, I wish I'd have

known that you and Wes were...

I learned my place

in the pack.

Mom liked me.

Yes...

-Dad liked me.

-Yes. Yes, no, I understand.

-A lot.

Oh, excuse me.

Hold on. Come on.

Get down a bit.

I was sad for the cat.

Obviously,

he wanted to be a dog.

Wasn't my fault

he couldn't be a dog.

Ethan, it's time to go to bed.

Time to turn out

the light, okay?

Okay.

Okay, come on. Come on.

Come on. Come on.

- Okay.

"Don't! Don't do it, cap.

"Let him have it, bucky.

"We'll pound some sense

into this character.

"Pow! Stomp!

"It's coming right at us.

Jump for your lives!"

Ethan always came up

with such great games.

-"Boom!" -Making noise

under a blanket-- genius.

-"Zap!"

-Every night as I fell asleep,

I thought about how happy

I was that I had an Ethan.

And that I wasn't a cat.

Bailey, get in the car.

Come on, boy.

Come on!

Whenever the family wanted

me to get some fresh smells,

we all got in the car

for a ride.

Tree, toad, moss, skunk,

dead skunk, pond,

-mud, goat.

- -Goat!

Everyone was asking themself

-the same question...

"Why can't everything

smell like goat?"

Ooh, it stinks!

-Oh, look who's here!

-Hello!

Guess what we got.

What have you got?

What'd you get?

- Come on, Bailey.

-Oh, my. Look at this.

-Oh! A puppy! -Oh, my gosh.

- Here, boy. Here.

- Hello!

- Hey! Hey!

Where's he going? Oh!

Sometimes I thought

that trying

to make sense out of life

could be a waste of time.

Maybe it was better

to just really enjoy life

and leave it at that.

Hey, where'd everybody go?

Where's all the chickens?

Bailey! Bailey, Bailey!

-Ethan, Ethan, Ethan,

Ethan, Ethan! -Yeah!

Oh, my goodness!

Look who's here!

For some reason,

they wouldn't share

this ball with me.

Yes!

Run, Ethan, run!

Everybody knows there's never

been a game

in the history of balls

that can't be improved

by having a dog in it.

But there was something weird

about this ball.

Treasure.

Ah, this is the life.

Anyone else?

Jim, your coffee?

-Oh, thank you.

-Here you go.

- Here we all are.

- Yeah.

Enjoy your meal.

I liked the old humans.

They got me.

Would you please stop

feeding the dog?

-Oh.

-We're trying to train him.

I told you.

You caught me.

I'm sorry.

Could you pass me

the jam, please?

When I wasn't thinking

about food, my mind wandered.

Why am I here?

What's the purpose?

Oh, yeah. Keep rubbing.

And...

Might there be more bacon?

Oh, look at his plate.

You know, the way you eat,

you're gonna grow up

to be bigger

than all of us put together.

- Yes!

- Oh!

If there's a world

to grow up in.

These Russians

are putting missiles in Cuba.

Do we have to talk

about that now?

- No.

- So, um, Jim,

I hear you're up

for a new office job.

Why don't you tell us

about that?

That didn't work out.

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