Soccer Dog is a story
about a dog who becomes lost from his family, befriends a
young adopted boy named Clay and goes on to succeed as a
soccer star, helping Clay learn some important lessons along
the way.
Animal Action:
Park scene - a dog
is playing with a boy, fetching a ball. The dog's name is
Kimble. The ball rolls down a hill, and as the dog chases it,
he runs through a gate, and comes face to face with a
dogcatcher. The dogcatcher lifts the dog up by his front legs,
the dog runs, but is caught as the dogcatcher throws a net on
him. In the next scene, we see Kimble in a kennel being lifted
into a van.
Next scene is at the
pound. We see the dogcatcher carrying Kimble into the pound.
There are 3 or 4 other cages with dogs in them. Close-up on a
rottweiler, salivating and staring at Kimble from another
cage. On the dogcatcher's desk we see a stuffed dog, and some
bones in the background.
In another scene, we
see the dogcatcher opening the kennels. Kimble is not in his
kennel. In the next scene, we see Kimble climbing out of a
manhole. He then chews off his tag from the pound.
We see a series of
scenes in which Kimble is wandering around town. We see him
eating some food on the ground near a dumpster, digging in a
flower bed, crossing a street as he sits in front of a young
boy, Clay. Clay and his friend pet Kimble and Clay takes him
home.
We next see Kimble
in Clay's closet. Clay feeds him and then pushes him into the
closet and shuts the door to hide him from his dad.
In another scene,
Kimble (now re-named "Lincoln" by Clay) is hiding
under Clay's bed. He comes out, barks, jumps up on the bed and
barks again.
In the next scene,
we see Lincoln sitting on some bleachers with Clay's parents
at a soccer game. Lincoln barks at the boys playing soccer.
In another scene,
Lincoln jumps up on Clay's bed and lays down with Clay.
In another soccer
scene, Lincoln is watching the boys practice. The ball rolls
to Lincoln, who retrieves it, hitting it with his nose. Again
we see Lincoln in the bleachers with Clay's parents watching a
soccer game. As one of the boys is taken out of the game,
Lincoln leaps off the bleachers, runs onto the field and licks
Clay's face. The coach puts Lincoln in the game as a player.
Clay ties a bandana on to Lincoln and we see various shots of
Lincoln on the soccer field, sitting watching the ball,
running around the soccer field with the kids. In one scene,
Lincoln makes a goal. He sits up, barks, and waves a paw.
Again we see numerous shots of Lincoln pushing the ball around
with his nose.
In another scene, we
see Lincoln peeing on the other teams goalie's leg. We also
see Lincoln run through some kids legs.
Another bedroom
scene where Clay wraps Lincoln in a blanket.
Back at the pound,
we see the angry rottweiler barking, snarling and drooling
inside of his cage. A bully kid adopts the angry rottweiler.
In another scene, we
see Lincoln sitting and barking at Clay. He paws him, sits up
with his arms in the air. Clay gives him a snack and Clay and
his friend walk along with Lincoln.
Clay and Lincoln
stop in at a sport shop and visit the owner. The owner pets
Lincoln. Clay and Lincoln leave the store and go out onto the
sidewalk, where Lincoln sits. Lincoln then begins to bark at
the bully kid. Lincoln then walks away with Clay and his
friend.
In another scene,
(black and white scene) we see a puppy running to a bowl of
food and eating, and then sitting up on its hind legs.
A lady with a small
dog knocks at Clay's door- she's holding the dog in her
arms.
In another scene,
Clay and Lincoln walk into the house. Lincoln jumps over the
couch and lies down on the floor. He later follows Clay to his
room.
In another soccer
scene, we see the bully kid with the rottweiler watching the
soccer game.
Later we see Lincoln
walking down the middle of a street. The dogcatcher spots him
and Lincoln runs down the street as the dog catcher chases him
in his van. Lincoln jumps over the hood of a car and runs
through a garage, and then through a hole in a chain link
fence, escaping from the dogcatcher.
In another scene, we
see Lincoln in the house, outside of Clay's room. Clay's door
is shut, and Lincoln is scratching at the door trying to get
in, whining and barking. Clay carries Lincoln outside and sets
him down, locking him outside. Lincoln whines and then runs
off, and finds himself face to face with the mean rottweiler.
The rottweiler growls and the dogcatcher grabs Lincoln by the
scruff. Lincoln squeals as the dogcatcher cuts his collar off
with a large knife and puts Lincoln into his van.
At the dog pound -
we hear dogs whimpering and we see two dogs in kennels.
Lincoln is in the back room with the dogcatcher. Clay's dad
fights with the dogcatcher and frees Lincoln, while Clay
releases all of the other dogs in the kennels (about five of
them). The freed dogs chase the dogcatcher into the back room
and we hear viscous attack sounds.
Lincoln shows up for
the final soccer game with Clay and his dad. Lincoln is out on
the field with the boys, pushing the ball with his nose,
running around, and barking. We see the mean rottweiler on the
sidelines barking, growling and drooling.
The rottweiler runs
out onto the field and plows into Lincoln, knocking him out
flat. We hear Lincoln yelp and then we see him just laying on
the field whimpering. The rottweiler is taken away on a leash,
still barking. Lincoln is taken away on a stretcher.
We next see Lincoln
lying on a vet table while a vet examines him. After a while,
Lincoln jumps off of the vet table and runs out onto the field
barking. He does a little trot/prance and gets back into the
game. He jumps into the air, head butts the soccer ball and
makes the winning goal. We see everyone petting Lincoln.
After the game, we
see Lincoln and Clay walking off the field. Lincoln/Kimble's
original owner shows up and reclaims him. Clay hugs him
goodbye.
Later we see two
puppies in a cardboard box whining. And even later, we see
Clay feeding one of the puppies under the table at dinner.
There is another scene with the lady with the Brussels, lying
in bed with a man and another dog.
Most of the scenes
were accomplished with verbal commands, such as sit, stay and
bark, as well as food incentives. For the rather intense
scene, where the rottweiler plows into Lincoln and knocks him
down, the trainer put Lincoln in place and told him to stay.
Three feet away, another trainer put the rottweiler in place.
The trainer then shows the rottweiler some food w/ mark. He
puts the mark just on the opposite side of Lincoln. The
trainer tells the rottweiler to nudge it. The rottweiler
pushes Lincoln with his head, and his head goes under
Lincoln's belly, gently pushing him out of the way.
For the scenes where
Lincoln was pushing the ball with his nose, the soccer ball
was in a ring that allowed it to roll and still be contained.
The trainer sat next to camera and told dog to nudge the ball
and run. The camera and trainer were on a golf cart.
For the scenes where
Lincoln licks people's faces, baby food was placed on the
actors face to get the dog to lick it.
For the scenes where
the dogcatcher cuts Lincoln's collar off of his neck, the
collar was pre-cut and the knife.