Certified Animal Action Overview

No Animals Were Harmed™ representatives closely monitored every animal scene in the film to help ensure the dogs and horses worked in calm, carefully controlled environments designed around their natural behaviors. From a family dog happily exploring a backyard patio and enjoying treats, to horses calmly following familiar verbal cues and routines, each scene was planned to prioritize the animals’ comfort, confidence and safety throughout filming. Complex moments, including a horse lying down, rearing, moving through a house and appearing alongside traffic, were achieved through patient training, separate camera setups, breakaway props, mechanical effects and staged distances that kept the animals protected at all times. Trainers remained just off camera to guide the animals with positive reinforcement, while sets were specially prepared with soft ground surfaces, rubber traction shoes and controlled environments to support safe movement. At the end of each sequence, the animals were calmly returned to shaded rest areas or their trailers, reflecting the production’s ongoing commitment to responsible care under the supervision of the No Animals Were Harmed™ program.

Detailed Animal Action Report

In the scene where the mother and three daughters sit in the backyard, petting a dog, prior to filming trainers walked to the dog to set and placed him on his mark. On action, the trainer released the dog as he explored the patio area. At one point, one of the actors sitting at the bench, reached down and fed the dog a piece of a hamburger bun. The trainers placed peanut butter on the piece of food so the dog chewed for a longer amount of time. After the three takes, the dog was returned to the holding area.

In the scene where the actor walks in front of his house and sees a man with a horse, selling him for a cheap price, prior to filming the scene a trainer drove two horses to the set in a trailer. The horse trailer was parked in front of the house. They unloaded horses from the trailer and tied them to a shaded area. Just before filming, the trainer led the horse up to its mark. On action, the two actors stood in the driveway and exchanged dialogue.

In the scene where the little girl comes home and finds her father in the backyard with the horse, prior to shooting trainers led the horse from the trailer to the backyard of the house. The trainer then placed lead rope over horse’s neck and stepped off-camera. On action, the actor stood beside the horse facing the back porch of house and exchanged dialogue with young actress before she walked over and hugged the horse.

In the scene where two actors talk over a horse’s corpse in the backyard and it suddenly stands up and rears back, prior to filming the trainer led the horse to the backyard. Three days before the shoot, the ground in the backyard was prepared with four inches of soft dirt and sod. The trainer laid on the ground to make sure it was soft enough. Before rolling cameras, the trainer placed his arm over horse’s neck and gave him a verbal cue to lie down on that soft area. On cue, the horse bent his front legs and bowed down with the trainer who was leading him. The horse laid on left side as trainer stepped back. The trainer then stood and walked off camera as the two actors stood in front of horse and exchanged dialogue. The trainer then cued the horse to stand up. The horse’s action and actors’ reactions were filmed separately. The trainer then stood in front of horse and cued him with verbal and visual cues. On cue, the horse reared up, pawing towards trainer, then lowered down and stood on grass. After shooting the scene, they brought the horse back to its trailer.

There’s an elaborate sequence where the horse walks into the kitchen before it eats pizza off the kitchen island, before kicking the wall behind him, clomping into a living room, pushing over an entertainment center, and riding out of the house and down the street, the sequence was filmed in separate sequences over a few days on a soundstage. Prior to shooting, production set up cameras using a stand-in, plastic horse. Prior to filming, the wranglers walked the horse into the set, the horse wore rubber shoes for traction. One trainer stood inside the house with a bucket of grain while the other stood outside the door with the horse. On action, the trainer called the horse by name. The trainer outside the door released the horse who pushed the door open with his nose and walked inside the house to be rewarded with grain. Next, the trainer called the horse to the kitchen where pizza on counter was baited with grain. On action, the horse pushed the door open with his nose, walked into the house, while the special effects team pulled a line attached to a pillar on left of entryway and a balsa wood/ breakaway pillar snapped as the horse walked into the kitchen. In the same sequence, the trainer released horse who walked to counter and began eating grain off pizza. For the scene when the horse kicks a hole in the wall, they used a mechanical puppet leg.

When the horse walks into the living room, the art department pulled the bottom stair, and trainers pulled the fake entertainment center on a cue, which fell to the ground. It was at a safe distance from the horse. Wranglers then walked horse outside as crew set up fake shelving unit to fall. Shelving unit was made of balsa wood, with breakaway glass and plastic used for the items on the shelving unit. The trainer led horse to the set and stood next to shelving unit in hall leading to front door. On action, the shelving unit and breakaway items fell to the ground as the horse exited frame to trainer.

When the horse runs out of the house and gallops down the street, trainers led horse into stage/house. There’s a ramp connected to the house where the horse could exit and walk onto the street. On action, the horse walked down the ramp. Then in another shot, they cued the horse to run down the street, which was closed off to traffic.

In the scene where the actor stands in front of his house, hears something, turns and sees a horse eating from the garbage, prior to filming the trainers walked the horse to trash can. On action, the trainer placed several treats inside trash and stepped behind camera. On action, the trainer released horse who placed his head inside garbage can.

Immediately after this scene, we see actor riding horse down street, prior to filming, the horse was brought to lot. There was also a camera car. The car was six feet from the horse’s left side and the camera arm was set up near the horse’s front end. The stunt rider mounted horse. The actor replaced the stunt rider and mounted the horse. On action, the actor rode the horse down the empty street with the camera car riding alongside him.

In the scene where the actor rides a horse through an intersection with moving cars just missing him, prior to filming the wrangler parked the horse trailer between two buildings off Main Street near the set. The horses were taken out of the trailer, wearing rubber shoes for traction. They filmed the sequence in town square. The horse scenes were overlaid with the stunt drivers to have them meeting at the intersection. On action, the stuntman rode horse on paved road from a starting position through intersection of town square. They got the shot, then they filmed the same sequence with the stunt cars. The horse cleared intersection prior to cars approaching the intersection. On action, the stuntman rode horse down Main Street, as he cleared intersection, the stunt cars were cued by radio from opposite directions, missing horse by one hundred feet. The horse was never close to the stunt riders.

In the scene where the actor rides the horse up to house, the horse abruptly stops and the actor falls onto front lawn, prior to filming the wrangler walked the horse towards its mark. The horse rider was rigged to fall off horse. On actin, the horse trotted towards its mark, the stunt rider verbally cued the horse, the horse stopped, and the rider was pulled and fell off the horse.