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Video Review: Hotel for Dogs
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Foster Kids Find Family’s Worth Fighting For
The truth comes out in the wash – or in this case, the swimming pool. One of your sons has taken to the water like, well, the proverbial duck. The other is having trouble simply staying afloat. None of that matters much until they begin swimming lessons. Soon your less-aquatically inclined offspring has become the subject of much joking by his classmates.
Resisting the urge to come to your child’s rescue, you wait for someone to do something. That’s when your super swimmer surfaces as a real star. He tells the jokesters they’re all wet; then he pulls his brother aside for a little one-on-one coaching. They may never make the Olympics but the bonds they form now will carry far more weight than a chest full of gold medals!
Family is worth fighting for, even when the outcome is uncertain. That’s what your children learned from their pool pact, and it’s the truth that siblings Andi and Bruce learn in Hotel for Dogs. The movie is now available on DVD from DreamWorks Pictures. Enjoy watching it with your family, then discuss it using our Talk Together points. Then play Give a Dog a Bone to see who’s looking out for you!
In Hotel for Dogs, orphaned Andi and Bruce have been shuttled from one foster home to the next in an effort to stay together. Their current foster parents, wanna-be rock stars Lois and Carl, provide the barest of necessities. But Andi and Bruce are committed to each other and the dog they call Friday that they keep hidden from Lois and Carl.
Fearing what their creepy foster parents will do if they discover Friday, Andi and Bruce hide him in an abandoned hotel. There are already a number of homeless dogs living there. With the help of their new friends, the kids soon are rounding up strays throughout the city and putting them up at the hotel for dogs. Bruce, who is an inventor of sorts, creates a variety of contraptions to make life easier for the pups.
Andi and Bruce seem to have formed their own happy family, until the dogs are discovered and hauled off to the pound. Lois and Carl kick the kids out, forcing them to live in separate group homes. But when Andi, Bruce and their friends find out the dogs will all be destroyed at the end of the week, they join forces to save them. Once freed from the pound, the dogs head back to the hotel. A crowd gathers and convinces city officials to turn the hotel into an animal shelter. And Andi and Bruce find a new home – with their compassionate case worker and his wife – and get to keep Friday.
Talk Together
Andi and Bruce take a lot of chances to care for Friday. Why is he so important to them? How does Friday show his appreciation?
The abandoned hotel is already home to several dogs. How do you think they wound up there? Why would someone stop taking care of a pet?
Bruce comes up with some pretty creative inventions for the dogs. Which one was your favorite? Draw a picture of what you might invent for the dog hotel.
Play Together: Give a dog a bone Don’t hide these bones! They’ll pay off by week’s end!
You will need:
- Construction paper
- Scissors
Cut the construction paper into bone-shaped strips. Distribute the bones to each family member. During the week, give a bone to anyone you catch doing something nice for another family member. It could be as simple as saying "please" or "thank you," or as big as completing a chore without being asked. At the end of the week, see who has the most bones. Reward the winner with a special treat or snack. Be sure to remind your kids that the best reward is knowing you are a special part of a loving family!
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