The new film “A Dog’s Purpose” is under fire for a leaked behind the scenes video showing a German Sheppard being forced into churning water.

TMZ released the video two weeks prior to the premiere of the highly anticipated movie, reporting that the dog was forcibly thrown in churning water. In the video, the German Sheppard actor is seen standing at the edge of a pool filled with choppy water. The dog squirms around as his handler holds on to him. There are a couple of efforts to lower the dog in the water. First, his feet are dipped into the warm water, then half of his body. However, The video does not show the dog being forcibly thrown into the water, but instead cuts to a later moment when the dog, already in the water, submerges beneath the surface as handlers in the pool yell and rush toward him. The German Sheppard’s name is Hercules, and he was not injured due to the incident.

The video sparked outrage from many organizations, actors in the movie, and animal lovers all around the nation. More notably,  PETA, an organization against animal abuse, reacted to the controversy by encouraging people to boycott the movie. The hashtag, #boycottadog’spurpose began on twitter, supporting PETA’s decision to boycott the movie. Josh Gadd, the star of the movie, expressed his concern of the footage saying he was “shaken and sad to see any animal put in a situation against its will.” The director of the film tweeted that he is appalled by the video and a thorough investigation of the incident is in the process. The red carpet premiere of A Dog’s Purpose has been canceled, and advanced screenings at Humane Societies have also been canceled.

However, there are many people questioning the alleged abuse. It’s important to point out that the recording of the video took place 15 months ago but only surfaced two weeks before the premiere. Also, the cut in the video weakens the claim that the dog was forced into the water. The two scenes could have taken place on the same day or a week apart. The author of the book and co-screenwriter W. Bruce Cameron reviewed the unedited video and released this statement:”The dog was not terrified and not thrown in the water—I’ve seen footage of Hercules earlier that day joyfully jumping in the pool.  When he was asked to perform the stunt from the other side of the pool, which was not how he had been doing it all day, he balked.  The mistake was trying to dip the dog in the water to show him it was okay—the water wasn’t his issue, it was the location that was the issue, and the dog happily did the stunt when he was allowed to return to his original spot. I also didn’t like it when Hercules’s head briefly went under water, but there were a scuba diver and a trainer in the pool to protect him.  He loves the water, wasn’t in danger and wasn’t upset.”

American Humane, the group that ensures animal safety on movie sets, suspended the representative who worked on the film and hired an independent investigator to examine the incident. The investigation is still ongoing.