For the dog-loving completists among us who this year alone have suffered through Show Dogs, Alpha and A-X-L comes a bone in the form of Don Hardy Jr. and Dana Nachman’s winning documentary look-see into a quintet of hounds vying to make a difference in people’s lives. From their birth in a child’s plastic wading pool, we follow the pups — three boys, two girls — on a twenty-month journey to determine whether or not they have what it takes to be a guard dog for the blind. A puppy raiser whose task it is to socialize dogs while avoiding emotional attachment has got to be one of the toughest jobs in the world. From a modeling competition for dogs (will America’s Next Top Canine make the cut or be “career changed” to a domestic pet?) to the satisfactions and sorrows of traffic training, this is by far the most joyous time you'll have at the movies all year. (2018) — Scott Marks
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