‘Inside The Mind Of A Dog’ Recap And Review: It’s Hard Not To Love Netflix’s Charming Documentary

It’s impossible not to like Inside the Mind of a Dog. The latest Netflix documentary, directed by Andy Mitchell, does exactly what the title says, i.e., attempts to figure out man’s best friend from a scientific perspective. That doesn’t mean the documentary lacks the human factor, though. With dogs as the subject matter, how can that ever happen? We’re going to look into what happens in the documentary and then share our thoughts about it in this article. 

What Happens in the Documentary?

Narrated by actor Rob Lowe, who himself is a dog parent, along with experts and scientists on dog behavior, the documentary kicks off by tracing the origin of our furry friends. First, it lays down the obvious fact that many of us overlook: dogs are the most diverse animal species out there. So much so that if an alien race comes to the world, it might mistake two different kinds of dogs for two entirely different species. We move on to tracing the origin story of dogs, and it’s quite fascinating, considering they actually come from wolves. Once upon a time, a large number of wolves decided to befriend humanity in order to survive, and that’s how it started. The documentary clarifies that this is the opposite of the survival of the fittest theory, where the strong species obliterate the weaker ones from the face of the earth. Instead, for dogs, it is survival for the friendliest.

Once the origin story is done, the focus shifts to the Canine Cognition Center, a subsection of Duke University where dogs are trained from their puppy days, and if they manage to graduate, they’re assigned as service dogs. From the people who work here, we get to know more interesting facts about dogs. For instance, their nose prints are the equivalent of our fingerprints. Their smelling power is much higher, of course, which helps them do wonderful things, which we all know. Then there are dogs who look for humans when they’re in trouble, while other dogs try to solve the problem on their own. It’s only logical that the puppers who’re not particularly pampered by the mothers turn out to be independent, and in the case of the opposite, the dogs turn out to be more attached and friendly. It’s a win-win situation in both cases. Yes, dogs are that awesome!

The most fun part of the documentary has to be the three dogs at the Canine Cognition Center who we get to follow. They’re Bonus, Mr. Peabody, and Nemo. All three of them are very different from each other. Bonus is very playful, Mr. Peabody is relaxed and calm, and Nemo is hyperactive and might have ADHD. However, dogs with ADHD can still be trained. To see if Nemo is able to focus on their human and control the urge to sniff, he’s taken to a supermarket—a place where he’s surrounded by fish and meat. Mr. Peabody, on the other hand, is taken to an amusement park filled with a lot of noise. It turns out he’s not too bothered and still remains as relaxed as ever, even with all the chaos around. For testing Bonus, a restaurant is chosen as a location, and his task is sitting quietly like a good girl and not eating anything from the floor.

At the pre-match ceremony before graduation, Bonus is paired with Jazmine, a down-syndrome patient. For Bonus and Jaz to go home together, the two of them have to form a bond, and Bonus has to pass a test to become a graduate service dog. As it happens, they bond instantly, and Bonus passes the test with flying colors. Thanks to his calm and composed nature, Mr. Peabody gets to be the service dog of a veteran suffering from PTSD. Nemo doesn’t graduate, but he goes back to the people who rescued him as a pet.

Inside the Mind of a Dog ends by providing us more information about them. We get more knowledge about dogs suffering from anxiety and how to deal with them. The documentary leaves us with the most essential message—dogs indeed love humans after all, and they show it in every possible way.

Final Thoughts 

Two years ago, Andy Mitchell came up with Inside the Mind of a Cat, which was charming, insightful, and served as a very good basic lesson for new cat owners. Mitchell’s approach for Inside the Mind of a Dog is the same as his cat documentary, even though cats and dogs are very different species, nature-wise. This dog documentary is made in such a way that it’s hard not to love it. Even if you are a cat person like me, there’s no reason Inside the Mind of a Dog shouldn’t work for you. 

Bagging Rob Lowe as a narrator is a huge win, by the way. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the actor’s real-life affable personality does resemble that of a dog, and I’m saying this in a good way. Lowe narrates everything with so much love, and the warmth in his voice is an indication of him truly enjoying it. Half the battle is won with such a narrator, and the documentary brings in people who actually know a bit about dogs and have made them their career. This ensures the documentary is overloaded with wholesomeness, exactly the kind of thing you look for in content like this. 

The only way Inside the Mind of a Dog could have faltered a little bit was if it lacked a proper narrative or human stories, but the trio of Bonus, Mr. Peabody, and Nemo solves that and adds value to it. Unless your heart is made of stone, it should melt by seeing Bonus bonding with Jazmine and how happy the two of them are together. My personal favorite moment would be Nemo reuniting with the family that rescued him as a puppy and getting to live with them. The best thing about the documentary is focusing on what we always want to know, whether our dogs love us or not, and pretty much confirming that they do.