The disturbing reason why kids’ movie ‘Show Dogs’ is being urgently edited

Two scenes are being cut from the family movie Show Dogs after complaints that they resemble real-life sexual abuse, the movie’s distributor has announced.

In the movie, a police dog goes undercover at a dog show to catch animal smugglers.

In one scene, the dog is told to go to his “zen place” when he objects to having his testicles touched by a show judge.

In another scene, the dog is urged to overcome his resistance to being touched to become a champion.

Parenting bloggers first raised objections to the scenes, which they said resemble tactics used by abusers.

“During the movie, I kept thinking, ‘This is wrong, it doesn’t need to be in a kids’ movie,” wrote blogger Terina Maldonado. “Everything else in the movie is good fun except for this.’”

Distributor Global Road Entertainment said in a statement Wednesday it “decided to remove two scenes from the film Show Dogs that some have deemed not appropriate for children.”

The statement added: “We apologise to anybody who feels the original version of Show Dogs sent an inappropriate message. The revised version of the film will be available for viewing nationwide starting this weekend.”

Maldonado said she was especially disturbed that her daughter said one of the scenes was her favourite part of the movie.

The National Centre on Sexual Exploitation had also objected to the scenes, and urged that they be cut.

The film starring Will Arnett and the voice of Ludacris was released last weekend and was the No 6 film at the North American box office after earning US$6 million.