Training begins the moment they're born. Directed by Dana Nachman and Don Hardy, the film premiered at Slamdance in 2018 and went on to screen at Hot Docs, Boulder International, Cinequest, and the Omaha Film Festival. Pick of the Litter was released theatrically by IFC Films and then streamed on Hulu, Netflix, and AMC+.
Pick of the Litter follows a litter of five puppies — Poppet, Phil, Patriot, Potomac, and Primrose — from the moment they're born through the two-year journey to become guide dogs for the blind. Raised first by volunteer puppy-raisers who pour themselves into a job they know may end in heartbreak, each dog is evaluated again and again against a standard only a fraction of dogs ever meet. The film is as much about the humans as the dogs: the raisers who fall in love and let go, the trainers who make the hard calls, and the visually-impaired partners whose independence depends on a four-legged stranger passing every test.
Slamdance Film Festival 2018 (World Premiere) · Hot Docs Film Festival · Boulder International Film Festival · Cinequest · Omaha Film Festival
- Directors Dana Nachman, Don Hardy
- Writer Dana Nachman
- Producers Dana Nachman, Don Hardy
- Executive Producers Ian Reinhard, Dan Braun, Josh Braun
- Cinematography & Editing Don Hardy
- Music Helen Jane Long
