Does the dog die in Strays?

Strays features Will Ferrell as the voice of an adorable canine called Reggie, who goes on a cross-country quest to find his former owner and bite off his penis. So does Reggie make it to the end of that adventure, or does the dog die in Strays?

Strays is in cinemas now, with the official synopsis as follows: “When Reggie, a naïve, relentlessly optimistic Border Terrier, is abandoned on the mean city streets by his lowlife owner, Doug, Reggie is certain that his beloved owner would never leave him on purpose. But once Reggie falls in with a fast-talking, foul-mouthed Boston Terrier named Bug, a stray who loves his freedom and believes that owners are for suckers, Reggie finally realizes he was in a toxic relationship and begins to see Doug for the heartless sleazeball that he is.

“Determined to seek revenge, Reggie, Bug and Bug’s pals – Maggie, a smart Australian Shepherd who has been sidelined by her owner’s new puppy, and Hunter, an anxious Great Dane who’s stressed out by his work as an emotional support animal – together hatch a plan and embark on an epic adventure to help Reggie find his way home, and make Doug pay by biting off the appendage he loves the most.”

Some audience members like to know if any dog dies in a movie before making a decision about seeing it, so we’re going into details about the ending now – beware of Strays SPOILERS ahead…

Does the dog die in Strays?

No, Reggie (Will Ferrell) does not die in Strays. Nor do his buddies Bug (Jamie Foxx), Maggie (Isla Fisher), and Hunter (Randall Park).

Though Reggie does come close to being killed at the end of the movie. When he finally reaches Doug during the climax, his former owner grabs a baseball bat, with evil intent.

Indeed, Doug starts referencing Marley and Me, and specifically the fact that the dog does die at the end of that movie. As he approaches Reggie, Doug even states: “I’m gonna enjoy squeezing the life out of you.”

But before he can get squeezing, Bug, Hunter, and Maggie triple-team him, knocking Doug to the ground. The dogs then hold him down, pull his legs apart, and Hunter takes a dump in his mouth. Meanwhile, Reggie completes his quest by biting off his dick.

Doug survives the ordeal, although during the mid-credits scene, a doctor reports on the amount of faecal bacteria found in his system. He then adds insult to injury by informing Doug that they can’t re-attach his penis.

The trouble with Hunter

We asked director Josh Greenbaun if there was ever a conversation about one of the dog’s not making it to the end of the movie.

“No, I don’t think so,” says Greenbaum. “There’s certainly a rule – don’t ever kill a dog in a film, period. But no, we never had that discussion. I would say comedically to your question, early on, one of the dogs – Hunter – the big Great Dane, the dog who played him was a sweet dog who was only about 1-year-old. He was the youngest and newest – he had had no training. Three of our four dogs had zero training before filming started. We started in prep and they started to learn sit and all the commands.

“He was so untrained early in the movie that I did call the writer and say: ‘I think we might need to write a storyline where he leaves and maybe they rejoin with him later.’ Luckily that didn’t have to happen – he finally came around, and he became one of the best dogs on set.

“But early on he would get what’s called the ‘zoomies,’ when puppies get exciting and start running in laps, and so he would run around our set – a 160-pound dog with a cone on – just smashing into lights and equipment. Very, very funny, but certainly not what you are trying to do when you are trying to film a scene.”

Strays is in cinemas now, and you can read our review here.