A Dogwalker's Christmas Tale

Who knows why these cheesy, made-for-TV movies appeal to me, but Netflix has me pegged and I am watching all of them.. 'A Dog Walker's Christmas Tale' claims to be set in Austin, Texas. As an Austin native, I am deeply offended. As an actual dog sitter, I could not believe that half of the actors were committed dog owners.

This movie is riding on Austin's coattails, likely because we have recently gained notoriety with the rest of the country. However, this movie does not actually take place in Austin, but instead a small, adjacent suburb that is the embarrassingly conservative cousin to our liberal, weird Austin. Perhaps 1% of the movie was actually filmed in Austin city limits, and that includes the brief shot of the downtown skyline during the opening credits. The rest was filmed primarily in Round Rock, which is night-and-day in aesthetic character. The backdrops of shops and landmarks do not at all authentically represent Austin. And yet, there are countless references to our capital city.

The plot revolves around dog lovers who congregate in a well-groomed dog park (again, the majority of Austin dog parks are torn up because dogs really PLAY in them). While I can handle the inevitable over-acting in these movies, only one or two of the actors really knew how to handle their four-legged counterparts. Most of these people were obviously uncomfortable, and reserved in their contact.

Overall, the plot, script, and execution were on par with all other films in this category. However I am definitely disappointed. I am an Austin dog walker, and was hoping to fall in love with the cheesy and romantic Christmas hope of falling in love with a fellow dog walker. Instead, I could only notice all of the drastic untruths.