Production notes

Rexxx/Dewey is played in the film by four different Irish Terriers named Arwen, Frodo, Rohan, and Stryder, named after the characters/location from The Lord of the Rings story.

The film was shot in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Reception

Firehouse Dog received mainly negative to mixed reviews from film critics. It garnered 31% positive reviews on the film-critic aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, and a 43/100 on MetaCritic. Justin Chang of Variety called it, “A likable but ungainly mutt of a movie”.^[2]. Ty Burr in The Boston Globe found “the human scenes in Firehouse Dog are perfectly acceptable on the level of a heartwarming family B-movie” but “that dog—or, rather, that digitally enhanced replicant—is just plain creepy”. While Carrie Rickey of The Philadelphia Inquirer called it “a touching, family-friendly entertainment about a dog and his boy”, Chris Kaltenbach of The Baltimore Sun felt it was “too busy being inspirational and cuddly to be funny or pointed” and “plays out as though its plot was stuck in molasses”. Frank Lovece of Film Journal International capped his review by suggesting that, “Firehouse Dog should be put to sleep before it can do the same to audiences”. Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune (April 11, 2007) says: “Once it figures out it is more drama than comedy, “Firehouse Dog” exceeds your limited expectations….While the movie’s ad campaign suggests wacky antics all the way, a surprisingly affecting and well-acted father/son relationship develops.”