I saw this movie about fifteen years ago, and I was shocked at how horrible it was then. Looking back, I wonder why such a frightening movie was released to kids. A summary is as follows: [WARNING, total spoilers] Scruffy is a single birth to a mother dog. Their owners have to move from their house because it's condemned and they can't take the dogs, so they leave them in the yard for a neighbor to pick up. The mother dog is confused and hides in the house, which the demolition team soon sets ablaze.<br /><br />She climbs the chimney to safety, pup in tow. They are adopted by a firefighter, but soon Scruffy's mom gets wanderlust and the two set off again. In a scene reminiscent of Bambi, Scruffy's mother gets gunned down. Now the poor lost dog is orphaned, lost, and did I mention that it's winter?<br /><br />While hiding in a park, she meets a hobo who takes her in, and the two live blissfully under a bridge. He teaches Scruffy how to perform tricks, and they manage to make a living off the change people throw at the dog walking on her hind legs. (But how much money does a homeless guy need?) One night, the hobo gets mugged, and is so distraught by the attack that he spills the tonic that he needs to calm himself down. He collapses, an ambulance comes and he dies. Meanwhile, Scruffy manages to fall into the river, and is rescued by a junkyard dog right before she drowns. She lives with them then, one is a drunken Great Dane and one is a Collie who thinks an old boot is her dead puppy. They get into tangles and fights with other junkyard dogs and then eventually wind up in the pound. Just before Scruffy and this other dog are about to be euthanized they are adopted by this family, and I think Scruffy wins a beauty pageant and she also has a big pile of puppies. While it does end OK (I guess, even though it's sort of doggie incest), I personally was disgusted by the unhappy nature of this movie. I will never share it with my children.