She remains unconvinced, even after embarking on a torrid affair with him and he begins making big money through illegal dog fighting. When Valeria is badly injured in the aforementioned auto accident, their relationship begins to collapse - much like the floorboards in their love nest, where Valeria's little dog has disappeared after chasing a ball down a hole. Once a respected teacher who threw his life away in a revolutionary cause, El Chivo begins to emerge from a self-imposed emotional exile when hired to do one last job. Rather than kill the intended victim, El Chivo instead seizes the opportunity to turn his life around. To delve more deeply into the individual stories would spoil not only the surprises provided by the film's characters, but also the surprises provided by Inarritu.
Canines figure prominently throughout each segment of the film.
In another symbolic touch, the human characters usually act on impulse, perhaps equating this with the fact that dogs usually act on instinct. The seemingly random incidents that occur throughout the film begin to form a larger canvas, as Inarritu expertly assembles the film piece by piece. By the end of Amores Perros, the story has become complete. Many of the characters in the film have supplanted their dreams with the mere desire to make it through each day in one piece. But no character is the same as when you first encountered them.