The Retrievers

***The Retrievers*** is a 2001 television film directed by Paul Schneider and written by Larry Ketron. It was produced by Tag Entertainment for Animal Planet. It premiered on July 30, 2001.

## Plot

The Lowry family moves to the quiet town of Placerville in Northern California to start a new life. Shortly after arriving and moving their things in the new house, they find that a Golden Retriever has snuck in. Tom initially believes the dog already has an owner and sends it away. When he leaves for his new job the next day to take part in leading an overhaul on a logo for the campaign of his agency's owner, Durham Haysworth, the dog returns. Karen agrees to let their kids, Liz and Widdy, keep the dog as long as they can convince Tom to sign off on it; Tom agrees, and they name the dog Pilot.

A visit to the vet reveals that Pilot is pregnant, and she eventually gives birth to six puppies: Georgia, Chewy, Mr. Dumas, Bandit, Milkshake, and Wanderer. Tom tells them that the puppies will be given away once they are weaned. The puppies are given to various people: Georgia is taken by the Grover family, which devastates Liz as she was attached to her; Bandit and Milkshake are taken by two questionable pizza boys named Phil and Fred; Chewy is adopted by Mrs. Krisper; Mr. Dumas is adopted by a farmer named Jenkins; and Wanderer is taken by Frank Haddok as a birthday gift for his girlfriend. Liz and Widdy are saddened by the adoptions, while Tom begins facing the pressure of responsibility from his company when his superiors, Ed and Marcel, continually express their lack of satisfaction with his campaign designs.

The Lowrys soon come to realize that Pilot is missing her puppies when she runs off and Widdy goes looking for her; they are later found on the highway and brought home. This causes Tom to realize how much the puppies meant to the family and he decides to take the next few days off from work for the family to begin the process of reclaiming the puppies. Mrs. Krisper proves to be more than willing to give Chewy back since he has destroyed most of her furniture. Mel and Liz forcibly take Bandit and Milkshake back from Phil and Fred after finding them keeping the two puppies in unsanitary conditions; however, when they appear to take back Georgia from the Grovers, Liz decides to let her remain with them after seeing how happy they are with her, while Robert and Widdy learn that Mr. Dumas has died after accidentally being run over by Jenkins' tractor. Tom is later fired after failing to show up for an important meeting with Haysworth about his campaign designs.

The Lowrys, with help from Jack Haddock, locate Jack's girlfriend and arrive at her home to retrieve Wanderer, only to learn that the puppy has run off into town after she had an argument with Jack that led to them breaking up. They locate and retrieve Wanderer from a conveyor belt in a lumber workshop. Sometime later, Tom impresses Haysworth with a logo advertising a Golden Retriever as the company's mascot and begins to spend more time with Widdy, while Liz receives a rose and helmet from Jack, and Karen has built a small doghouse for the puppies. Ed and Marcel, meanwhile, decide to adopt a litter of kittens as a mascot for the office.

## Cast

* Robert Hays as Tom Lowry
* Mel Harris as Ken Lowry
* Alan Rachins as Ed
* Alana Austin as Liz Lowry
* Taylor Emerson as Widdy Lowry
* Betty White as Mrs. Krisper
* Robert Wagner as Durham Haysworth
* Kurt Johnson as Marcel

## Reception

*The Retrievers* achieved a 1.89 household rating, the highest Nielsen rating for Animal Planet at the time. It was also one of the best performing television films of that summer and placed Animal Planet as one of the season's nine best performing networks.

## Home media

Main article: *The Retrievers (Home video)*