‘Strays’ Producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller, Director Josh Greenbaum on How Their Potty-Mouthed Film Portrays the Secret Life of Pets

variety.com:

Todd Gilchrist editor “Strays” follows in the hallowed tradition of stories of animals separated from their loved ones — from “Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey” to “Finding Nemo” — with a few new twists, and a lot of four-letter words.

Even more than offering an uncensored window into the perspective of humankind’s four-legged pals, director Josh Greenbaum and producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller wanted to examine how a closer look at dogs could shed light on some truths about the people who love (and in the case of the movie, loathe) them. “When the script came across the transom, we were just so delighted that someone had taken this very, very silly idea of a filthy quest of these dogs and made it into a movie about respecting yourself and avoiding toxic relationships with people who don’t deserve to be around you,” says Lord. “Part of the fun is thinking about how dogs see the world and being able to do it in as crass of a way as dogs might actually do, because their life is a lot about eating and pooping and peeing and humping,” adds Miller. “This is the real truth about how dogs see the world.” Following a sweet border terrier named Reggie (played by Will Ferrell) on a trek to exact revenge on his abusive owner Doug (Will Forte), “Strays” truly — and literally — lets its canine protagonists speak for themselves.

Greenbaum says the premise was lifted directly from an instinct shared by virtually all pet owners (the ones who would admit it, anyway). “I think any dog owner will probably tell you, we all create voices for our dogs.

And I would be willing to bet most people’s voices are not PG-censored voices and what their dogs are saying are not always just sweet.