The Dogwalker (2002)

The L.A. dog walking scene provides a colorful backdrop for the story of Ellie Moore, damaged goods on the run from her latest abusive boyfriend and on the verge of transformation. She's helped along in that process by Betsy Wright, a misanthropic dog-walker in need of help with her business and struggling with her own dark past. The odd relationship between the cranky dog-walker and her unstable new apprentice proves the catalyst for the emotional journey Ellie must undertake. In Betsy, she finds a dark mirror of herself - a lonely, angry, complex woman whose own troubled past proves disturbingly close to her own. And in the dogs, she finds lost pieces of herself as she fumbles with the leash to her own life - struggling to hold on as it pulls her toward a brighter future before her past catches up with her.