Revealing sobering and often shocking realities behind America’s relationship with dogs, “One Nation Under Dog: Stories Of Fear, Loss & Betrayal” takes an unflinching look not only at how far some dog lovers will go for their pets, but also how far the nation must still go before all dogs are treated humanely. The documentary explores the conflicted and passionate relationships between dogs and humans, and the daunting odds that face millions of unwanted shelter dogs, when it debuts Monday, June 18 (9:00-10:15 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO, launching the HBO Documentary Films summer series.

This program contains some graphic footage. HBO will present a version edited for daytime audiences at the times indicated by *.

Other HBO playdates: June 22 (7:30 a.m.*), 27 (10:00 a.m.*, midnight) and 30 (8:15 a.m.*), and July 8 (4:00 p.m.*) and 16 (5:15 p.m.*)

HBO Documentary Films presents another weekly series this summer, debuting provocative new specials every Monday from June 18 through July 30. Other films include: “Me @The Zoo” (June 25); “Marina Abramović The Artist Is Present” (July 2); “Hard Times: Lost on Long Island” (July 9); “Birders: The Central Park Effect” (July 16); “The Tsunami & the Cherry Blossom” (July 16); “Vito” (July 23); and “About Face: Supermodels Then and Now” (July 30).

Americans have always had a love affair with canines, but lost amidst the pampering are unpleasant truths about dog ownership, care and commerce. “One Nation Under Dog: Stories Of Fear, Loss & Betrayal” offers an eye-opening, three-part portrait of America’s complex relationship with dogs.

“Part One – Fear”: In the opening segment, Dr. Robert Taffet is taken to court by neighbors after several bite incidents involving his Rhodesian Ridgebacks in suburban New Jersey. Despite the severity of some of the attacks, he is deeply committed to his pets and wins his cases, including one in which a three-year-old girl’s ear was bitten off. Eight months later, after the same dog bites a teenager, Dr. Taffet puts him down.

“Part Two – Loss”: The second section focuses on people coping with the loss of beloved pets. This segment features a group of mourners sharing deep grief over recently deceased dogs in a pet-loss support group at the San Francisco SPCA; two women laying their dog to rest in the oldest pet cemetery in the U.S.; and a couple attempting to replace a beloved dog by cloning him. Also featured is Julie Adams, whose own love and loss of dogs has inspired her rescue work; with no shelters in her rural area, she’s taken it upon herself to care for and shelter more than 100 stray and abandoned dogs.

“Part Three – Betrayal”: The final section explores issues of overpopulation, shelters, rescuing, spaying and neutering. Approximately two million dogs are destroyed in animal shelters each year. This segment features three minutes of graphic footage shot by a film student showing dogs and puppies being euthanized.

Many people do not know that 25% of dogs in shelters are actually purebreds, and many pet store dogs come from mass breeding operations known as puppy mills. For many dogs from mills and animal shelters, rescue is the only hope of survival. This segment follows volunteers saving some 200 puppy mill dogs from these dire conditions, including rescuer-trainer John Gagnon, who rehabilitates aggressive, difficult-to-adopt dogs and works with an organization to find them good homes, and Shawn South-Aswad, who raises money to rescue dogs and place them with foster families.

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HBO Documentary Films heats up the summer with thought-provoking new films on Monday nights, kicking off a new seven-week series Monday, June 18, exclusively on HBO.

From an unflinching study of America’s complex relationships with canines, to a mesmerizing portrait of preeminent performance artist Marina Abramović, to an inside look at the phenomenon of internet celebrity, to the lives of legendary supermodels, HBO documentaries take subscribers to worlds others rarely see.

This year’s summer series features the work of a wide range of directors, from veterans such as Marc Levin, Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Timothy Greenfield-Sanders to exciting first-time filmmakers, including Matthew Akers, Chris Moukarbel and ValerieVeatch.

Upcoming documentaries include (in chronological order):

‘One Nation Under Dog: Stories of Fear, Loss and Betrayal’ (debuting June 18) reveals the sobering realities behind America’s obsession with dogs, using startling images to show not only how far some dog lovers will go for theirpets, but how far the nation has to go before it treats all dogs humanely.

Americans have conducted a long love affair with canines, but lost amidst all the pampering are unpleasant truths about dog ownership, care and commerce, not to mention the daunting odds that face millions of unwanted shelter animals. Directed by Ellen Goosenberg Kent, Amanda Micheli and Jenny Carchman.

‘Me @The Zoo’ (June 25) is an in-depth exploration of the phenomenon of internetcelebrity. Profiling teenage video blogger Chris Crocker, who captured the international spotlight with his infamous “Leave Britney Alone” YouTube declaration, the film reveals how video sharing and social platforms have shaped the way people tell their stories and mediate their lives. An official selection of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, U.S. Documentary Competition; directed by Chris Moukarbel and Valerie Veatch.

‘Marina Abramović the Artist is Present’ (July 2) is an exclusive, behind-the-scenes portrait of “the grandmother of performance art” as she prepares for a blockbuster retrospective exhibit of her controversial work at The Museum of Modern Art. This mesmerizing cinematic journey inside the world of radical performance reveals an astonishingly magnetic, endlessly intriguing woman who draws no distinction between life and art. Directed by first-time filmmaker Matthew Akers.

‘Hard Times: Lost on Long Island’ (July 9), directed and produced by Marc Levin (HBO’s duPont Award-winning “Triangle: Remembering the Fire” and Emmy-winning “Thug Life in D.C.”), looks at the long-term unemployed and the shrinking of the middle class. Chronicling the lives of four families over a six-month period, beginning in summer 2010, the film chronicles the growing problems and despair of subjects searching in vain for employment.

‘The Tsunami & The Cherry Blossom’ (July 16), recently nominated for a Documentary Short Oscar, follows survivors of Japan’s March 2011 tsunami, who find the courage to revive and rebuild as cherry blossom season begins. The film is an allegory about the transient nature of life and the healing power of Japan’s most beloved flower. Directed by Lucy Walker (the Oscar-nominated documentary feature “Waste Land”).

‘Birders: The Central Park Effect’ (July 16), reveals the extraordinary array of wild birds who grace Manhattan’s celebrated patch of green and the equally colorful New Yorkers who schedule their lives around the rhythms of migration. A 2012 SXSW selection in Documentary Feature Competition, it focuses on seven subjects who have discovered a profound connection with this hidden natural world and regularly visit the park, including author Jonathan Franzen, Anya, a teenager fascinated with the birds because they are “so alive, active, varied, and beautiful,” and Starr Saphir, the “matriarch” of Central Park bird watching. Directed and produced by first-time filmmaker Jeffrey Kimball.

‘Vito’ (July 23) recounts the life of Vito Russo, one of the founding fathers of the gay liberation movement. Playing a pivotal role in the formative years of the GAA (Gay Activists Alliance), GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) and ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), he was also a writer, best known for “The Celluloid Closet,” the first book to examine how LBGT people were portrayed in the movies. Just months before his death from AIDS in 1990, Russo remained an active lecturer on gay issues, traveling to college campuses and gay film festivals. Directed by Jeffrey Schwarz (“Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story”).

‘About Face: Supermodels, Then and Now’ (July 30), directed by portrait photographer and filmmaker Timothy Greenfield-Sanders (HBO’s “The Black List” and “The Latino List”), explores the lives of some of the fashion world’s most legendary models, highlighting the complex relationship between physical appearance and the business of beauty.

The film features conversations with such celebrated supermodels as Carol Alt, Marisa Berenson, Karen Bjornson, Christie Brinkley, Pat Cleveland, Carmen Dell’Orefice, Jerry Hall, Bethann Hardison, Beverly Johnson, China Machado, Paulina Porizkova, Isabella Rossellini, Lisa Taylor and Cheryl Tiegs, revealing their role in defining — and redefining — beauty over time. An official selection of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

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