story

Ingemar Johansson, a twelve year old boy, lives in Sweden with his mother, brother and pet dog. His father is gone--loading bananas on the Equator--and his mother is suffering from a severe case of tuberculosis. Ingemar and his older brother are constantly at odds, the older boy bullying and mistreating his younger brother.

As the movie opens, it quickly becomes clear Ingemar's mother's tuberculosis has become so bad that she's incapable of taking care of her children, or even herself. She is too ill to even have any consideration for the feelings of her children, and often yells at them out of frustration or exhaustion. When she finally doesn't have the strength to care for her sons and their pet dog, she sends them to live with relatives for the summer holidays while the dog is sent to a kennel (where it's put to sleep without Ingemar's knowledge).

Ingemar spends the summer at his uncle's and aunt's house where he makes new friends, learns boxing, how to play soccer and has first experiences with his awakening sexuality until he returns home where matters take a turn for the worse: His mother's health hasn't improved, instead it's getting worse by the second.

My Life as a Dog is a story about a boy who's confronted with far more problems and issues than he should be at his young age, especially because he has to handle them all by himself. The movie shows a small period of his life filled with endearing little stories, scenes of growing up and life altering changes.