Helen Slinger had a major narrative challenge while making Dog Dazed: how do you keep your audience’s interest in a film about crazy pet owners?

Slinger told Playback that her upcoming documentary for the CBC Doc Zone was prompted by the exponential growth in dogs in our everyday lives.

And whether obsessive dog owners give the rest a bad name depends on whether those viewing Dog Dazed find Fido cute and cuddly or annoying for snarling when strangers approach or doing its business on their front lawn.

So Slinger chose levity and repetition as structural tools to avoid tiring or turning off her audience.

“When people are so dazed by their dogs, it’s very difficult to see the social and environmental impact,” the director explained.

And Slinger needs to audience to stick around as she aims with Dog Dazed to explain the absurdity of obsessive dog owners, not least because she considers herself as a “crazy dog lady” needing to see beyond the needs of herself and her rescue dog-turned-loyal friend.

“Being didactic doesn’t work. People harden their positions and don’t absorb new ideas,” she insisted.

So, from the beginning of Dog Dazed, Oscar-nominated animator Cordell Barker (The Cat Came Back) chronicles the absurd divide between dog lovers and haters using editorial cartoons.

In one vignette, a dog chasing a frisbee nearly knocks over an old lady pushing a shopping cart, sends a cat scurrying up a tree and disrupts lovers holding a romantic picnic in the park.

And the film uses repetition to explain simmering, and at times open battles between dog walkers and home owners over wildlife protection, off-leash etiquette and poop piles in Vancouver’s west end and Stanley Park, Ledbury Park in Toronto and Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.

“Was it deliberate to say it over and over again? There was a point to it,” Slinger said of her film about a clash between people and pooch rights.

“It’s difficult for dog owners to see the impact of their behavior on other people and the environment,” she added.

To also build her argument, Slinger intertwines the personal experiences of cognitive scientist and author Alexandra Horowitz (Inside of a Dog), Toronto City councillor Karen Stintz, theatrical dog trainer Bill Berloni (Annie, Legally Blonde, Wizard of Oz), male model/poop vigilante Matt Norklun and a divorced couple with joint custody of their dog.

The Bountiful Films production, produced by Maureen Palmer, is set to debut on the CBC on March 21 at 9 p.m.