Dogs - Season 1

Avoids silliness and schmaltz by telling the stories of dog owners, giving us a sense of their vulnerabilities and their dreams, before showing us how their dogs have taken up such a crucial position in their lives. The show is more touching as a result.

Yes, lolling tongues, floppy ears, and wagging tails abound, but in the end, it's the people's stories that resonate the most in "Dogs." Dogs are easy to love, and through their example, we can relearn to love our fellow man.

It will make you cry. You don't really have a say in the matter. This is a series that can feel almost algorithmically designed to turn everybody it comes into contact with into a sobbing wreck, over and over again.

Poignant docu-series celebrates the human/dog bond.

The series may toy with the viewer's emotions from time to time, but it's impossible not to come away feeling a little bit better about humanity.

These are not the kinds of stories you usually find in your dog-filled Instagram feed, of course, but that's the point.

Yes, it is moving, and, yes, the featured canines are often adorable, loyal and always lovable, but the story of each dog is used to unlock something more intricate and intense.

Dogs is beautifully shot, heart-felt, but ultimately less than satisfying.

Taken in sum, Dogs is lovely and rare, a show that invites you to trust it, and doesn't burn you when you do.

For a show about man's best friend, Dogs is exactly as earnest and heartwarming as you'd expect.