I’ve also had giant dogs in my life, like Great Danes, I have two Bloodhounds right now that weigh 100 pounds each and I’ve grown up around animals, so that non-verbal relationship you have with them was very important to me and something I could relate to.
A lot of my inspiration came from my love of central relationships like E.T. and Black Stallion and it was important for me to have a kickass tomboy girl in there because I was a tomboy growing up and I felt like I only had princess movies to watch and there was nothing for me.