During the chaos at the car crash, El Chivo steals Octavio's money and takes the wounded Cofi to his home to nurse the dog back to health. El Chivo is about to perform a hit on a businessman when Octavio's car crash interrupts him. Following El Chivo's wishes, Maru's mother told her that her father is dead. El Chivo tries to make contact with his daughter, Maru, whom he abandoned when he began his guerrilla involvement.
When he got out, Leonardo started getting him jobs as a hitman. Leonardo, a corrupt police commander, recounts that El Chivo is a former private school teacher who was imprisoned after committing terrorist acts for guerrilla movements.
The vagrant occasionally seen in Octavio's story is revealed to be a professional hitman called El Chivo ( Emilio Echevarría). She quietly drives her wheelchair through the torn-up lovenest and looks out of the window expecting to see a billboard bearing her likeness, only to find it has been removed. However, Valeria realizes that her life is now ruined. While she is in the hospital, Daniel rescues Richie from the floorboards. Her leg is amputated, ending Valeria's modeling career for good. Valeria's new leg injury results in severe arterial thrombosis and eventually gangrene. Trying to rescue the dog, Valeria again injures her leg Daniel finds her hours later. Daniel calls his estranged wife to hear her voice, suggesting that he regrets leaving her for Valeria. The missing dog triggers serious tension for the couple, causing numerous fights which lead to doubts about their relationship on both sides. One day, as Valeria is recuperating in Daniel's apartment, her dog Richie disappears under a broken floorboard and stays there for several days. On the day they move in together, Valeria's leg is severely broken in Octavio's car accident and she is unable to continue working as a model. Magazine publisher Daniel ( Álvaro Guerrero) leaves his family to live with his lover Valeria ( Goya Toledo), a Spanish supermodel. A collision follows Jorge dies and Octavio is badly injured. Pursued by Jarocho's thugs, Octavio finds himself in a car chase with Jorge and the wounded Cofi. The infuriated Octavio stabs Jarocho in the stomach. Cofi is about to win, but Jarocho shoots him. Struggling financially, Octavio accepts a challenge by Jarocho to participate in a private dogfight, with no outside bets. Afraid, Ramiro steals the money and leaves with Susana. Octavio makes enough money to flee with Susana, and pays Mauricio, the owner of the dogfighting venue, to get Ramiro beaten up. Jarocho keeps entering new dogs into the fights, only for Cofi to kill them. Made aware of this by his friend Jorge and needing money to start his new life with Susana, Octavio decides to become involved in the dogfighting scene. Eventually, Jarocho sics his dog on Octavio's rottweiler, Cofi, but his own dog is killed instead. Local thug Jarocho, happy after winning in a dog fight, lets his dog loose on some strays and is threatened by a vagrant wielding a machete. Octavio tries to persuade her to run away with him. Octavio ( Gael García Bernal) is in love with his brother's wife Susana ( Vanessa Bauche) and dislikes the way she is abused by his brother Ramiro ( Marco Pérez). The film is constructed from three distinct stories linked by a car accident that brings the characters briefly together.
The soundtrack includes songs by Latin American rock bands including Café Tacuba, Control Machete, and Bersuit Vergarabat. The film was released under its Spanish title in the English-speaking world, although it was sometimes translated as Love's a Bitch in marketing. The title is a pun in Spanish the word "perros", which literally means "dogs", can also be used to refer to misery, so that it roughly means 'bad loves' with canine connotations. The stories are linked in various ways, including the presence of dogs in each of them. The stories centre on a teenager in the slums who gets involved in dogfighting a model who seriously injures her leg and a mysterious hitman. The film is constructed as a triptych: it contains three distinct stories connected by a car accident in Mexico City. It makes use of the multi-narrative hyperlink cinema style and features an ensemble cast.
Amores perros is the first installment in González Iñárritu's "Trilogy of Death", succeeded by 21 Grams and Babel. Amores perros is a 2000 Mexican psychological drama film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and written by Guillermo Arriaga.