“You’re definitely not the girl I thought I’d be in the tub with,” Channing Tatum’s character jokes to the dog Lulu in the trailer

by Benjamin VanHoose for People

Channing Tatum is bonding with man’s best friend.

In the new trailer for Dog, the actor stars as Army Ranger Briggs in a buddy comedy set on a fun-filled road trip with an unlikely companion: a Belgian Malinois dog named Lulu.

The two travel in a 1984 Ford Bronco down the Pacific Coast trying to make it in time to a fellow soldier’s funeral. Along the way, they “learn to let down their guards in order to have a fighting chance of finding happiness,” according to an official press release.

“You’re definitely not the girl I thought I’d be in the tub with,” Tatum’s Briggs says at the end of the trailer, taking a bath with Lulu. “But I’ll take what I can get at this point, I guess.”

Tatum, 41, co-directed the film with Reid Carolin. Dog also stars Jane Adams, Kevin Nash, Q’orianka Kilcher, Ethan Suplee, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Nicole LaLiberté, Luke Forbes and Ronnie Gene Blevins.

Tatum previously wrote on Instagram about making the film, “It’s already been a crazy ride. And we’ve only just begun. And if we survive the rest, it will be one of the most insane stories that I’ve ever been a part of. And I’ve been a part of some pretty crazy ones in this life of mine. This photo is from our first day of production on the first movie that my partner Reid and I are directing. This is our story. It’s taken us two years to get it to the starting line. The next eight weeks will be like riding a bull on sickmode in ludicrous speed. God be with us. In Dog we trust.”

Sharing the trailer on Wednesday, the star said on Instagram, “This process of making @dogthefilm has been one of the craziest journeys of my life! Also, if you would enjoy watching me get bit by a dog, this will be a very fulfilling and funny movie for you.”

Dog is in theaters Feb. 18.