Lassie
Lassie started off as a set of novels but quickly made it to film, enduring a sixty-two year career, although with different dogs as they progressed.
Beethoven
This early-90s family comedy stars a St. Bernard as the centre of all events. Named after barking at a piece by Ludwig Van Beethoven, he goes on a quest to foil the unethical plans of Dr. Varnick. Although the film got astonishingly average reviews, this stays in the memory of any child born in the 80s and 90s.
The Tramp
One of the main characters in Walt Disney’s 1955 film Lady and the Tramp, the stray mutt falls in love with an American Cocker Spaniel belonging to an upper-middle class family. If you can’t instantly recall the spaghetti restaurant scene then it’s proof that you aren’t human.
Bolt
One of the more recent dog heroes of the film world, Bolt, voiced by John Travolta, is a film star pup who is famed to have superpowers. His quest involves the sudden realisation that they don’t exist, and he has to sort out his problems without them. All he does have is an annoying hamster. I hate that hamster.
Rubeus Hagrid’s huge Boarhound was one of his many pets that followed Harry and crew into adventures. The actual breed is a Neapolitan Mastiff, famed for their size and scrunchy faces. Not many other dogs could look big in the company of Robbie Coltrane in that film.
Marley
This book really took off in novel form after an American column writer documented his relationship with an ADHD Labrador retriever. The film was just as adorable and Jennifer Aniston isn’t bad either. There is a beautiful message about love thinly veiled within there too, if you like that sort of thing.
Baxter – Anchorman
The Border terrier is best known in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, mainly for being kicked off a bridge by Jack Black, but also for eating a whole wheel of cheese and pooping in the refrigerator… Amongst other things.
‘I’m not even mad, that’s amazing.’
Other film appearances of the border terrier include Return to Oz, There’s Something about Mary, 102 Dalmatians and Lassie.
Einstein
Doc Brown’s dog, Einstein is the first dog ever to time travel on film and in the film he was the first time traveller, regardless of species. In fact, he is in real life too: Ground-breaking stuff.
Zero – Nightmare before
In The Nightmare before Christmas, Zero is the pet of Jack, the pumpkin king. He has a glowing pumpkin nose and a gravestone dog house. At the end of the movie Zero floats into the sky, becoming a star. I’m not entirely sure what that means.
Scooby Doo
It shouldn’t need explaining why Scooby Doo should be in the top 10 dogs in Film. The cartoons have been going since 1969 and are still one of the most popular things in children’s TV, spurring a film series featuring the whole Mystery Incorporated gang.
