Dogs have been appearing on cinema screens for generations. They have starred in family adventures, comedies, animated stories, dramas, sporting films and even horror, sometimes becoming every bit as memorable as the human characters around them.
Some movie dogs are closely associated with a particular breed. Beethoven is difficult to imagine as anything other than an enormous Saint Bernard, while the basketball-playing Buddy helped put a Golden Retriever at the centre of Air Bud. Other films feature mixed-breed dogs, fictional canine characters or entire groups of dogs rather than one identifiable star.
This A–Z brings together films from different decades in which dogs have a notable part to play. It isn't a ranking of the best dog films, and inclusion doesn't mean that Woofuffle.co.uk recommends a particular movie. Instead, it is a large, browsable collection exploring just how varied the role of dogs in cinema has become.
Live-action and animated films are both included, with release years and breed information where this can be established with reasonable confidence.
So, from basketball-playing Golden Retrievers and enormous red dogs to animated adventures and famous Dalmatians, let's work our way through the alphabet.
A
101 Dalmatians (1996)
Released in 1996, 101 Dalmatians brought the familiar story of Pongo, Perdita and their puppies into a live-action setting.
Dalmatians naturally dominate the canine cast, with the dogs becoming central to the story after Cruella De Vil sets out to obtain the puppies. Unlike the earlier 1961 animated version, the animal characters in the 1996 film do not speak.
The film provides one of the clearest examples of a particular dog breed becoming inseparable from the identity of a movie. The spotted coat of the Dalmatian is not simply incidental to the story — it is one of its defining visual features.
102 Dalmatians (2000)
The spotted canine cast returned in 102 Dalmatians, released four years after the 1996 live-action film.
Once again, Dalmatians are at the heart of the story, although the film introduces new characters and a different adventure rather than simply repeating its predecessor.
Together, the two live-action films helped continue a screen association between Dalmatians and the 101 Dalmatians story that had already existed for decades.
A Dog's Journey (2019)
A Dog's Journey continues the story explored in A Dog's Purpose, once again presenting events through the experiences of a dog whose life connects with different people over time.
Rather than concentrating on a single breed throughout the entire story, different canine forms become part of the central character's continuing journey.
The unusual premise makes the dog's perspective fundamental to the film rather than simply using a dog as a companion to the human cast.
A Dog's Purpose (2017)
Released in 2017, A Dog's Purpose tells its story from a canine perspective.
The central dog experiences a succession of lives and relationships with different people, allowing several different dogs to appear as part of the same continuing character.
That structure makes the film particularly unusual within dog-related cinema. Instead of following one recognisable canine star throughout, the identity of the dog continues while its physical appearance and circumstances change.
Air Bud (1997)
Basketball and a Golden Retriever make an unusual combination in Air Bud.
The 1997 family film follows Josh, a young boy who befriends a runaway dog called Buddy and discovers that his new canine companion has an unexpected ability with a basketball.
Buddy is a Golden Retriever, placing the Golden Retriever at the centre of one of the more unusual sporting stories involving a dog. The original film subsequently developed into a much larger series of Air Bud and related productions.
All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)
All Dogs Go to Heaven takes the A–Z into animation.
Released in 1989, the film centres on Charlie B. Barkin, a canine character who returns to Earth and becomes involved with a young girl named Anne-Marie.
The animated format allows its dogs to talk, scheme and experience situations far removed from the roles available to live-action canine performers. It is an early example in this list of dogs being used not simply as animals within a human story, but as fully developed fictional characters in their own right.
B
Beethoven (1992)
Few movie dogs are quite as physically imposing as Beethoven.
Released in 1992, the family comedy follows a Saint Bernard who becomes part of the Newton household. Beethoven's enormous size contributes to many of the situations that develop around him and makes the choice of breed an important part of the character.
The Saint Bernard had appeared on screen before, but Beethoven became one of the particularly recognisable canine characters of 1990s family cinema.
The film was followed by numerous further productions, beginning with Beethoven's 2nd in 1993.
Beethoven's 2nd (1993)
Beethoven returned just a year after the original film in Beethoven's 2nd.
The canine side of the story becomes considerably larger when Beethoven meets another Saint Bernard named Missy and puppies subsequently enter the picture.
Rather than introducing an entirely new canine star, the sequel expands the world surrounding the dog established in the first film and continues the combination of family comedy and the everyday complications created by a very large canine character.
Benji (1974)
Released in 1974, Benji follows a small stray dog who becomes involved in the lives of two children.
The original Benji was portrayed by Higgins, an experienced canine performer who had previously appeared on television. Unlike characters whose appearance is closely connected with a recognised pedigree breed, Benji is generally described as a mixed-breed dog.
The success of the film led to further productions featuring the character, turning the name Benji into one of the longstanding canine identities associated with family entertainment.
Best in Show (2000)
Best in Show approaches dogs in movies from a very different direction.
Rather than following one canine hero, the comedy revolves around owners and handlers attending a fictional dog show. Numerous dogs and breeds therefore appear as part of the film, while much of the comedy comes from the people surrounding them.
The result is a dog film in which the canine cast is essential to the setting even though the dogs themselves are not presented as talking characters or conventional adventure heroes.
Bolt (2008)
Bolt follows an animated dog who has spent his life starring in a television programme in which his character possesses extraordinary powers.
The problem is that Bolt believes those powers are real.
When circumstances take him outside the controlled world of the television production, he has to experience life beyond the fictional identity that has previously surrounded him.
As an animated character, Bolt isn't dependent on precisely representing a recognised dog breed. His design instead creates a distinctive fictional dog suited to the film's superhero-inspired premise.
C
Cats & Dogs (2001)
Cats & Dogs turns the familiar rivalry between cats and dogs into a secret conflict taking place largely unnoticed by humans.
The story imagines dogs as highly organised agents involved in protecting people from an elaborate feline plot. At the centre of the canine cast is Lou, a young Beagle who unexpectedly becomes involved in this hidden world.
The Beagle takes on a particularly unusual role as a result, with the film combining recognisable dogs with gadgets, secret missions and the exaggerated world of a family comedy.
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (2010)
The canine and feline agents returned in Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore.
Released in 2010, the film changes the original rivalry by giving dogs and cats a reason to work together against a common threat.
As with the first film, numerous animals appear throughout the story, with real dogs and cats incorporated into a deliberately fantastical world of secret organisations and elaborate missions.
Clifford the Big Red Dog (2021)
Clifford the Big Red Dog brings the enormous canine character from Norman Bridwell's children's books into a live-action setting.
Clifford's extraordinary size and bright red appearance make him very different from the real dogs appearing elsewhere in this A–Z. Rather than representing a conventional recognised breed, he is a fictional canine character whose exaggerated appearance is fundamental to his identity.
The result is a movie dog who is immediately recognisable not because of his breed, but because there are very few other enormous red dogs wandering around the streets of New York.
Cujo (1983)
Dogs aren't always the friendly heroes of films, as Cujo demonstrates particularly dramatically.
Released in 1983 and based on Stephen King's novel, the horror film centres on a Saint Bernard whose behaviour changes after he contracts rabies.
That puts the Saint Bernard into a dramatically different screen role from Beethoven, despite the same breed being central to both films.
The contrast between the two is a striking example of how cinema can use dogs with similar physical characteristics to create completely different moods and stories.
D
DC League of Super-Pets (2022)
DC League of Super-Pets takes canine characters into the animated world of superheroes.
Krypto, Superman's dog, is at the centre of the adventure and eventually finds himself working alongside a group of shelter animals who acquire superpowers of their own.
The film pushes the idea of the movie dog firmly into fantasy, with its canine characters flying, fighting villains and becoming superheroes rather than simply accompanying their human counterparts.
Dog (2022)
Dog follows former US Army Ranger Jackson Briggs as he travels with Lulu, a military working dog, on a journey to attend the funeral of Lulu's former handler.
Lulu is a Belgian Malinois, putting the Belgian Malinois at the centre of the film.
Much of the story develops around Briggs and Lulu travelling together and gradually learning how to deal with one another, making their changing relationship an important part of the road-trip narrative.
Dog Days (2018)
Rather than concentrating on a single canine character, Dog Days follows several interconnected stories involving people and their dogs in Los Angeles.
Different dogs become part of the relationships, meetings and circumstances surrounding the human characters, giving the film an ensemble structure.
Dogs therefore provide a common thread running through several separate stories rather than one particular animal dominating the entire film.
Dog Gone (2023)
Dog Gone centres on the search for a missing family dog named Gonker.
The story follows a father and son as they search for him after he disappears on the Appalachian Trail, with the film drawing inspiration from the story of a real missing dog.
Rather than giving Gonker extraordinary abilities or placing him in a fantasy setting, the film builds its canine story around something much more recognisable: a family determined to find their missing companion.
E
Eight Below (2006)
Eight Below takes its canine cast into the extreme surroundings of Antarctica, where a team of sled dogs becomes central to a story of survival.
After severe weather forces the people at an Antarctic research station to evacuate, the dogs are left behind. A substantial part of the film follows their experiences in the harsh environment while their handler hopes to return for them.
Siberian Huskies and Alaskan Malamutes appear among the canine cast, bringing two breeds with strong historical associations with sled work into a story where the dogs are far more than background characters.
The Siberian Husky is particularly familiar for its historical connection with sled pulling and cold environments, making Eight Below a notable entry among films featuring working-type dogs.
F
Far from Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog (1995)
Far from Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog follows a boy named Angus and a dog named Yellow after circumstances leave them stranded in the Canadian wilderness.
Their attempts to survive and find their way back make the relationship between the boy and dog central to the adventure.
Yellow is portrayed as a Labrador Retriever-type dog, and the film is another example of cinema placing a canine companion alongside a human character in an outdoor survival story.
Firehouse Dog (2007)
Firehouse Dog follows Rex, a canine film star whose comfortable screen career changes dramatically after he becomes separated from his handlers.
Rex eventually finds himself at a fire station, where he becomes involved with the firefighters and a young boy named Shane.
The premise gives the film an entertaining reversal: Rex begins the story as a dog accustomed to performing in movies before becoming the canine star of an adventure outside the fictional productions in which he normally appears.
Frankenweenie (2012)
Tim Burton's animated Frankenweenie centres on a boy named Victor and his dog, Sparky.
After losing Sparky, Victor uses a science experiment to bring his companion back to life, setting off a much stranger series of events.
Sparky's distinctive black-and-white animated appearance fits the film's deliberately unusual visual world. The story combines the familiar emotional connection between a child and a dog with ideas drawn from classic monster cinema, giving it a very different atmosphere from most family films featuring canine characters.
G
Greyfriars Bobby (1961)
Greyfriars Bobby takes inspiration from the famous story associated with a small dog in nineteenth-century Edinburgh.
The film presents Bobby as a devoted canine who remains closely connected with his master's grave after the man's death.
The story of Greyfriars Bobby has been retold in different forms over the years and has become closely associated with Edinburgh, where the famous Greyfriars Bobby statue remains a well-known reminder of the dog's story.
Good Boy! (2003)
Good Boy! gives its canine characters a particularly unusual origin.
The family comedy follows Owen, a boy who discovers that his newly adopted dog, Hubble, is able to communicate with him. The story then expands into the idea that dogs originally came to Earth from another planet.
With talking dogs and an extraterrestrial canine backstory, the film sits firmly at the more fantastical end of this A–Z.
H
Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009)
Hachi: A Dog's Tale centres on the relationship between a university professor and a dog named Hachi.
Hachi is an Akita, and the story follows the close bond that develops between the pair and the dog's familiar routine of waiting for his owner at the railway station.
The film was inspired by the story of Hachikō, the Japanese dog remembered for continuing to return to Shibuya Station after the death of his owner.
The Akita is therefore particularly significant to the film, connecting its fictionalised American setting with the remarkable Japanese story that inspired it.
Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993)
Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey follows three household pets as they attempt to make their way home after believing they have been abandoned.
The travelling companions are two dogs, Shadow and Chance, and a cat named Sassy. Shadow is a Golden Retriever, while Chance is an American Bulldog.
Their journey takes them through wilderness and a succession of obstacles, with the animals given voices that allow viewers to hear their conversations and individual personalities.
Rather than focusing on one canine star, the film makes the relationship between all three animals fundamental to the adventure.
Hotel for Dogs (2009)
Hotel for Dogs turns an abandoned hotel into an unlikely refuge for a growing collection of dogs.
The story follows siblings Andi and Bruce, who secretly begin using the building to provide somewhere for stray dogs to stay. As more dogs arrive, the hotel develops into an increasingly elaborate canine hideaway.
With numerous dogs appearing throughout the film, the attraction is less about one particular breed or famous canine character and more about the variety of animals occupying the unusual setting.
I
Isle of Dogs (2018)
Isle of Dogs is a stop-motion animated film set in a fictional Japanese city where dogs have been banished to an island used for rubbish.
The story follows a boy named Atari as he travels to the island in search of his dog, Spots. There he encounters a group of dogs who become involved in his journey.
Its distinctive stop-motion animation gives the canine characters an appearance quite unlike the live-action and conventionally animated dogs elsewhere in this A–Z.
With dogs forming such a large part of both the cast and the fictional world, Isle of Dogs is one of the clearest examples of a film built around an entire canine population rather than a single movie dog.
J
John Wick (2014)
John Wick is very different from the family films that make up many entries in this A–Z, but a dog plays an important part in establishing its story.
At the beginning of the film, the recently widowed John Wick receives a Beagle puppy named Daisy, arranged as a final gift from his late wife.
Although Daisy's screen time is relatively brief, what happens to her becomes a major catalyst for the events that follow.
The appearance of another Beagle demonstrates that a dog does not necessarily need to remain on screen throughout a film to have a significant influence on its story.
K
K-9 (1989)
K-9 combines a police comedy with the familiar screen partnership between an officer and a working dog.
The film follows police detective Michael Dooley, who is partnered with a police dog named Jerry Lee while investigating a criminal operation.
Jerry Lee is a German Shepherd, placing the German Shepherd in one of the roles with which the breed has frequently been associated on screen: police work.
Much of the film's comedy comes from the sometimes difficult partnership between Dooley and his canine colleague, while Jerry Lee remains an active part of the investigation rather than simply accompanying the human character.
L
Lady and the Tramp (1955)
Lady and the Tramp is an animated film centred on two dogs from very different backgrounds.
Lady lives as a much-loved household dog, while Tramp is accustomed to life on the streets. Their paths eventually cross, bringing together two canine characters whose experiences of the world are initially very different.
Lady is portrayed as an American Cocker Spaniel, while Tramp is a mixed-breed dog. Their famous shared spaghetti dinner has become one of the particularly recognisable dog-related scenes in animated cinema.
Lassie Come Home (1943)
Released in 1943, Lassie Come Home helped establish one of cinema's most enduring canine characters.
The story follows Lassie after she is separated from the boy she loves and begins a long journey to return home.
Lassie is portrayed as a Rough Collie, and the character subsequently became closely associated with the breed through further films and television appearances.
The movie demonstrates how a fictional canine character can become so widely recognised that the dog's name and appearance remain familiar long after the original film was released.
M
Marley & Me (2008)
Marley & Me follows a couple whose life becomes increasingly intertwined with that of their Labrador Retriever, Marley.
Rather than sending its canine character on a fantastical adventure, the film explores years of family life in which Marley's energetic and often chaotic behaviour becomes a recurring presence.
The Labrador Retriever is therefore central to a film built around the everyday experiences, changes and memories that can accumulate during life with a dog.
Marmaduke (2010)
Marmaduke brings the long-running comic-strip character to the screen as an enormous Great Dane.
The film follows Marmaduke and his family after they move to California, where the dog encounters a new collection of canine characters.
Marmaduke's considerable size is an important part of both his appearance and the comedy surrounding him. The Great Dane is particularly suited to a character whose physical presence is difficult to overlook.
Max (2015)
Max centres on a military working dog who returns to the United States after serving in Afghanistan.
The dog subsequently becomes connected with the family of his former handler, with much of the story developing around Max and the handler's younger brother, Justin.
Max is portrayed as a Belgian Malinois, providing another prominent movie appearance for the breed.
Megan Leavey (2017)
Megan Leavey is based on the story of a US Marine corporal and the military working dog with whom she served.
The film follows Megan and Rex, a German Shepherd, as they work together during her military service and explores the connection that develops between them.
Unlike many fictional dog adventures in this A–Z, the film draws on the experiences of a real person and working dog.
My Dog Skip (2000)
My Dog Skip follows a boy named Willie and the dog who becomes an important part of his childhood.
Set in Mississippi during the 1940s, the film traces experiences shared by Willie and Skip as the boy grows up.
Skip is a Jack Russell Terrier, and the film uses the relationship between child and dog as an important thread running through its coming-of-age story.
N
Napoleon (1995)
Napoleon follows a young puppy whose curiosity takes him far beyond the comforts of home.
The Australian family film sends its canine character on an adventure through the countryside, where he encounters a variety of animals while trying to find his way through an unfamiliar world.
With the story largely driven by the puppy's experiences, Napoleon is another example of a film in which the dog is the adventurer rather than simply the companion of a human protagonist.
O
Old Yeller (1957)
Old Yeller is a Disney film set in nineteenth-century Texas and centres on a stray dog who becomes part of the Coates family's life.
At first, young Travis is reluctant to accept the dog, but Old Yeller gradually becomes an important companion to the family.
The film is remembered for taking its canine story into considerably more emotional territory than many family adventures. Old Yeller's courage and relationship with Travis remain central throughout the story, helping the film become one of the longstanding examples of dogs occupying major roles in cinema.
One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)
Before the 1996 live-action 101 Dalmatians, Disney told the story through animation in One Hundred and One Dalmatians.
The film follows Dalmatians Pongo and Perdita after their puppies are taken as part of Cruella De Vil's plan to obtain a much larger collection of Dalmatian puppies.
Dogs dominate much of the story, with numerous canine characters becoming involved as events unfold.
The film also helped establish the distinctive spotted appearance of the Dalmatian as one of the most immediately recognisable breed images associated with animated cinema.
P
PAW Patrol: The Movie (2021)
PAW Patrol: The Movie takes the canine characters from the children's television series into a feature-length animated adventure.
The story follows the familiar team of pups as they travel to Adventure City, with individual dogs performing different roles as part of the group.
Rather than focusing on one canine protagonist, the film is built around a team of dogs with distinctive appearances, personalities, vehicles and responsibilities.
A Puppy for Christmas (2016)
A Puppy for Christmas places a newly adopted dog at the centre of a festive romantic story.
The arrival of the puppy changes the circumstances surrounding the human characters and provides the canine connection suggested by the title.
It is one of numerous films that use the arrival of a dog as a way of bringing people together, with the Christmas setting providing the backdrop for the story.
Q
Quill: The Life of a Guide Dog (2004)
The Japanese film Quill: The Life of a Guide Dog follows the life of a Labrador Retriever named Quill.
The story traces Quill from his early life through his training and experiences as a guide dog, making his working role fundamental to the film.
Rather than presenting its canine character through fantasy or exaggerated adventures, the film focuses on the relationship between a dog and the people around him across different stages of his life.
R
Red Dog (2011)
Red Dog is an Australian film inspired by stories surrounding a real dog associated with the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
The film follows the wandering dog as he becomes connected with numerous people within a mining community, gradually establishing himself as a familiar presence across the area.
Rather than belonging exclusively to one person throughout the story, Red Dog's relationships with a wider community form an important part of the film.
Rescued by Ruby (2022)
Rescued by Ruby is inspired by the story of a shelter dog who went on to work alongside a Rhode Island State Police officer.
The film follows Ruby and state trooper Daniel O'Neil as their circumstances bring them together and they work towards becoming part of a search-and-rescue team.
The real-life inspiration gives the film a different foundation from fictional canine adventures, while the relationship between dog and handler remains at the centre of the story.
Rin Tin Tin (1920s–)
Rin Tin Tin became one of the earliest internationally recognised canine stars of cinema.
The original Rin Tin Tin was a German Shepherd who appeared in numerous silent films during the 1920s, helping establish the idea of a dog as a genuine screen star rather than simply an animal appearing alongside human actors.
The name subsequently continued through other dogs and productions, extending Rin Tin Tin's place in film and television history well beyond the career of the original dog.
His screen legacy also provides an early example of the long association between the German Shepherd and film roles involving intelligent, active canine characters.
S
Scoob! (2020)
Scoob! brings Scooby-Doo and his familiar group of human friends into an animated feature-film adventure.
Scooby is one of the most recognisable fictional Great Danes in popular entertainment, although his animated appearance and personality are deliberately exaggerated. His size, long legs and general shape nevertheless draw heavily on characteristics associated with the Great Dane.
The film also explores how Scooby and Shaggy first met, giving the longstanding friendship between the pair an important place within the story.
Shiloh (1996)
Shiloh follows a boy named Marty who encounters a Beagle and becomes determined to help him.
The relationship between Marty and Shiloh forms the heart of the story, with the dog becoming increasingly important to the young character after their first meeting.
Based on the novel by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, the film places a Beagle in a much more grounded role than the secret-agent world seen in Cats & Dogs.
Show Dogs (2018)
Show Dogs combines a police investigation with the world of competitive dog shows.
The story follows Max, a police dog who enters a prestigious dog show as part of an undercover operation. Numerous other canine characters and breeds appear as the competition unfolds.
Like Best in Show, the movie uses a dog-show environment to bring many different dogs together, although Show Dogs takes the idea in the direction of a family comedy and crime adventure.
Snow Dogs (2002)
Snow Dogs follows Miami dentist Ted Brooks after unexpected circumstances take him to Alaska and introduce him to a team of sled dogs.
The dramatic change of environment brings Ted into a world very different from the life he previously knew, with the dogs becoming central to his experiences there.
Siberian Huskies feature prominently among the canine cast, giving the film another strong connection with the Siberian Husky and its familiar association with sled-dog imagery.
T
The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019)
The Art of Racing in the Rain tells much of its story from the perspective of Enzo, a Golden Retriever living with racing driver Denny Swift.
Enzo observes the people, relationships and changes taking place around him while developing his own fascination with motor racing.
Giving the dog a narrative perspective makes Enzo far more than a background companion. His observations provide the framework through which much of the human story is explored.
The Call of the Wild (2020)
The Call of the Wild, based on Jack London's novel, follows Buck as he is taken from his comfortable home in California and transported to the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush.
Buck's experiences take him into a dramatically different environment, where sled work and survival become part of his changing life.
For the 2020 adaptation, Buck was created digitally rather than being portrayed throughout by a live canine performer, allowing the filmmakers to give the character highly controlled movements and expressions.
The Fox and the Hound (1981)
Disney's animated The Fox and the Hound centres on an unlikely friendship between Tod, a fox, and Copper, a hound dog.
The two meet when they are young, before circumstances surrounding their very different roles begin to complicate their friendship.
Rather than simply placing a dog alongside a human character, the film uses the relationship between two animals as the emotional centre of its story.
The Incredible Journey (1963)
The Incredible Journey follows three household pets travelling through the Canadian wilderness in an attempt to return home.
The group consists of two dogs, Luath and Bodger, and a Siamese cat named Tao. Their journey provides the basis for a story in which the animals themselves carry much of the adventure.
The film was later reimagined as Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey in 1993, giving the same basic idea a new generation of canine and feline characters.
The Secret Life of Pets (2016)
The Secret Life of Pets imagines what household animals might get up to after their owners leave home.
Dogs occupy a major part of its animated cast, including Max, whose comfortable routine changes when his owner brings home another dog named Duke.
The film expands from everyday apartment life into a much larger adventure involving numerous pets, using exaggerated animal personalities to create a fictional world hidden from their human owners.
The Shaggy Dog (2006)
The Shaggy Dog puts an unusual twist on the idea of a dog movie by having a human character begin transforming into a dog.
The family comedy follows deputy district attorney Dave Douglas as his increasingly canine circumstances disrupt both his professional and family life.
Rather than making a conventional dog the central protagonist, the film uses the transformation itself as the basis for much of its canine comedy.
Togo (2019)
Togo dramatises part of the story behind the 1925 serum run to Nome, focusing particularly on sled dog Togo and musher Leonhard Seppala.
Togo was a Siberian Husky who led Seppala's team across a particularly long and demanding portion of the relay.
The film gives substantial attention to the relationship between Togo and Seppala while also presenting the difficult conditions encountered during their journey.
It provides a cinematic interpretation of a real sled dog's story and another notable appearance of the Siberian Husky in a film connected with the breed's working history.
Turner & Hooch (1989)
Turner & Hooch pairs police investigator Scott Turner with Hooch, a large dog who becomes important to a murder investigation.
Hooch is a Dogue de Bordeaux, and his untidy, energetic presence contrasts sharply with Turner's highly organised lifestyle.
Much of the film's comedy develops from that unlikely partnership, while Hooch also has a direct connection with the case Turner is attempting to solve.
U
Underdog (2007)
Underdog brings the canine superhero from the animated television series into a live-action film.
The story follows Shoeshine, a Beagle who develops extraordinary abilities following an accident in a laboratory. He eventually adopts the superhero identity Underdog, complete with the ability to fly and speak to humans.
The film takes the idea of a movie dog firmly into comic-book territory, turning an otherwise ordinary-looking Beagle into a canine superhero.
V
Films with notable canine characters are particularly scarce under V. Rather than include a film with only a minor connection to dogs, there is no dedicated movie entry for this letter.
W
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
Gromit may be made from modelling clay, but he has become one of Britain's most recognisable fictional dogs.
In Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, the silent canine once again accompanies Wallace, this time as the pair become involved in protecting a town's vegetables from a mysterious creature.
Gromit never speaks, yet his expressions and actions communicate an enormous amount about what he is thinking. His intelligence frequently contrasts with Wallace's more chaotic approach to their adventures.
The stop-motion format makes him very different from the real canine performers elsewhere in this A–Z, while still leaving absolutely no doubt about his importance to the story.
White Fang (1991)
White Fang is an adventure inspired by Jack London's novel and set during the Klondike Gold Rush.
The story follows Jack Conroy and his developing relationship with White Fang, a wolfdog living in the harsh surroundings of the Yukon.
White Fang occupies an interesting position within an A–Z of movie dogs because the character is not presented simply as a domestic dog. His mixed wolf-and-dog identity is fundamental to the original story and to the way the character is portrayed.
Wiener-Dog (2016)
Wiener-Dog follows a Dachshund as the dog passes between several different people, connecting a series of otherwise separate stories.
Rather than following a conventional canine adventure, the film uses the dog's changing circumstances to move between different human characters and their lives.
The Dachshund, with its distinctive long-bodied appearance, provides the visual and narrative connection running through the film.
X
Films with notable canine characters are particularly scarce under X. Rather than stretching the A–Z with a film that has little meaningful connection with dogs, there is no dedicated movie entry for this letter.
Y
Year of the Dog (2007)
Year of the Dog centres on Peggy, whose life changes following the death of her dog, Pencil.
Dogs remain an important presence as the story develops, with Peggy's experiences leading her to become increasingly involved with animals and animal-related causes.
Unlike many films in this list, the canine connection is not built around an adventurous dog protagonist. Instead, the relationship between people and dogs provides an important foundation for the human character's changing life.
Z
Zeus and Roxanne (1997)
Zeus and Roxanne brings together two very different animals: Zeus, a dog, and Roxanne, a dolphin.
Their unusual friendship becomes central to the family adventure, with the relationship between the animals attracting the attention of the people around them.
The combination of a dog and dolphin gives the film one of the more unusual animal partnerships in this A–Z and provides a fittingly unconventional way to reach the end of the alphabet.
From Silent Cinema to Animated Dogs
Looking across the A–Z reveals just how many different roles dogs have occupied in films.
They have appeared as family companions, working dogs, sporting dogs, superheroes, sled dogs, police partners and animated characters. Some films have drawn inspiration from real dogs and historical events, while others have created entirely fictional canine worlds.
The way dogs are represented on screen has changed enormously too. Early canine performers such as Rin Tin Tin demonstrated that a real dog could become a major cinema attraction, while later films have used traditional animation, stop-motion and digital effects to create canine characters that could never exist in the real world.
There is also remarkable variety in the breeds represented. Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds, Beagles, Saint Bernards, Great Danes, Siberian Huskies and many others have all found their way into prominent movie roles.
Yet breed isn't always what makes a movie dog memorable. Benji became famous without being presented as a pedigree showpiece, while animated characters such as Gromit and Bolt demonstrate that a fictional dog's personality can matter far more than assigning it a precise real-world breed.
Dogs Have Been Part of Cinema for Generations
From Lassie Come Home and Old Yeller to Dog, Togo and modern animated productions, dogs have remained a recurring presence throughout decades of filmmaking.
Sometimes the entire story belongs to the dog. In other films, a canine character shares the adventure with people or other animals. And occasionally a dog with relatively limited screen time can still influence everything that follows.
That variety is what makes dogs in movies such an interesting subject. There isn't really one type of "dog film". The canine character might be funny, heroic, troublesome, fictional, historical, animated or simply an ordinary companion caught up in an extraordinary story.
With more than a century of cinema to explore, this A–Z represents only part of the enormous collection of dogs that have appeared on the big screen — and there will undoubtedly be many more canine characters still to come.
