8 Great Movies for Dog Lovers ...

Imagine being obsessively clean and house proud and having to suddenly give room to 100lbs of slobbering dog that chews everything in sight. Tom Hanks is all set to head off to a nice new police job when Hooch’s owner is murdered. Naturally Hanks has to stay and solve the case. That’s all the plot I’m going to tell you about one of the best cop buddy dog movies. Hooch may be massive (he’s a French Mastiff btw) but he’s adorable.

Disney has made a few movies about dogs, or rather, movies that feature dogs as the main characters and Disney’s 15th full length animation, Lady and the Tramp is an irresistible love story. The spaghetti incident is one of the most iconic scenes in movie history. Watch while lovable Tramp captures Lady’s heart.

Who hasn’t heard of Lassie? Depicting the love between a schoolboy and his rough Collie, Lassie Comes Home probably set the bar for dog movies. Yes, it is packed with schmaltz but who cares. It is designed to tug on your fragile heartstrings while leading to a ... well I’ll let you figure out the conclusion. Look out for an early Elizabeth Taylor performance.

Dogs have great potential for comedic hilarity. I used to love Scooby -Doo cartoons when I was younger and waited eagerly to see whether those pesky kids and their mystery machine would transfer successfully to the big screen and human format. It wasn’t so bad. Not a classic dog movie but a good piece of family fun. (At least there was no sign of that very annoying Scrappy-Doo.)

One of the best female villains in movie history sets out to make coats from the fur of Dalmatian puppies. Of course, Cruella De Vil’s heinous plan is thwarted by the ingenuity of the 101 dogs. You can debate all you like over whether the animated or live action movie is the better version, but both these terrific movies about dogs, and there are lots of dogs, are great fun to watch.

If ever a dog’s capacity for loyalty is depicted to great effect it is in the form of the 1961 dog movie, Greyfriars Bobby. Based on a real-life story, the movie is a about Bobby, a fiercely loyal Skye Terrier who spent 14 years at his master’s grave. I defy anyone to not be moved by this one.

Beethoven is the modern rival to Lassie. Following the success of the first movie about the big lovable St. Bernard, another 6 were released but never received the acclaim of the first. In fact numbers 3 onwards went straight to video. The first remains the best and is the only one you should bother to watch.

Nick Park and his clay-mation team at Aardvark Animations finally got round to giving Grommit and his trusty, clumsy and somewhat gauche master starring roles in a full length movie. Although not strictly a dog movie – Grommit always manages to steal the show and pull his master out of all manner of loony scrapes.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my pick of the many movies about dogs that have been made. You might disagree with my list, for example, K-9 rather Turner and Hooch, Haichi instead of Greyfriars Bobby, or the rather silly Beverley Hills Chihuahua over them all. What are your favorite dog movies?

Top Photo Credit: snapper31