As someone who loves pretty much all dogs, it can be difficult to identify the best dogs in movies and TV. As a Xennial (a member of the microgeneration between Gen X and Millennials), I’m reflecting today on the 5 best dogs we grew up with in TV and movies!
Even movies and shows that aren’t about dogs will sometimes have a scene-stealing animal in a supporting role. Think Frank the Pug from Men in Black as a great example. However, younger Gen X and older Millennials got to grow up with a lot of movies and shows where the dog was the start of the show. That’s where I’m getting inspiration for my list!
Beethoven from Beethoven
There were eventually 8 different movies in the series, but let’s focus on Beethoven the Saint Bernard in the first movie: 1992’s Beethoven.
The movie is as much about Charles Grodin as George Newton, the reluctant owner of a giant, slobbery Saint Bernard who can’t help but get into trouble. If you were a kid who loved the movie, you might be surprised to learn that adults, well, didn’t love it. It only has a 29% on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 36% audience score.
Does it really matter if Beethoven was a good or a bad movie? When we were kids, all we really cared about was making sure that big fluffy dog was happy and safe! It was easy to imagine yourself snuggled up against Beethoven’s furry belly, like a big, warm, snoring pillow.
Beethoven was played by a Saint Bernard named Chris in the first two movies in the series.
Wolf from The Journey of Natty Gann
When I was a kid, nothing compared to the climactic moment in The Journey of Natty Gann (1985) in which Natty (Meredith Salenger) and her father Sol (Ray Wise) are finally reunited on a logging road after months of searching for one another.
Two other things were incredibly memorable about Natty Gann: all of the straight girls developing crushes on a teenage John Cusack and everybody wanting a wolf for a pet.
Natty Gann befriends a wolf as she travels across the country during the Great Depression, looking for her father. She calls him Wolf, and he becomes her constant protector, provider, and friend. What kid didn’t daydream about being protected by a big, beautiful wolf who curls up with you to help you keep warm when you’re alone in the woods!
Wolf was played by Jed, who also played White Fang in1991’s White Fang and the first version of the alien in The Thing (1982).
Old Yeller from Old Yeller
Growing up with Old Yeller obviously isn’t unique to Xennials, as the movie was released in 1957. That means it’s not just Millennials, Gen X, or us Xennials who had to suffer through one of the most traumatizing dog deaths in the history of Hollywood! This has been the reality for everyone from Boomers to Gen Alpha! (I wonder if parents have finally stopped showing this heartbreaking movie to their Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids…)
Aside from the horribly sad ending to this movie, Old Yeller himself was a wonderful, expressive dog that many of us longed to have in our lives. We wanted a buddy to go on adventures with, and how many of us probably imagined a dog that looked just like Old Yeller accompanying us while we played “lost in the wilderness” or “surviving in the Old West” in our backyards?
Spike, the dog who played Old Yeller, was a Mastador: a 170-pound cross between a Yellow Lab and a Mastiff. What a great-looking dog!
Wishbone from the series Wishbone
Wishbone was on PBS from 1995-1998. In the series, Wishbone the Jack Russell Terrier portrays the lead in numerous stories from classic literature. He played Cyrano de Bergerac, Sherlock Holmes, Edmond Dantes from The Count of Monte Cristo, Hercules, and Edgar Allan Poe, and countless others!
The gimmick of the show was that everyone else was played by real humans.
Wishbone was voiced by Larry Brantley, but the charming dog actor was named Soccer. They say that over 100 dogs auditioned to play Wishbone, and I can’t think of a more perfect dog for this after-school show. Now, as an adult, I have a Jack Russell-Chihuahua rescue dog named Scout, and sometimes I wonder if I was drawn to her in part because of how much she reminded me of this important dog from my adolescent TV-watching!
Shadow from Homeward Bound
This is definitely a “save the best for last” kind of list. Shadow from Homeward Bound is by far my favorite dog in Hollywood history!
Homeward Bound (1993) was a re-imagination of The Incredibly Journey (1963), starring the voice talents of Michael J. Fox, Sally Field, and Don Ameche. Ameche’s performance as Shadow would be one of his final two film roles before his death in 1993.
Shadow is the elderly Golden Retriever who serves as the wisest member of the family of animals who are trying to make their way through the wilderness to get back to their family. Fox’s Chance and Field’s Sassy are great members of the cast, but it is Shadow who is at the heart of this show.
I know very few Xennials who can watch Shadow’s unlikely reunion with his boy, Peter, without crying!
Shadow was played by Ben, a Golden Retriever who only acted in this one movie.
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