50 Fun Facts About Dog Movies

George Lucas owned an Alaskan Malamute that inspired Chewbacca and gave its name to which film hero?

Indiana Jones even admits it on screen: in The Last Crusade his father reveals that Indiana was the family dog's name. Lucas's Malamute rode beside him in the car as his co-pilot.

Toto in the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz was played by Terry, a female dog of which breed?

Cairn Terrier Terry earned $125 a week as Toto, more than many of the film's human actors and more than the average American worker of the day.

Which giant three-headed dog guards a forbidden third-floor corridor in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone?

Fluffy drops off to sleep whenever music plays, a weakness his keeper Hagrid lets slip to the wrong person.

Which loyal dog does the Grinch disguise as a reindeer to pull his sleigh down to Whoville?

Max the reluctant reindeer was drawn from life: the director of the 1966 cartoon modelled its version on his own childhood dog.

In Disney's 1957 tearjerker Old Yeller, which disease does the dog catch after fighting off a wolf?

Rabies, called hydrophobia in the film, leaves young Travis no choice but to shoot the dog who saved his family. The story is set in Texas just after the Civil War.

Buddy, the runaway dog befriended by a lonely boy in the 1997 film Air Bud, excels at which sport?

Basketball was the real dog's own trick: Buddy sank shots on David Letterman's Stupid Pet Tricks segment before Hollywood called.

Which dish do Lady and the Tramp share at Tony's Italian restaurant, ending in an accidental kiss?

Spaghetti gave Disney one of cinema's best-known kisses, yet Walt first dropped the scene as distasteful. Animator Frank Thomas revived it from a discarded story reel.

In Back to the Future, what is the name of the dog Doc Brown sends one minute into the future?

Einstein rides the DeLorean alone for its first successful test. In early drafts of the script, Doc's pet was a chimpanzee named Shemp.

Bruiser, the tiny dog Elle Woods carries to Harvard Law School in Legally Blonde, is which breed?

Chihuahua actor Moonie played Bruiser in both Legally Blonde films. He shared a home with Gidget, the Taco Bell commercial dog, who played his mother in the sequel.

The huge family dog in the comedy film Beethoven, named for barking along to a symphony, is which breed?

St. Bernard puppy Beethoven sneaks into the Newton family's home and never leaves. He gets his name when young Emily plays the Fifth Symphony on the piano.

Which actor plays a fastidious detective forced to take in a noisy, destructive murder witness in Turner & Hooch?

Tom Hanks called the shoot one of his most demanding, because he had to act around whatever the dog did. Hooch was played by Beasley, a French mastiff.

Which 1993 Disney adventure sends the dogs Chance and Shadow and a cat named Sassy across the wilderness?

Homeward Bound gave its animals the voices of Michael J. Fox, Sally Field and Don Ameche. It remakes Disney's 1963 adventure The Incredible Journey, based on Sheila Burnford's novel.

Marley, the unruly pet of Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston in Marley & Me, is which breed?

Labrador Retriever Marley ages 14 years on screen, so 22 different yellow Labs shared the part. His owner names him after reggae star Bob Marley.

Scooby-Doo, the cowardly cartoon sleuth who reached cinemas in a 2002 live-action film, is which breed?

Great Dane Scooby was drawn wrong on purpose: designer Iwao Takamoto asked a breeder what a prize-winner looks like, then gave him bow legs, a sloped back and a sloping chin.

The puppy Daisy, a final gift from John Wick's late wife in the 2014 action film, is which breed?

Beagle puppy Daisy was played by a pup named Andy, who joined Keanu Reeves at the film's New York premiere.

Which actress played the fur-obsessed villain Cruella de Vil in Disney's 1996 live-action 101 Dalmatians?

Glenn Close first turned the part down. The film's costume designer, who was dressing her on Broadway in Sunset Boulevard, talked her into it.

Which author wrote the 1981 novel behind Cujo, the horror film about a family pet turned killer?

Stephen King rates Cujo among his favourite adaptations of his own books. For much of the film a mother and her young son are trapped inside their broken-down car.

Which dog in Pixar's Up befriends Carl and Russell and speaks through a thought-translating collar?

Dug is voiced by Bob Peterson, who also voices the villain's dog Alpha. The character later got his own series of Disney+ shorts, Dug Days.

The loyal dog a professor finds at a railway station in Hachi: A Dog's Tale is which Japanese breed?

Akita Hachikō, the real dog behind the film, went to Tokyo's Shibuya Station almost every day for nearly ten years after his owner died in 1925.

In Men in Black, the smart-talking alien informant known as Frank looks like which breed of dog?

Pug Frank, voiced by Tim Blaney and played on set by a dog named Mushu, returned with an enlarged role in Men in Black II.

Which actor voices Bolt, the TV-star dog who believes his superpowers are real, in Disney's 2008 film?

John Travolta plays the White Shepherd opposite Miley Cyrus as his owner Penny. The show's director hides the special effects so that Bolt never learns he is acting.

Lady, the pampered pet given as a Christmas present in Disney's Lady and the Tramp, is which breed?

Cocker Spaniel Lady arrives as a gift for a wife, an idea from Walt Disney's own life: in 1925 he gave his wife Lillian a puppy hidden in a hatbox.

The animated film Balto is framed by live-action scenes at the sled dog's statue in which New York landmark?

Central Park has had its bronze Balto since December 1925, only ten months after the real dog reached Nome with the diphtheria serum.

Which actor plays Jerry Shepard, the Antarctic guide who risks everything to save his dogs in Eight Below?

Paul Walker's survival drama remakes a 1983 Japanese hit inspired by a real 1958 expedition. None of it was shot on the frozen continent: the crew used Norway, Greenland and Canada.

Which ghost dog floats after Jack Skellington, master of Halloween Town, in The Nightmare Before Christmas?

Zero has a tiny jack-o'-lantern where his nose should be. His adventures carried on in a manga sequel to the film, Zero's Journey.

Which Xoloitzcuintle, a hairless Mexican dog, is the sidekick of the boy Miguel in Pixar's Coco?

Dante turns out to be a spirit guide and sprouts bird-like wings. Pixar's animators studied real Xolos, then borrowed a tentacle from Finding Dory's Hank for his tongue.

Which author wrote both White Fang and The Call of the Wild, two Klondike dog tales filmed many times?

Jack London joined the Klondike Gold Rush himself in 1897 and spent about a year in the Yukon, where he gathered the material for both books.

Which director made Isle of Dogs, a stop-motion film about a boy searching Trash Island for his pet Spots?

Wes Anderson won the Silver Bear for Best Director when the film opened the Berlin Film Festival. Its Japanese characters speak without subtitles, relayed by interpreters or machines.

Which director remade his own 1984 short Frankenweenie as a 2012 stop-motion feature about a boy reviving his dog?

Tim Burton was fired by Disney after the original short, which the studio judged unsuitable for young audiences. Decades later the same studio backed his remake.

Which actor plays Robert Neville, whose only companion in deserted Manhattan is a dog named Sam, in I Am Legend?

Will Smith's four-legged co-star is called Sam for short: her full name is Samantha. Two German Shepherds, Abbey and Kona, shared the role.

Uggie, the scene-stealing dog who left his paw prints at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, starred in which 2011 film?

The Artist won five Oscars including Best Picture, and Uggie's turn earned him the Palm Dog award at Cannes. He had earlier appeared in Water for Elephants.

Which dog, rescued from a World War I battlefield by an American soldier, became a silent-film star for Warner Bros.?

Rin Tin Tin appeared in 27 Hollywood films, and their profits helped build the young studio. His rescuer, Lee Duncan, trained him and nicknamed him Rinty.

Which Christopher Guest mockumentary follows five dogs and their owners to a Mayflower Kennel Club contest?

Best in Show was largely improvised, with sixty hours of footage shot. Real dog shows refused to let the crew film, so the production had to stage its own.

In The Sandlot, the ball-snatching dog the boys call the Beast turns out to have which real name?

Hercules belongs to Mr. Mertle, a blind former ballplayer who was a friend of Babe Ruth. Once the feud ends, the boys make the dog their team mascot.

Which piano-playing pop star voices Dodger, the laid-back leader of the dog gang, in Disney's Oliver & Company?

Billy Joel had turned down film roles for years and auditioned for Dodger over the telephone. The film retells Dickens's Oliver Twist with a kitten and a pack of street dogs.

In Disney's The Fox and the Hound, which hound puppy swears eternal friendship with the fox Tod?

Copper is voiced as an adult by Kurt Russell, and the grown Tod by Mickey Rooney. The two best friends grow up to learn they are supposed to be hunter and prey.

In Because of Winn-Dixie, young Opal names her scruffy stray after what kind of business, where she finds him?

A supermarket is where Opal meets the dog, who is wreaking havoc in the aisles. She claims he is hers to save him from the pound, and blurts out the store's name.

Which actor co-directed and starred in the 2022 road film Dog, escorting a fallen friend's Army dog Lulu?

Channing Tatum made his directing debut with the film, playing an Army Ranger who must drive a Belgian Malinois to her handler's funeral.

Which actor voices the dog reborn through several lives, one of them as Bailey, in the 2017 film A Dog's Purpose?

Josh Gad took over after Bradley Cooper had been cast as the dog's inner voice. He speaks for every named life: Bailey, Ellie, Tino and Buddy.

Which dog works as the Darling children's nursemaid in Disney's Peter Pan until she is chained up outside?

Nana is banished to the yard by Mr. Darling, who insists she is a dog and not a nurse. An early version of the film told the whole story through her eyes.

Lassie is female, but which male dog first played her on screen in 1943's Lassie Come Home?

Pal was hired after the female collie first cast was dropped, and the opening six weeks of filming were reshot with him. His descendants kept playing the part for generations.

Which future Hollywood legend appeared as a young girl named Priscilla in the 1943 film Lassie Come Home?

Elizabeth Taylor plays the sympathetic girl who arranges the collie's escape. The Technicolor film now sits in the US National Film Registry.

Which comedy filmmaker co-wrote the dog film Beethoven under a pseudonym borrowed from The Count of Monte Cristo?

John Hughes had parted ways with Universal, so he let the studio film his script only if it used his pen name. His authorship soon became an open secret in the industry.

Which dog, hero of a 2019 Disney film starring Willem Dafoe, covered the greatest distance in the serum run to Nome?

Togo and his musher Leonhard Seppala travelled 260 miles, far more than any other team, yet the dog who ran the final leg took the headlines.

Moose, the dog who played Eddie on the sitcom Frasier, and his son Enzo shared the title role in which 2000 film?

My Dog Skip cast Enzo as the lead and his father Moose for a few scenes as the older Skip. Off set, their trainer said, the two could not stand to be in the same room.

Higgins, a shelter dog known from TV's Petticoat Junction, came out of retirement to play which 1974 film hero?

Benji was turned down by every studio in Hollywood, so director Joe Camp set up his own company to release it. Higgins's daughter Benjean took over the part in the 1977 sequel.

Which actor voices Charlie B. Barkin, the roguish German Shepherd hero of Don Bluth's All Dogs Go to Heaven?

Burt Reynolds had the shaggy character designed specifically for him. He stars beside Dom DeLuise, his partner in five earlier films, who voices best friend Itchy.

In Disney's 1959 comedy The Shaggy Dog, an enchanted Borgia ring turns teenager Wilby Daniels into which breed?

Old English Sheepdog Chiffon is the pet of a girl named Francesca, and Wilby keeps swapping into its body. The comedy was the second-highest-grossing film of 1959.

Asta, the wire-haired fox terrier of sleuths Nick and Nora Charles, first appeared on screen in which 1934 film?

The Thin Man made a star of Skippy, the dog behind Asta, who went on to two more screwball classics. He once bit co-star Myrna Loy during filming.

Disney's 1961 film Greyfriars Bobby tells of a Skye Terrier who kept returning to his master's grave in which city?

Edinburgh makes the little dog a Freeman of the City in the film, after local children pay for his licence with their pennies. The real Bobby is said to have kept his vigil for 14 years.