10 Movies to Watch with Your Dog

February blues got you down? Why not make it movie night with your best friend? Pop some popcorn, get a warm blanket, and snuggle up with your pooch. To make sure you’re watching something you both can enjoy, we created a top 10 dog movie list that has something for every taste, whether you prefer silly or sentimental or both.

1. Lady and the Tramp. Ditch the popcorn for this one and cook up a batch of spaghetti. The Disney romance about two dogs from different sides of the tracks culminates with one of film’s most legendary kisses.
2. Best in Show. What happens when you cross This Is Spinal Tap with the Westminster Dog Show? You get is Best in Show, Christopher Guest’s mockumentary that finds the absurd in our (sometimes obsessive) love of dogs.
3. Hachi: A Dog’s Tale. Dog movies have a way of making us weep, usually due to a dog passing away. In this remake of Japanese hit Hachiko Monogatari, the dog, an Akita named Hachi, must learn to live with the loss of his person.
4. Marley & Me. Gather the whole family together for this one. A young married couple tests the waters of family life by buying a dog and gets more than they bargained for. Will resonate with anyone who has had a house ransacked by a pet. Warning: you will cry.
5. 101 Dalmatians. Animated or live action, take your pick for the ultimate rescue tale. What’s not to like about 101 Dalmatians and one of cinema’s great villains, the evil dognapper, Cruella de Vil?
6. Old Yeller. Another tear jerker. Old Yeller captures how unwanted dogs have a way of working their way into our hearts. Old Yeller may be yellow, but he’s got a heart of gold, and he sure comes in handy when you have a pack of feral pigs to contend with.
7. Beethoven. More evidence that a dog can melt the coldest of hearts. Cinema’s most famous Saint Bernard meets the Newton family, quickly showing an affinity for the music of Beethoven, solving problems and annoying a workaholic dad who shows little interest in rearing his kids, let alone a giant dog.
8. Frankenweenie. Looking for something off-beat? Look no further than Frankenweenie from Tim Burton, the man who brought us Pee-wee’s Big Adventure and The Nightmare Before Christmas. In this stop-motion film, a young Victor Frankenstein puts his talents to work to reanimate his beloved late dog, Sparky.
9. Turner & Hooch. Is it possible to have a top-ten movie list without Tom Hanks? We say no. A fastidious police investigator finds his life and home invaded by a dirty old French Mastiff. Turner and Hooch is an odd-couple tale of unlikely friends who become partners in crime solving.
10. The Fox and the Hound. The lesson that people from different worlds can become best friends never gets old. The Fox and the Hound proves that friendship isn’t about being alike.

Honorable Mention: Homeward Bound, The Adventures of Milo and Otis, Cujo, Benji, Lassie, K-9, Oliver & Company, All Dogs Go to Heaven, My Dog Skip, Iron Will, Wendy and Lucy.

And don’t forget to stay tuned for Isle of Dogs. Wes Anderson’s stop-animation film comes out this spring!