As many dog owners can attest, a dog wins over your heart, becomes your best friend and your longtime companion, and cares for you as much as you do for them with pet supplies.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, this love of dogs was also seen on the silver screen from almost the earliest days of the medium, with the first ever furry screen star being Jean the Vitagraph Dog from 1910 until 1914.
However, other dog stars have endured longer in the memory with series that have lasted years, even decades at times.
Here are some of the most enduring films and TV series starring dogs.
Air Buddy
The occasionally true story about and starring a dog who can play basketball, the Air Buddy series, starting with the 1997 film Air Bud is a film series that lingers long in the memory, even though due to a tragic illness Buddy the dog himself only starred in the very first film.
Part of this is the surprisingly heartwarming story of a child seeking comfort through adopting a pet, and the other part is the novelty of a dog playing basketball, particularly the hilarious and iconic scene where a truly baffled referee notes that there isn’t a rule stopping the dog from playing.
What is perhaps less known is that the Air Bud series lasted 15 years, from Air Bud in 1997 until Super Buddies in 2013, where Air Bud’s puppies develop superpowers.
The Littlest Hobo
Nowadays best known for its very memorable theme song Maybe Tomorrow, the story of a dog that is its own owner and travels from town to town to help struggling people with their problems is surprisingly unique, mysterious and very charming.
Initially running for just two seasons in the mid-1960s in Canada, its surprising popularity during re-runs led to a revival that lasted another six, with London the dog keeping on moving on from 1979 until 1985.
Lassie
Arguably the most famous stage dog in history, Lassie has had either a film or television series run off and on since 1943, with the first television series Lassie running for 19 years from 1954 until 1973.
It was then revived in 1989, again in 1997 after a successful 1994 film, and most recently in animated form in 2014.
