Based on one of Roger Ebert’s movie laws:
I remember *Independence Day * had one of those god dogs. Usually a movie that has a dog dying does not do good at the box office (Mars Attracts)
However, *A Fish called Wanda * managed to kill 3 doggies and still proved to be successful.
Any more examples in favor or against the law?
Against:
Old Yeller.
Where the Red Fern Grows.
Tango and Cash.
For:
Babe: Pig in the City
They killed a dog in Mad Max but the movie has achieved a pretty good cult following.
Old Yeller.
Where the Red Fern Grows
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior
All these movies portrayed the death of the dog in very melodramatic terms.
The 25th Hour: the dog, left to die is rescued by the protagonist, establishing him as a saintly character. Are there any other films where the protagonist establishes himself as a saint or redeems his moral failings by rescuing a dying dog?
I just remembered the interesting “against” case of the classic British WWII movie The Damm Busters (1954), there is a dog that dies foreshadowing the death of several members of the team.
In America all the scenes mentioning the dog’s name were dubbed into “Trigger” because the black dog was called “Nigger”!
Something else about dogs in movies - they can see into men’s souls. If any character is evil but prentending to be good, even if all the humans are fooled, the dog always “knows” and hates that person. Nothing evil person can do will change the dog’s mind either.
There was exactly one good scene in Jurassic Park II. When the T-rex first starts stomping around a suburb somewhere, a dog chained to his dog house sees it and spazzes out, barking it’s little head off. Cut to the owner of the house, on the second story, going to the window to see what the dog is barking at, only to be met by the T-rex’s enormous head looking back at him, with a dog house dangling from its mouth by a chain.
Funny thing is that it was a pit bull…[sarcasm]you know, the evil monster dogs that eat children[/sarcasm].
That’s why I worship the Puppygod. 
Against: Snakes on a Plane
Yes, but the man who fed the dog to the snake got killed. Retribution? Definitely.
And of course dogs are gods. After all, all dogs go to heaven.
Wayne Campbell: Pshaw. Right.
Garth: As if.
Heh, I thought it was going to be a reference as to why planet Pupulon escaped destruction:
Terminator 2, if you count the deleted scene where it happened.
As portrayed in Battlefield Earth.
Dog avoids death, but movie flopped:
Shark Attack 3. Dog stays out of the water while his master become chum.
Dog killed, but movie successful:
Rear Window. Did fine at the box office.
Cujo
Turner and Hooch. The dog died in that one.
I just noticed: It was not *Mars Attracts * but Mars Attacks! Ack! :smack:
The scene of the dog burning was in the original card collection the movie was based on.
But the dog wasn’t just a dog. He was the co-star.
A dog died… and then didn’t die… and then died… in The Butterfly Effect. Pretty violently, if I remember rightly. But it was so hard to keep track, so who knows.
Uh, how couldn’t anyone have mentioned <B>John Carpenter’s The Thing?</B>