# Movies that have the dog die (possible spoilers?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 20, 2009, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-the-dog-die-possible-spoilers/493744 "2009-04-20T17:00:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hi\_Neighbor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hi_neighbor/32/494_2.png) [@Hi\_Neighbor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hi_Neighbor)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-the-dog-die-possible-spoilers/493744/1 "2009-04-20T17:00:31Z")
In virtually all movies that feature the main protagonist with a dog companion, the dog lives. Even with utter destruction happening all around, the dog manages to reunite with its master. This is something a lot of people love; no one wants the dog to die! I was just trying to think of movies where the dog actually does die. I find that if the dog (or other animal in general) is the focal point of the movie, there’s better chance that its life will tragically end (_Old Yeller_, _Marley and Me_, _Charlotte’s Web_ - spider, I know, but sad nonetheless). Then there are movies like _I am Legend_ (this is why I added “possible spoilers” to the thread title). My mom got word that the dog dies and refused to see the movie for this very reason. I was just thinking, what other movies have the dog die? Also, if you have a favorite scene where you think the dog is in danger, but makes a miraculous escape/emotional rendezvous with its owner, please share that, too! ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-the-dog-die-possible-spoilers/493744/2 "2009-04-20T17:01:57Z")
The Jurasic Park (2 or 3?) where the Rex gets to LA. They don’t show it eating the dog, but they show the dog’s chain hanging out of it’s mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-the-dog-die-possible-spoilers/493744/3 "2009-04-20T17:02:18Z")
In Homeward Bound, Shadow looks like he’s not going to make it, but then he comes in at the last minute. Yay! Also–the dog dies in Marley and Me?! I thought this was a cute, light comedy…I had no idea. Oh well. Wasn’t going to see it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-the-dog-die-possible-spoilers/493744/4 "2009-04-20T17:08:46Z")
The all time champ of tear jerker dead dog movies IMHO is[Stone Fox](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094043/) with Buddy Ebsen. I don’t know how to do the spoiler thing so I won’t give it away but it’s Old Yeller+ Oh, and Tom Hanks, Turner and Hooch also good. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-the-dog-die-possible-spoilers/493744/5 "2009-04-20T17:10:21Z")
_The Thing_ by Carpenter. Actually, I suppose in reality the dog is already dead by the time the movie starts. Its body has been taken over but there’s still some substantial early bonding. The dog makes an early miraculous escape. To survive intact while crossing miles of open, frozen wasteland while a helicopter is trying to dust you with a high powered rifle is pretty miraculous. Then it and all the other dogs for that matter suffer a horrific death and there’s no doubt that they’re no longer with the living. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-the-dog-die-possible-spoilers/493744/6 "2009-04-20T17:11:23Z")
A pit bull dies in _No Country for Old Men_, although I’m not sure that counts (it was, after all, trying to kill the protagonist). ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-the-dog-die-possible-spoilers/493744/7 "2009-04-20T17:13:16Z")
Where the Red Fern Grows. ---
**Author:** ![schnuckiputzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@schnuckiputzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schnuckiputzi)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-the-dog-die-possible-spoilers/493744/8 "2009-04-20T17:13:21Z")
Apparently, I’m Hi, Neighbor’s mother, because I refused to see the movie for the same reason. Read the Marley book, teared up at the end, won’t go see that one either. And Tom Hanks and Hooch is my favorite tear-jerker dog scene. That Dogue de Bourdais (sp?) is the best worst dog ever. Marley has nothing on him. He CRUSHED people’s windpipes!!! ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-the-dog-die-possible-spoilers/493744/9 "2009-04-20T17:14:59Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Also–the dog dies in Marley and Me?! I thought this was a cute, light comedy…I had no idea. Oh well. Wasn’t going to see it anyway. Yup. A friend of mine had gotten together with relatives, and they planned to go out to a movie. She was going through a rough spot (still trying to cope with the surprise announcement a couple months prior by her husband that he was leaving her, and it was the Christmas season), and this looked like a lighthearted, fluffy film. Oops. I’m trying to remember if a dog died in [Mimic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimic_(film)), or if it was just a kid or two. I do remember being surprised at the time that a Movie Kid got killed but don’t recall (over a decade later) if a dog was involved too. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-the-dog-die-possible-spoilers/493744/10 "2009-04-20T17:17:11Z")
**Halloween**. The neighbor’s dog barks a warning that Michael Myers is lurking - then gets strangled. ---
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-the-dog-die-possible-spoilers/493744/11 "2009-04-20T17:20:04Z")
I was just watching _The Road Warrior_…or was it _Mad Max_??..can’t really tell the two movies apart (or are they the same movie?) and I was really only half-watching it. Anyway, towards the end of it there’s a character that’s going to shoot Max with a crossbow…Max’s doggie jumps up to I assume protect him and the doggie gets it, albiet off screen, you just see the guy shoot the crossbow and the doggie yelps. ☹ I almost did not watch _I Am Legend_ because of the dog thing myself, and I kinda regretted that I did watch it–I bawled my eyes out at that part. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-the-dog-die-possible-spoilers/493744/12 "2009-04-20T17:21:59Z")
A dog dies in _Audition_. Everything else is so horrible you barely notice it. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-the-dog-die-possible-spoilers/493744/13 "2009-04-20T17:28:39Z")
[Requisite link.](http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/The_Dog_Dies_at_the_End) Awww… look at the widdle puppy. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-the-dog-die-possible-spoilers/493744/14 "2009-04-20T17:33:35Z")
Cujo. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-the-dog-die-possible-spoilers/493744/15 "2009-04-20T17:37:06Z")
_Martian Child_ ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-the-dog-die-possible-spoilers/493744/16 "2009-04-20T17:47:33Z")
> [@HelloKitty](#): > > I was just watching _The Road Warrior_…or was it _Mad Max_ > Anyway, towards the end of it there’s a character that’s going to shoot Max with a crossbow…Max’s doggie jumps up to I assume protect him and the doggie gets it, albiet off screen, you just see the guy shoot the crossbow and the doggie yelps. ☹ That’s in ‘The Road Warrior’. _sniff_ Cute little Australian Cattle Dog. I just watched Marley and Me last weekend. I couldn’t finish the book cause I knew how it ended and my old dog Gizmo wasn’t doing great at the time (he’s doing ok now). I thought the movie was pretty crappy, though. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-the-dog-die-possible-spoilers/493744/17 "2009-04-20T17:56:21Z")
After watching “My Dog Skip,” I recommended it to my mother. She asked me, “This isn’t one of those movies in which the dog dies, is it?” I had to assure her it isn’t. And he doesn’t die in the movie, even though there is a scene in which Skip is injured and it looks bad for him. I know this isn’t what the thread was asking, but I had to share. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-the-dog-die-possible-spoilers/493744/18 "2009-04-20T18:00:51Z")
_The Royal Tannenbaums_ has a little beagle who gets plowed over by Owen Wilson. ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-the-dog-die-possible-spoilers/493744/19 "2009-04-20T18:02:53Z")
In **Signs** , you hear the dog die. And in **Boondock Saints** , you see the cat die. When I saw that, I cursed out the guy I was watching it with. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-the-dog-die-possible-spoilers/493744/20 "2009-04-20T18:05:42Z")
A couple of dogs meet a tragic end in _A Fish Called Wanda_ (as do a tankful of fish) (although one’s opinion of ‘tragic’ may vary in this case 🙂 ). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-have-the-dog-die-possible-spoilers/493744.md?page=2)