Dogs have always had a gift for showing up at exactly the right moment. They anchor animated films, move audience members to tears, materialize at press events, and occasionally walk away with the whole show while their human companions look on, delighted and slightly upstaged.
Even by those standards, 2025 was something worth documenting. This was a year when dogs inspired blockbusters, graduated from street life to Netflix stardom, lobbied awards bodies for acting recognition, and made history at a dog show that has been running since 1879. We couldn’t let the year close without acknowledging every single one of them. What follows is a chronological look back — not a ranking, because ranking good dogs is an absurd exercise. Every one of these animals is excellent. That’s the only category that matters.
Dogs (and cats) transfixed by the animated Oscar winner Flow
Most movies receive a polite glance from our pets before they return to their preferred activity of sleeping. Flow was different. Latvia’s first Oscar-winning film — an animated story set in a flooded post-apocalyptic world, following a cat, a dog, a capybara, a large bird, and a lemur as they navigate the aftermath together — became an unexpected sensation for animal audiences. Matiss Kaza, who co-wrote and produced the film, told The New York Times that real animal sounds were used to bring the characters to life, which may explain all those TikTok videos of pets staring transfixed at the screen. Apparently, great cinema transcends species.
A Great Dane holds his own against Naomi Watts in The Friend
Not just any dog can share a frame with Naomi Watts and hold his own. Bing the Great Dane managed it in The Friend, a comedy-drama about grief that arrived in April. Watts plays a writer who inherits her late mentor’s beloved dog, Apollo, after he passes away. Bing portrays Apollo with enough emotional range to carry the film’s quieter moments, and his real-life bond with Watts — who welcomed him into her home during the COVID-era extended production schedule — comes through clearly on screen.
“She never let dog hair or slobber bother her,” Bing’s pet parent and trainer, Bev Klingensmith, said during the film’s release. “She had no problem with, you know, kind of just getting up in there, just enjoying the dog, and allowing the bond to happen that way.”
Demi Moore and Pilaf coordinate looks before the Met Gala
Dogs cannot attend the Met Gala. This is a cruel and arbitrary rule, but it’s the one we live under. Demi Moore worked around it by photographing herself and her Chihuahua, Pilaf, in coordinated outfits before the event. Pilaf’s ensemble was admittedly more understated than Demi’s — elaborate stiff collars do not, as a rule, go over well with Chihuahuas — but the coordinated energy was unmistakable.
If you’re unfamiliar with Pilaf, she first captured international attention at the Cannes Film Festival while Moore promoted The Substance, and she has been a cultural fixture ever since, including a memorable Dogue spread. She remains the Met Gala’s most compelling uninvited guest.
James Gunn’s rescue dog inspired Krypto in Superman
The CGI Krypto seen in this summer’s Superman was animated, but his origin story is entirely real. Director and writer James Gunn adopted a dog named Ozu during production, and the experience of bringing home a deeply unsocialized rescue shaped Krypto’s character in ways that ended up on screen.
As Gunn shared on Instagram, Ozu “came from a hoarding situation in a backyard with 60 other dogs” where he’d had no contact with human beings. The transition to home life was not smooth. “He immediately came in [and] destroyed our home, our shoes, our furniture,” Gunn wrote, adding that somehow, Ozu even ate his laptop. “It took a long time before he would even let us touch him.” Wondering what it would be like if that same chaotic energy came with superpowers turned out to be the creative spark the film needed.
Folktales proves what dogs can teach teenagers about accountability
This heartfelt Norwegian documentary arrived in July and promptly became required viewing for anyone who has ever believed strongly in the power of animal-human bonds. Set at the Pasvik Folk High School, Folktales follows a group of teenagers who give up their phones to learn survival skills — including the care of 40 sled dogs — over an extended stay in a remote setting.
Co-director Rachel Grady noted the particular challenge of caring for that many animals at once: “it’s not about you. You have to show up, because this animal is relying on you to feed it, to make sure that it’s healthy, to check its body and make sure its claws are OK. … I think there’s something about that that’s just incredibly healthy for one’s ego, you know?”
The documentary’s core message, as Grady described it: “You have to check some of your self-absorbed selfishness at the door.”
Sabrina Carpenter’s dogs Goodwin and Louie conquer Dogue
The summer album rollout that launched many conversations was accompanied by an equally important canine cultural moment. Sabrina Carpenter’s dogs, Goodwin and Louie, landed a full spread in Dogue — replete with a miniature Mercedes Benz convertible, Elizabethan collars, tiaras, and group photos alongside American Girl dolls. The behind-the-scenes content alone was enough to justify the existence of celebrity dog journalism. May this not be the last we see of them.
Amendoim, a real street dog, stars in Netflix’s Caramelo
Few origin stories in 2025 cinema were as perfect as the one belonging to Amendoim — “Peanut” in Portuguese — who plays the lead dog in Netflix’s Caramelo. Director Diego Freitas told Brazilian outlet Splash that Amendoim “showed up at the production company’s door” as a three-month-old puppy. As Freitas put it, “It was meant to be.”
Caramelo is built around vira-lata caramelo dogs, a beloved and distinctly Brazilian type of street dog known for their scrappiness and intelligence. The film cast 60 of them. All 60 were adopted when production wrapped, most of them by members of the crew. The film’s October Netflix debut performed extremely well, and Amendoim’s personal journey from stray puppy to lead actor remains one of the most satisfying arcs of the year.
Indy the Duck Toller carries an entire horror film on his shoulders in Good Boy
Horror movies have a long and dispiriting history of bad outcomes for dogs. Good Boy, which opened in October, cheerfully upended this tradition by making its dog the protagonist and narrator. Indy, a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, carries the film’s perspective from start to finish as his owner manages a harrowing illness in a remote rural setting. Indy’s performance is precise and expressive enough that he subsequently lobbied the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for consideration in the Best Actor category. The Academy did not respond. The people have, however.
Soleil the Belgian Sheepdog makes history at the National Dog Show
The National Dog Show’s records on Best in Show winners go back to 2002, when the event first began airing on television. As far as those records indicate, a Belgian Sheepdog had never taken home the top prize before last November, when Soleil did exactly that. Handler Daniel Martin described it well in the aftermath of their win: “Soleil loves the energy, and she feels it,” he said. “That’s her magic.”
She has impeccable presence. Her coat is full and gleaming. Her smile reaches through the screen. By any reasonable measure, 2025 belonged to her.
