DFW.com's Top 50 movie dogs

This Oscars season, from Uggie and Arthur to Snowy and Blackie, it's raining dogs and dogs. So what better time to rank our 50 favorite canines in cinema. We know there’ll be some disagreement with our list, so tell us which of our pooch picks gave you paws. And which doggone dogs got left out. Post a comment below. And please, don't bark too loudly.

50. Chloe, Beverly Hills Chihuahua: We're only human. Cute goes a looong way in our list. Just in case Chloe, the star of Beverly Hills Chihuahua, isn't doe-eyed and winsome enough for you, Drew Barrymore did her voice.

49. Winn-Dixie, Because of Winn-Dixie: Opal (AnnaSophia Robb) rescues a dog at the grocery store, and names it Winn-Dixie. But as the movie continues, we're not sure who rescued whom. According to Internet Movie Database, Winn-Dixie was played by four Picardy Shepherds, a rare breed from France.

48. Matisse, Down and Out in Beverly Hills: Played by the wonderfully named Mike the Dog, Matisse was the neurotic border collie owned by a rich but unhappy couple (Richard Dreyfuss and Bette Midler). The other furry creature in this picture is Nick Nolte.

47. Precious, The Silence of the Lambs: Precious was less of an animal than owner Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine), the serial killer pursued by FBI cadet Clarice Starling.

46. Petey, Our Gang/Little Rascals films: Before the Our Gang gang was syndicated to TV in 1955, they lived on the silver screen in short films, and Petey was an always recognizable part of the crew. According to the For the Love of Pit Bulls website, the circle around his eye was drawn on -- and would change from eye to eye in different films.

45. Anwar Sadat, I Love You Man: Jason Segel's character in I Love You Man named his puggle after Anwar Sadat, the former president of Egypt (he insisted there was an uncanny resemblance). That didn't go over well with Sadat's daughter, who filed a lawsuit.

44. Snots, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation: Cousin Eddie's delightful, liquid-spewing dog. A family favorite line: "He's just yackin on a bone," says Cousin Eddie. "Yep, he got it up."

43. Baxter, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy: "I love poetry, and a glass of scotch, and, of course, my friend Baxter here," says Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell). No wonder: Baxter the wonder dog ends up saving Ron Burgundy from the clutches of an angry bear.

42. Hercules, The Sandlot: A k a The Beast, Hercules is a ball-chomping English Mastiff who strikes fear in the hearts of of a group of young sandlot-baseball players. But he turns out to be ... well, about as ferocious as he looks here.

41. Rowlf the Dog, The Muppets movies: The Muppets' resident easy-going pianist was one of the earliest Muppets, appearing regularly on The Jimmy Dean Show in the mid-'60s.

40. Milo, The Mask: Here's Milo with human friend Jim Carrey in a rare shot of them being still. Both would considerable amount of time in the movie being crazy and green.

39. Karenin, The Unbearable Lightness of Being: Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche and Lena Olin, the film is an adaptation of Milan Kundera's novel about a menage-a-trois during the Prague Spring. But it's Teresa's beloved dog, Karenin, that exemplifies unconditional love at its purest.

38. Sandy, Annie: Arf!

37. Beethoven, Beethoven: After his 1992 debut, Beethoven spawned a whole slew of comedies about slobbering St. Bernards, but there is not Beethoven's 9th -- yet, anyway.

36. Snowy, The Adventures of TinTin: According to the Adventures of TinTin website, original TinTin artist Herge was inspired to make TinTin's faithful companion a fox terrier because the owner of a restaurant he frequented owned one of the dogs.

35. Blackie, Hugo: The station inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) in Martin Scorsese's latest has an alert and fierce sidekick in this Doberman Pinscher. When it came to this year's Golden Collar nominations, Scorsese had a dog in this fight — he complained that Blackie was overlooked. The Golden Collar folks relented, and gave him a nod. Alas, Uggie from The Artist took the top prize at the inaugural Collars.

34. Fluffy, the Harry Potter movies: Hagrid's three-headed dog. His initial purpose was to guard the Philosopher's Stone. His Achille's paw: Fluffy could be lulled to sleep anytime there was music was playing.

33. Puffy, There's Something About Mary: Magda's Ben Stiller-hating Border terrier suffered abuse for comedy, something we're not OK with. But we felt better when we learned that all of Puffy's action scenes were played by fake dogs -- and not by Slammer (who plays Puffy), who does actually end up in the full body cast.

32. Skip, My Dog Skip: One of a slew of Jack Russells in our list, with his co-star Frankie Muniz. One of the other co-stars was Kevin Bacon, which is good, because dogs love Bacon. According to IMDB.com, Skip was played by six dogs, including Moose, who played Eddie on Frasier.

31. Hooch, Turner & Hooch: Tom Hanks is known as one of Hollywood's nice guys, but even he had problems dealing with his rambunctious co-star in this 1989 comedy.

30. Pluto: Pluto might might not be a planet anymore, but Pluto the dog will always be Mickey's best friend. The Disney dog was happily by the mouse's side in several feature films and nearly 50 shorts.

29. The Shaggy Dog, The Shaggy Dog: Late-'50s/early '60s heartthrob Tommy Kirk played the title role in the original The Shaggy Dog -- a teen who, thanks to an ancient curse, turned into a sheepdog.

28. Scraps, A Dog's Life: Dogs were stealing the show from the beginning. In A Dog's Life (1918), Charlie Chaplin's beloved pooch, Scraps, was ever by his side. According to the Turner Classic Movies website, the dog who played Scraps -- Mutt -- "was adopted by Chaplin and spent the rest of his life as a valued staff member at the star's studio."

27. Shadow and Chance, Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey: Veteran character actor Don Ameche did Shadow's voice; Michael J. Fox did Chance's. In the sequel, Ralph Waite took over for Ameche, who died between the two movies. Oh, and their pal Sassy the Cat? Sally Field did her voice.

26. Otis, The Adventures of Milo & Otis: Milo & Otis is about a cat-dog friendship so undying that Milo the cat and Otis the pug search for each other when they're separated. According to IMDB.com, 18 animal trainers worked on this film, which took four years to complete.

25. Yellow lab puppies, Bridesmaids: The puppies, all wearing pink berets, were given out as party favors at Maya Rudolph's bridal shower. Meghan (the uproarious Melissa McCarthy in her Oscar-nominated role) steals some of the puppies. How many? "I took nine. I did, I think, slightly over-commit to the whole dog thing. It turns out I'm probably more comfortable with six."

24. Verdell, As Good As It Gets: In the beginning of As Good As It Gets, you hate Jack Nicholson's character because he shoves Verdell, the Brussels Griffon, down a trash chute. By the end, after the two have bonded, you're supposed to forgive Jack. Some of us never have.

23. Buddy, Air Bud: When we first met Buddy in 1997's Air Bud, he was a golden retriever who played basketball. In sequels, dogs played football, baseball and soccer. That's the thing about sequels -- the really stretch the bounds of credibility.

22. Pongo and Perdy, 101 Dalmatians: The mom and pop from the live-action version, along with a fraction of those Dalmatians. See if you can spot 'em all!

21. Hubert, Best in Show: It's tempting to make this entry the entire canine cast of Best in Show, Christopher Guest's mockumentary about the world of dog show competition. And it's tempting, when pressed to choose a favorite, to lean toward your favorite human characters (Jane Lynch as Christy Cummings, anyone?). But when you really go to the dogs, our favorite isn't Rhapsody in White, or Beatrice the nervous Weimaraner, Agnes the Shih Tzu, or even the winner of the competition, Winky the Norwich Terrier. It's Hubert, he bloodhound owned by Harlan Pepper (Guest). The bond between Hubert and Harlan, an aspiring ventriloquist, feels sweet and true.

20. Sh_____d, The Jerk: If you've ever seen The Jerk on non-premium-channel TV, you know the name for Steve Martin's dog is changed to "Stupid," which we all laugh at, because we know the real name. Which we can't print, either. He's memorable more for his name than anything else.

19. Fly, Babe: The Border Collie served as a kind of surrogate mom to the title pig. Throughout Babe's dubious quest to become a great sheep dog, the benevolent Fly nurtured, encouraged and protected the uber-cute Babe.

18. Skeletor, 50/50: In 50/50, the retired greyhound has a special arc. For cancer patient Joseph Gordon-Levitt, he starts as a reluctantly accepted gift from his girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard). One look at the impossibly sweet, keenly curious-looking face, and you know it'll ultimately be love. Indeed, Skeletor eventually becomes the healing dog.

17. Sounder, Sounder: This 1972 weeper (starring Cicely Tyson and Paul Winfield), told the heartfelt story of a boy, his dog Sounder, and his family, black sharecroppers in 1930s Louisiana.

16. Frank the Pug, Men in Black: Has there ever been a cooler informant than Frank? In the Men in Black movies, Frank is a smart-mouthed alien in the body of a Chinese pug, who works with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. And Frank's suit? He makes it look GOOD.

15. Cujo, Cujo: In the famous adaptation of the Stephen King novel, the Trenton family's docile St. Bernard is bitten by a bat with rabies, and, well, you know the rest of the sad, horrific story.

14. Sam, I Am Legend:, The German shepherd, shown with Will Smith, was one in a long line of cinematic tearjerker scene-stealers.

13. Hachi, Hachi: A Dog's Tale: This 2009 sleeper starring Richard Gere, was a remake of a 1987 Japanese film based on the true story of Hachiko, the heart-breakingly faithful dog who continued to walked to Shibuya Station every day to meet his owner, even after the owner's death.

12. Asta, the Thin Man movies: The wire-haired Fox terrier best known for playing with Myrna Loy and William Powell in the witty mysteries, revolving around Nick and Nora Charles. "Asta, you're not a terrier, you're a police dog," Nick tells him. As we take in this photo, we're thinking it might've inspired a few scenes in a certain 2012 Oscar contender that starred another now-famous pooch.

11. Dug, Up: "I do not like the cone of shame." So says Dug, the exuberant, talking golden retriever from Pixar's Oscar-nominated2009 animated film. Like any dog, Dug is easily distracted when a certain woodland creature runs by ("SQUIRREL!"). From the minute lead characters Carl and Russell meet him, his lovable lug's personality is irresistible: "I have just met you, and I love you."

10. Benji, Benji: The original Benji was about a lovable stray who roams around a Texas town helping strangers. (The movie was shot throughout North Texas towns such as Denton and McKinney.) The dog, played by a shelter dog named Higgins, previously starred in TV's Petticoat Junction and Green Acres. He was 16 when the movie was released in 1974; he died the following year. A succession of Benji lookalikes played the dog in sequels.

9. Arthur, Beginners: The 2011 Jack Russell trend began with Arthur -- played by Cosmo, whose previous movies included Hotel for Dogs, and Paul Blart: Mall Cop. But his breakout role came in Beginners, in which he played Christopher Plummer's happy, communicative dog, Arthur. Although he doesn't go all trick-happy like Uggie in The Artist, Arthur does emote, and "speak" (in subtitles) in scenes with Ewan McGregor, who plays Plummer's son.

8. Bruiser, Legally Blonde: The beautiful Bruiser was Reese Witherspoon's perfectly accessorized Chihuahua throughout the Legally Blonde movies.

7. Lady and Tramp, Lady and the Tramp: The spaghetti-eating scene in Lady and the Tramp is not only the most memorable of the 1955 Disney movie, it's one of the most iconic in American film.

6. Marley, Marley & Me: Oh, Marley. Has a dog movie brought more grown men to tears than the hero of Marley & Me? We think not. Based on the best-selling true story by John Grogan, it told the tale of a couple's bond with a happy, bull-in-a-China-shop yellow lab.

5. Toto, The Wizard of Oz: Toto was Dorothy's constant companion, and with the line "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," his name became attached to the ubiquitous, satirical fish-out-of-water reference. Toto was played by a female brindle Cairn Terrier whose real name was Terry, who was reportedly paid a $125 weekly salary -- more than some of the human actors in the film. But let's not forget: Toto did pull the curtain down and expose "the great and powerful Oz."

4. Old Yeller, Old Yeller: Pass the tissues. 'Nuf said.

3. Rin Tin Tin: The original Rin Tin Tin (with William Collier in 1924's 'The Lighthouse By The Sea) was one of silent film's biggest stars. According to Susan Orlean's highly recommended Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend, the original "Rinty" did his own stunts and would have won the first Best Actor Oscar, except that human actors wanted the first Academy Awards to set a human-acting precedent. Rinty's successors weren't as talented, but movies and TV shows featuring his descendants continued for decades.

2. Lassie: When you've become an ingrained part of the American vernacular ("Lassie, what's the matter? Is Timmy trapped in the well?"), then you know you're high in the pantheon of top dogs. Brave, smart, and positively gorgeous, Lassie was everything a movie actress could hope to be (or actor, since a male dog named Pal played the first Lassie). Lassie's shown here with then 11-year-old, Elizabeth Taylor, during the time of their performances in Lassie Come Home (1943); the collie would go on to be a TV star as well.

1. Uggie, The Artist: Too soon? The Artist is a new film, just released last year, some will say. But we make our case for Uggie the Jack Russell terrier, whose previous roles include Mr. Fix It and Water for Elephants. Tricks? Sure, Uggie shows off many splendid moves -- one beautifully choreographed scene has Uggie and his owner (Jean Dujardin) at a table, simultaneously enacting a series of expressions and gestures. It's a comic wonder. But the loyal Uggie also exhibits bravery, heroism and tenacity. All without benefit of sound. Bravo, Uggie. Bravo!