Few other animals can claim such a closeness with people than the dog. Horses have been regulated to the boarding stable, fish are lovely but less cuddly, and cats are the same as they have been since the beginning of time. Only dogs are the animals that will stick by humans through thick and thin, no matter where we go or how it takes us to return.
Dog lovers can tune into Netflix to find a library of shows that are focused on humans' best friends. There's a nice range of shows that includes movies, dramas, and cartoons, and selections for adults and kids, so there's something for every dog lover in the house.
6 Dogs
A line in the theme song says it all, "no matter how much you love me, I love you more." Dogs is a collection of sweet and heartwarming stories about special owners and their equally unique canine friends.
Every story has a public and a personal dimension, and the dogs are as much a focus of the drama as the humans who love them. Some episodes are exciting and dangerous, like the Syrian refugee Ayham who hatches a plan to rescue his husky from a war zone, but there are also contemplative and more introspective stories. An episode about a day in the life of Blue, the adorable bull terrier and college team mascot, is one example.
5 Canine Intervention
Sometimes everyone needs a friend to intervene on their behalf. Canine Intervention features Jas Leverette, a dog trainer from Oakland who's been able to turn some lives after behavioral problems made life difficult for both dogs and owners. These stories take place in the same region, southern California, and the setting adds to the atmosphere of the show as a place where dogs are well-liked, numerous, and often misunderstood.
Leverette not only works with individual dogs in homes but also with shelters and canine rescue operations. In one show, Leverette visits a shelter in the Mojave Desert that rescues strays and dogs that have been abandoned. Another popular episode is about the case of Diesel, a formerly lovable husky shepherd mix who takes a mysterious and aggressive turn.
4 Super PupZ
It's a show aimed at kids, using that classic old formula of the after-school special that grown-ups remember and love. The premise of an alien escaping government custody with the help of a few puppies that are trapped in the same lab makes the viewer sympathize with them immediately. It's everyone's favorite alien-among-us trope.
The stakes aren't exactly high in this cute and fuzzy adventure, but SuperPupZ is perfect for what it is, and the production values are more than decent considering this isn't a big-budget production. The package says live action, and it is, but there's a lot of CGI and it could look a lot worse.
3 Seventeen
For dog lovers that appreciate foreign films, especially those that are featured at festivals and win awards, Seventeen is a movie from 2019 that didn't get enough attention. It's a comedy-drama in Spanish, filmed on location in Spain, and premiered at the San Sebastián International Film Festival on September 27, 2019. It's been streaming on Netflix since October of that same year.
Héctor is 17 years old, and this story begins when he escapes from his juvenile detention center. His motivation isn't a return to a life of crime or to find drugs, but to reunite with a dog named Oveja whom he met while staying in detention. Another perk to this heartwarming movie is the geography of Cantabria, a historic region of northern Spain, where most of Héctor's adventures take place.
2 Dogs In Space
This will entertain kids, and it's nuanced enough that they'll understand it, but the writing is meant for adults. No matter how old the viewer is, it's fun to see different breeds of dogs in cartoon form, and the animators do a great job of subtle differences that dog lovers will notice, like certain face markings or the shape of a dog's ears.
The premise of the show is that dogs have been genetically engineered and sent into space to find a new planet to replace the original one, which humans have destroyed. It's a funny scenario with cartoon dogs, but it's got an apocalyptic touch, and the show doesn't hide how much the characters love and miss their people.
1 Rescued By Ruby
In May of 2022, a K9 rescue dog from Rhode Island crossed the Rainbow Bridge after a sudden and short illness. Her name was Ruby, and this movie is based on her story. Although Rescued By Ruby is a dramatization and never pretends to be a documentary, most of the details of Ruby's story happened just as they are depicted in the film.
It's true that Ruby was returned to the shelter numerous times because of behavioral issues, and was rescued literally hours before she was scheduled to be euthanized. In the movie, it's the main character Daniel O'Neil that adopts Ruby in the hopes of making her a rescue dog. In both the movie and real life, one of her early success stories was finding the lost hiker who turned out to be the son of the shelter worker who was determined to save her. If karma is real, it comes in the shape of a dog.