Dogs have played an integral role in every one of mankind's great aspirations. In the early days, they assisted us in hunting, gathering, and exploring new lands. They've accompanied us to war and have helped keep peace in our own cities and neighborhoods. They've provided a much needed home sanitation alternative when we've felt too tired to vacuum up the crumbs on the kitchen floor. And they haven't done too shoddily in the pop culture department, either. Just as faithful and endearing as dogs have proved across human history have they likewise shown themselves to be in film, television, literature, comics, and whatever the umbrella term under which you'd shamefully slot memes. Dogs have proven themselves particularly prominent in the nerdiest divides of art and entertainment, always ready for a trek into space or a skulk across one of many acrid post-apocalyptic wastelands.
While there are indeed no best dogs, as every single dog who has ever lived is and will forever remain the greatest living thing to grace the mortal realm, we thought it only fair to give credit to some of nerd culture's most adored four-legged champions. Prompted by the release of the latest adventures of incurable dog lover John Wick, here are Nerdist's favorite pop culture dogs--a pick for every single breed we could manage.
AKITA
Best in Breed: Hachikō, the endlessly loyal pooch who became a cultural phenomenon thanks to his proclivity to wait daily by the train station for his human roommate ("owner" is so passé) to arrive home from work, showing up regularly even after the latter had died. Accepting the honor on Hachikō's behalf is his fictionalized counterpart Hachi from the 2009 Lasse Hallström film adaptation (Hachi: A Dog's Tale).
AMERICAN BULLDOG
Best in Breed: Chance, the precocious "bad boy" of the runaway trio that headlined the perennial mid-'90s home-viewing treat Homeward Bound. His witless bravery in the face of the mighty porcupine was his greatest undoing.
AMERICAN PIT BULL TERRIER
via GIPHY
Best in Breed: Backup, teenage sleuth Veronica Mars' shape-shifting pet. (We're going with the second, longer-tenured version.)
AMSTAFF
Best in Breed: Champion, the three-legged adoptee of Andy Dwyer and April Ludgate from Parks and Recreation. Though recognizable as an American Staffordshire Terrier, Champion has also been identified by Chris Traeger as an amazing-terrific hybrid.
AUSTRALIAN CATTLE DOG
Best in Breed: Max Rockatansky's unnamed pooch pal from Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. Doesn't say much, but then again, neither does Max.
AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERD
Best in Breed: Viral celebrity Staines, whose craving for cupcakes is matched only by his will power.
BASSET HOUND
Best in Breed: Droopy, animator Tex Avery's famously dysthymic canine hero.
BEAGLE
Best in Breed: Snoopy, who is canonically recognized as a beagle despite looking nothing like one. What do you want me to do about it? He's a war hero, for goodness sake! Let him call himself what he wants!
BERGER PICARD
Best in Breed: Einstein, Doc Brown's easygoing second dog (that we know of) in Back to the Future, and the first ever living thing to travel through time.
BICHON FRISE
Best in Breed: Darla, who played both Queenie in The 'Burbs and Precious in The Silence of the Lambs. This dog liked her acting gigs creepy.
BLACK MOUTH CUR
Best in Breed: Old Yeller. The classics are classics for a reason, you know.
BLOODHOUND
Best in Breed: McGruff the Crime Dog. I know, kind of a square choice. But he may be the sole reason my life hasn't careened down a morbid trajectory of bad choices. (If a dog tells me not to do something, I'm not gonna do it!)
BORDER COLLIE
Best in Breed: Fly, the second dog on this list to herald from a George Miller movie, and the much kinder of the two pooches featured in Babe.
BORDER TERRIER
Best in Breed: Seymour Asses, Fry's relentlessly faithful stray pup from everybody's favorite and least favorite episode of Futurama. Go ahead, slink into the supply closet and get in that 30-minute cry that comes anytime you even hear mention of Seymour.
BULLMASTIFF
via GIPHY
Best in Breed: Butkus, Rocky's dog in Rocky. Appropriately, he seems kind of like the Rocky of dogs.
BULL TERRIER
Best in Breed: The unnamed star of the Brad Bird- and Tim Burton-produced cartoon series Family Dog, and the aesthetic precursor to the undead hero of Burton's 2012 film Frankenweenie.
CAIRN TERRIER
Best in Breed: Toto from The Wizard of Oz, naturally.
CHIHUAHUA
Best in Breed: Ren and Stimpy's titular Ren Hoek, who also identifies as an asthma hound.
CHINESE CRESTED
Best in Breed: Sir Didymus of the Labyrinth! You know, the one from Labyrinth.
CHOCOLATE LAB
Best in Breed: Lucky, a.k.a. Pizza Dog, Hawkeye's closest chum, who really should be getting his own standalone Marvel Cinematic Universe movie one of these days...
COCKER SPANIEL
Best in Breed: The high society hopeless romantic (and pasta junkie) Lady from Lady and the Tramp.
COLLIE
Best in Breed: Lassie. Duh.
COONHOUND
Best in Breed: The Star Fox franchise's dutiful General Pepper, who is known for--and you'll forgive me for this, as I have like 80 of these to write and can only resist the urge to make obvious puns for so long--barking orders.
CORGI
Best in Breed: Ein, the intellectually augmented runaway from Cowboy Bebop. Smart as hell, cute AF.
DACHSHUND
Best in Breed: Toy Story's synthetic stretchy pooch Slinky Dog. One of the last holdouts of the "Woody is innocent" camp, per his canid proclivity toward loyalty.
DALMATIAN
Best in Breed: It's a 101-way tie.
DOBERMAN
Best in Breed: The accident-prone but generally effectual superhero dog Dynomutt. (Okay, does anyone else know who Dynomutt is? Maybe I should have picked Blackie from Hugo. [Okay, does anyone else know who Blackie is?])
DOGUE DE BORDEAUX
Best in Breed: Hooch, as in Tom Hanks' slovenly crime fighting partner in Turner and Hooch. Certifiably unconcerned over what you think may or may not be "his room."
ENGLISH BULLDOG
Best in Breed: The impressively stretchy, and even more impressively reliable, Jake from Adventure Time.
ENGLISH MASTIFF
Best in Breed: Kazak, the physics-bending dog from Kurt Vonnegut's The Sirens of Titan. Accepting the honor on his behalf is a referential gag from the TV series Archer, which I figured you'd all enjoy anyhow.
FRENCH BULLDOG
Best in Breed: Gary Fisher, dauntless companion and Instagram muse of our beloved hero Carrie Fisher. She who herself came closer to dog-like valor and integrity than most of us ever will. We love them both. GERMAN SHEPHERDGary playing with a truly big dog in Rome..... pic.twitter.com/vg4cTYAOzq
— Carrie Fisher (@carrieffisher) October 15, 2016













Best in Breed: The unnamed, rigor mortis-stricken protagonist of David Lynch's comic strip series The Angriest Dog in the World. NEAPOLITAN MASTIFFRemember that David Lynch comic strip "The Angriest Dog in the World"? It me, lately. pic.twitter.com/nyJVZCj44e
— Bill Chambers (@flmfrkcentral) February 2, 2017





















Best in Breed: Doge, the wonderfully stupid meme that has held my heart since piercing the internet back in 2005. SHIH TZUWow Much morning Very tired Such sleep pic.twitter.com/cvjysHveSY
— Doge (@DogeTheDog) February 4, 2016








Featured Image: Adult Swim
Images: Stage 6 Films; Buena Vista; NBC; Warner Bros; MGM; 20th Century Fox; Universal; Fox; CBS; Nickelodeon; TriStar; Marvel Comics; Disney; Nintendo; Funimation; Cartoon Network; FX; Gaumont; HIT Entertainment; First Second Books; Disney-ABC Domestic Television; Adult Swim; HBO; Columbia Pictures; The WB; New Line Cinema; DreamWorks; LQ/JAF Productions; Anita Ritenour/Flickr; BBC; TV Asahi; Channel 4; Toho; Embassy Pictures/MGM; the Pokémon Company; PBS/Scholastic Entertainment; DC Comics; Paramount Pictures
GIFs: wifflegif.com/GIPHY, zimbio/GIPHY, thevtmouse.com/GIPHY
Michael Arbeiter is the East Coast Editor of Nerdist, and a part-time dog-walker. Send Michael dog GIFs aplenty on Twitter @MichaelArbeiter.