15 dog movies ranked by how much you’ll cry

1. Old Yeller (1957)

Old Yeller is a classic live-action Disney film that follows the lives of Travis Coates, his younger brother Arliss, and their mom while their father is gone to work at a cattle drive. Against Travis’ initial judgment, he and Arliss adopt a thieving dog named Old Yeller, a labrador/mastiff mix who has a tendency to steal meat from the smokehouses. However, Old Yeller is also fiercely protective, and saves Arliss and Travis from quite a few scrapes.

Old Yeller’s owner trades him to the Coates family for a horned toad from Arliss’ pocket and a homecooked meal. He also warns Travis that there’s a growing plague of rabies among the local animals. This puts everyone at risk. Yeller is almost infected with it when he helps Travis hunt some wild hogs, but recovers. Later, he’s bitten by a rabid wolf and does get the disease, and Travis is forced to shoot him after he tries to attack Arliss.

This movie is devastating. The book it’s based on (by William Tunberg) is just as sad. At the end, Travis adopts one of the dog’s puppies and names him Young Yeller in honor of his father. They say the best way to get over the grief of losing a pet is to get another pet. That’s all good, but it seems like having to shoot your beloved dog because he’s come down with rabies would be especially hard to get over. I’m still not over Old Yeller’s death and I haven’t seen this movie in years.

Likelihood of making you cry: 11/10

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