The 8 best dogs in science fiction

Dogs are the best part of life. Clearly. That's why even when science fiction creators look to the stars and beyond, they can't help but include man's best friend in the bunch, too. Given that it's National Pet Day, it only feels right for SYFY WIRE to pay tribute to the best science fiction dogs out there.

We won't be ranking these dogs — how could we? All dogs are created equal, especially these fantastic science fiction dogs. Here they are: The 8 best dogs in science fiction. Don't see your favorite here? Tell us who deserves to make the list in the comments below. All dogs are up for consideration.

The Secret Life of Pets 2 premieres in theaters on June 7.

The animated show that scarred a generation, Courage the Cowardly Dog starred the titular Courage, a purple, paranoid mutt forced to protect his mistress Muriel from the creepy goings-on in Nowhere, Kansas. While he's more likely than not to find himself in trouble, Courage always finds a way through even the strangest situations. At the end of the day, all he wants is to curl up on Muriel's lap for a well-deserved nap.

Amongst all the Good Dogs on this list is Cujo, the titular killer St. Bernard from Stephen King's horror classic. We'd be remiss if Cujo didn't show up here. Equal parts victim and town terror, Cujo is a good-dog-turned-bad, a tragic anti-hero of epic proportions. That's what makes him so terrifying; he's a reminder of just how scary man's best friend can be.

Dog snatched one of the final slots for this list. While there are plenty of fantastic dogs in genre, Dog makes the cut simply because of the absurdity of his situation. As the friendlier, less classically intelligent of the CatDog amalgamation, Dog truly embodies what it means to be a dog: he's just here to have a good time.

Oh, Ein. Sweet, sweet Ein. Where would the Cowboy Bebop team (especially Edward) be without this data dog? This super-intelligent corgi has all the charm of a pup and all the computing power of a… well… a computer. He's the best of all worlds.

Now we just have one question: Which lucky corg will play Ein in the upcoming live-action Cowboy Bebop?

There have been several K9s over the course of Doctor Who's 50-year history. We're not about to say any one is better than another. All that matters is that these robot dogs are the perfect companion — between the heads up displays, the lasers, and the flying, there's nothing K9 can't do.

Superman's superheroic sidekick is a no-brainer. Is there any better, pure interpretation of a dog? A hero in a red cape, flying around to dole out justice to deserving baddies. By all accounts, police and search and rescue dogs strive for this level of heroism.

This might be cheating considering there are two iterations of Muffit. The first, a living dog (or, rather, daggit), was tragically killed during a Cylon attack; the latter was a robot called Muffit II. Both iterations are heroes and deserve the world.

We can all agree that Captain Jonathan Archer's adorable pet Beagle Porthos is the real star of Enterprise. He's always down for an adventure and makes every scene he's in that much better. Porthos also came up in J.J. Abrams' 2009 Trek reboot, in which Scotty admits to having lost Captain Archer's prize Beagle to the depths of space. We can only hope he ended up somewhere nice.