If there’s are two rules of thumb when it comes to dogs on screen. Director Martin McDonagh’s #1 rule: You never kill the dog in a movie. Our #2 rule: Purebred dogs are great PR. They sell stuff.  We don’t think it’s our imagination. In 2012, one in three commercials included a dog (according to Michelle Zahn, owner of Le PAWS, a professional pet talent agency), and according to Nielsen, three of the  “most remembered” ads in the 2012 Super Bowl had dogs in them.

Dog owners will appreciate the ending in this Mini Cooper ad from 2008: