5 Thanksgiving programs featuring dogs

Thanksgiving is officially here, and while there will be plenty of parades and football on, what about some festive shows and movies for Turkey Day?

We’ve found five of the best Thanksgiving-related programs that feature dogs that are perfect to watch either while you’re waiting to eat or when you’re completely full with turkey and pie afterward.

Here are five things to watch this Thanksgiving featuring dogs

1. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

This is a must! In A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, Charlie Brown, Sally, and Snoopy are supposed to be heading over to their grandmother’s house for Thanksgiving when Peppermint Patty invites her and some of their friends over for Thanksgiving dinner. What is Chuck and Snoopy supposed to do except make a meal for them? It may be a meal of candy and toast, but no judgment here. Although, can Franklin please get a better chair? If you’re looking to get in the holiday spirit with some fun Snoopy shenanigans, you can’t go wrong with A Charlie Brown Christmas. It’s available to watch on Apple TV+.

A CHARLIE BROWN THANKSGIVING – The ABC Television Network will kick off the holiday season with the classic half-hour animated PEANUTS special, ÒA Charlie Brown Thanksgiving,Ó Wednesday, NOV. 27 (8:00-9:00 p.m. EST), on ABC. In the 1973 special, ÒA Charlie Brown Thanksgiving,Ó created by late cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, Charlie Brown wants to do something special for the gang. However, the dinner he arranges is a disaster when the caterers, Snoopy and Woodstock, prepare toast and popcorn as the main dish. Humiliated, it will take all of MarcieÕs persuasive powers to salvage the holiday for Charlie Brown. A special bonus cartoon from Charles M. Schulz, ÒThis Is America, Charlie Brown: The Mayflower Voyagers,Ó will air with the Peanuts classic, in which history comes to animated screen life in a captivating and informative program about the Mayflower voyagers. The special will air with Spanish audio via SAP. In ÒThis Is America, Charlie Brown: The Mayflower Voyagers,Ó the year is 1620. After 65 grueling, sea-tossed days, the Pilgrims are in view of AmericaÕs shores Ð and Charlie Brown and the Peanuts crew are with them as they experience firsthand the lifestyle of the early settlers and celebrate the first Thanksgiving. (©1973 United Feature Syndicate Inc.)

2. National Dog Show

Watching the National Dog Show on Thanksgiving has been a tradition in my family since probably before I was born. We always root for the dachshund…who never wins. But really, what better way is there to spend a day than watching dogs trot around for a couple of hours? And then you get to eat a bunch of food! It’s a win all around!

3. Best in Show

Best in Show may not be Thanksgiving-related, but because it’s about a dog show, Thanksgiving is the perfect day to watch it. It includes the perfect cast of Eugene Levy, Fred Willard, Catherine O’Hara, Jennifer Coolidge, Parker Posey, Michael Hitchcock, Micheal McKean, John Micheal Higgins, and Christopher Guest. The movie shows the “behind-the-scenes” of what happens at a dog show, including the people, who are sometimes wilder than the pets.

4. Homeward Bound

Considering lots of people go home for Thanksgiving, what better movie to watch (and cry at) than Homeward Bound? Get everyone around the TV, and instead of fighting, you’ll all be sobbing on each other’s shoulders because you’re so happy that Sassy, Shadow, and Chance made it home to their people. Just make sure you have plenty of tissues and that your pet is by your side to hug through the more difficult scenes.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – DECEMBER 01: A volunteer reads CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG books to Grace, an RSPCA NSW shelter animal seeking her fur-ever home on December 01, 2021 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)

5. Clifford the Big Red Dog

What would this list be without the biggest dog of them all? There is a Thanksgiving episode of Clifford the Big Red Dog called “Clifford’s Thanksgiving Visit: that is just as adorable and fun as you would expect. If you want to feel nostalgic for a time when you watched the show as a kid, or you have kids of your own and want to play the episode for them, Thanksgiving weekend is a perfect time. It’s currently available on YouTube to watch for free.

What will you be watching on Thanksgiving? Stay tuned to Dog O’Day for all the latest holiday dog-related news!