Over the years there have been a number of songs about dogs or with dog(s) in the title, sometimes the song itself is not actually about our canine companion but more used as a metaphor for life in general (was that too deep for this web site?).

The following lists a few of the more famous songs we have probably heard or know of...sadly many many show That Web Guy's age...still, we are sure most will be a nice reminder and some might even bring back a memory or two...

We couldn't start this article without bringing you perhaps the most famous of them all: Hound Dog.

This song is a twelve-bar blues written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and originally recorded by Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton in 1952. Other early versions illustrate the differences among blues, country, and rock and roll in the mid 1950s.

The 1956 remake by Elvis Presley is the best known version. This is the version that is #19 on Rolling Stone Magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Hound Dog was also recorded by 5 country singers in 1953 alone, and over 26 times through 1964.

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Who Let The Dogs Out? is a song written and originally recorded by Anslem Douglas for Trinidad and Tobago's Carnival season of 1998.

It was re-recorded by The Baha Men, placed in the movie Rugrats in Paris: The Movie and then released it as a single in 2000. It became the band's first hit in the US and the UK, reaching #40 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States and #2 on the UK Singles Chart. It was the 4th biggest-selling single of 2000 in the UK. The track went to win the Grammy for Best Dance Recording on the 2001 Grammy Awards.

In a poll conducted by the Rolling Stone Magazine to identify the 10 most annoying songs, this song was ranked third, but it continues to have great appeal. (FYI: #2 was Macarena by Los Del Rio; #1 My Humps Black Eyed Peas)

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Mad Dogs and Englishmen is a song written by Noël Coward in 1931 and released in a "studio version" in 1932 It is best known for the line that begins "Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun".  The song is a somewhat light hearted dig at the colonial society of the time. You can listen to a snippet of the original recording here.

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Diamond Dogs is a 1974 single by David Bowie, and the title track of the album of the same name originally released by RCA in 1974. Theoretically it was a marriage of the novel 1984 by George Orwell and Bowie's own glam-tinged vision of a post-apocalyptic world. Bowie had wanted to make a theatrical production of Orwell's book and began writing material after completing sessions for his 1973 album Pin Ups, but the late author’s estate denied the rights. The songs wound up on the second half of Diamond Dogs instead where, as the titles indicate, the 1984 theme was prominent.

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Dogs, formerly known as You Gotta Be Crazy, is a song by Pink Floyd. It was released on the album Animals in 1977. Dogs are used to represent the megalomaniacal businessmen who destroy themselves and those around them by obsessing over their egos and their careers. During the part which includes Rick Wright's synthesiser solo, the sounds of dogs barking can be heard; this sound effect was created by Roger Waters by using a vocoder.

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In 1971 Lobo did a song called Me and You and a Dog called Boo all about two hippies and a dog taking a cross-country road trip in an old car that runs poorly. The protagonists of the song get mired in the Georgia clay, steal food from a farmer and work to pay it off, and end up living in Los Angeles, but the old car makes them want to hit the road again. Lobo means wolf in Spanish.

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Shoot The Dog is a politically satiral song released by George Michael in 2002 that caused some degree of controversy. The video is a cartoon, which portrays British Prime Minister Tony Blair as the pet poodle of US President George Bush. In another scene, Blair and Bush are dancing together, with Blair wearing a dress. The implication that Blair would do whatever Bush told him to played out months later when the US went to war with Iraq. Despite criticism from the British public, Blair supported Bush and sent troops to help the US.

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In 1966 Cat Stevens released the album Matthew and Son, on it was the song I Love My Dog in which Stevens wrote about a Dachshund he found tied to a post when he was young. When nobody claimed the dog, he took it home and grew attached to it.

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Shannon by Henry Gross (a founding member of the world famous rock ‘n’ roll revival group Sha Na Na) was produced as single in 1976.  A song written about the passing of Beach Boy Carl Wilson's Samoyed (dog) of the same name. The single went gold and became a worldwide hit, reaching #6 on the USA charts in 1976…this song a real tear jerker for dog lovers everywhere..

Another day is at end, Mama says she's tired again
No one can even begin to tell her I hardly know what to say
But maybe it's better that way
Is papa were here I'm sure he'd tell her

Shannon is gone I hope she's drifting out to sea
She always loved to swim away
Maybe she'll find an island with a shady tree
Just like the one in our backyard

Mama tried hard to pretend things would get better again
Somehow she's keeping it all inside her but finally the tears fill our eyes
And I know that somewhere tonight
She knows how much we really miss her

Shannon is gone I hope she's drifting out to sea
She always loved to swim away
Maybe she'll find an island with a shady tree
Just like the one in our backyard

Just like the one in our backyard...