A Dog's Love is a 1914 American short silent fantasy drama film with subtitles,[1] directed by Jack Harvey on his directorial debut.

[2] The film is about a dog who loses his best friend, when a young girl is killed in an automobile accident, and focuses on his emotions in dealing with his loss.

Well-received because of its "universally appealing" theme, the dog's emotions were reported as surpassing the child's histrionics.

The film opens with an inter-title that reads "Poor little rich girl has no one to play with" and cuts to Baby Helen with her doll, looking out the window.

Next, Baby Helen goes to tea party set up on the yard and holds her doll, all by herself, with a lonely expression.

He tugs at her dress at the waist and finding that he is unable to move her, runs to Helen's home and jumps against the screen door, barking repeatedly.

Helen's parents approach her grave, marked by a group of flowers and a temporary marker at the head.

The final inter-title of the film announces "Don't cry, it's only make believe" showing Helen, holding flowers and leaning against Shep.

[2] Shep the Dog, also known as The Thanhouser Collie, was a well-trained animal performer who appeared in a number of the company's films during this period.

[2] The dog's acting, in portraying a range of emotions including "depression", "groveling pathos" and "joy", was noted to be superior to the child's performance.

[7] Official musical accompaniment for works of this period were very rare and only one studio, Vitagraph, regularly made suggestions available to exhibitors.

[8][note 2] In 1913 and 1914, cue sheets or musical suggestions could be obtained inexpensively through various industry sources and retained their dominance.

Jack Harvey's debut film as a director was well received by the public due to its "universally appealing" theme.

Thanhouser writes that the "loyal dog's attachment to his little girl playmate is treated with pictorial beauty and simple, honest sentiment", and notes that when it was released on October 4, 1914, reviewers praised the "double-exposure passages for their dramatic effectiveness".

[2] Louis Reeves Harrison of The Moving Picture World' review of the film stated, "This play becomes one of delicate pathos toward the end through some remarkable feats of double exposure, and it is one of beauty throughout because of the acting of a four-year-old tot, Baby Helen, a veritable star in her class.

I do not know what director handled this subject, but I suggest he apply his thought visualizations to the human characters of future stories.

... As a general thing, I disapprove of the agonies of film mortality and its frequent projection of cemetery scenes, but this is one of the situations that must be handed the label 'exception'.

"[12] Contained within her review Kelly, also mentioned that baby Helen was placed in front of the camera so that even as she lay "dying" that she was still shown to be breathing.