Why a man’s smartest accessory is his best friend.

As anyone that has ever had a dog can attest, they quickly become an indispensable part of the family. And in many ways a pet dog is akin to a relative – albeit a relative that has an unhealthy relationship with the postman and needs to be let outside to use the toilet. Still, what our four-legged friends lack in decorum, they more than make up for in loyalty and devotion – for what other reason do we know them as man’s best friend? Today also happens to be National Pet Day, which we think is the perfect excuse to showcase a few stylish gentlemen with their canine companions. As you’re about to discover, from architects with weimaraners to royalty with pugs, behind every good man is a good dog.

Here is the perennially gregarious actor Mr Rex Harrison, photographed with his superbly named basset hound Homer, with whom he shared a house in Wilton Crescent, in London’s Belgravia. The two were inseparable, and Mr Harrison's gregariousness was complemented well by Homer’s glum regality. The Telegraph reported in 1998 that Mr Harrison confessed he preferred Homer to any of his six wives, despite the dog’s reputation for being a little flatulent.

We were unable to find the name of the weimaraner owned by Mr Frank Lloyd Wright and featured in this photograph, but we think the duo make a rather arresting pair. Here, they are pictured in Taliesin West, the architect's winter home, which is now the main campus for the School of Architecture in Taliesin. Although this photograph appears to be a candid shot at first glance, we have a feeling that Mr Wright choreographed it – just look at the way the architectural lines of the windows perfectly complement the owner and his dog.

Mr Paul Newman, handsome of face and canine-friendly of character, shared two dogs with his wife Ms Joanne Woodward. The couple were often pictured with their trusty companions, which were called Tippy and Clay. Here the American actor is pictured on a walk down a cobbled Paris street in 1960 with the two happy-looking pups in tow.

The moustachioed Italian actor Mr Ugo Tognazzi was best known for playing bon vivants and adulterous husbands in a variety of 20th-century Neopolitan films, and although you may not have heard his name before, this picture of him exiting a car with this charming dachshund meant we had to include him in our list. The dachshund, which is only about as big as a moustache itself, does not actually belong to Mr Tognazzi either – it's the film director Mr Marco Ferreri’s. They make such a good pair though, and we like to imagine the dachshund gave Mr Tognazzi a run for his money when it came to photogenic pizzazz.

The Duke of Windsor is perhaps most well-known for abdicating from the throne to marry the American divorcee Ms Wallis Simpson, a decision which caused a constitutional crisis at the time. Still, the couple weathered the scandal and began a royal family of their own, adopting a total of 11 (!) pugs over the years, who had a rather stunning collection of names – included in the pack were Disraeli, Davey Crockett, Black Diamond, Imp, Trooper and Ginseng.

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