Disney Dog Fight

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In TV Land, when two people lay claim to a pet, things like bills of sale do not matter. No, in matters such as these, it is always best to put the pet between the two owners, and let the pet decide. What we have is a good old fashioned Disney Dog Fight.

This usually occurs at the climax of the story. The two claimants will call out to the pet, and the pet will thrash back and forth between the two choices, the better to increase the drama. But eventually it will go to the person who loves them with all their heart, and not the evil master who wanted to make a profit (or some other heinous motive).

Despite the name of the trope, it does not have to involve a dog, nor does it need to be in a Disney movie. Dogs just seem to be most often used, with horses and children running a close second. It is part of the trope that if it is a person, not an animal, making the choice they are somehow decision impaired (a child for instance) or is somehow making the decision not using higher brain functions (a Hormone-Addled Teenager for instance). Disney is invoked mainly because they perpetuated the trope in numerous Live-action movies and TV shows, but also because the name Disney is often synonymous with toning down content for younger viewers, so this is Disney's version of a 'Dog Fight'.

This is seldom played straight anymore (Air Bud, a Disney dog picture, is a notable exception). Mainly it is played for laughs, for example where the dog does not pick the Universe's Chew Toy, or a human is reduced to animalistic base functions to make a decision. Sometimes it is Subverted.

Sub-Trope of Let Him Choose. Compare/contrast with Judgment of Solomon. Not to be confused with Old School Dogfighting in a Disney movie, like in Tron: Legacy.

Examples of Disney Dog Fight include:

Anime and Manga

Misuzu is forced to choose between her aunt and her father in AIR.
In one of the shorts for Haiyoru! Nyaru-Ani, Nyarlko's pet Shantak is getting too attached to Mahiro. When they do this test, Shantakkun immediately chooses Mahiro. Nyarlko beats the crap out of it.
In Axis Powers Hetalia, England and France do this with a young America. He eventually chooses England after England gets depressed that he can't offer anything as good as France can.

Comic Books

Parodied in an early issue of Young Justice, with Robin and Parody villain Riproar convincing, not a dog, but a sentient car to come with one of them. The car goes with Robin.

Film

Air Bud, as mentioned above.
The dog catcher in the film version of Annie let Annie keep Sandy after he (eventually) came to her when she called that name while a random passerby called out random names.
Used in As Good as It Gets between Verdell (the dog) and Simon and Melvin. A twist is that Melvin was trying not to win.
Slightly weird version in Poison Ivy. It seems at first that Ivy is trying not to win, in order to prove to Sylvie that she is not stealing the affections of her father and her dog - but due to her personality she can't handle actually losing, and uses the food-cue training she set up earlier to get the dog to come to her.
See Spot Run
Used in Mr. Popper's Penguins, twice. First time subverted, second played straight.

Literature

Jack London's Brown Wolf is an early example of this trope.
In the first Henry Huggins book by Beverly Cleary, Henry has to do this to lay claim on Ribsy. He tries to sweeten the deal by offering horse meat (which he doesn't have), which he is called out on by his opponent.

Live-Action TV

At the end of the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Requiem for Methuselah", Robot Girl Rayna Kapec must choose between Flint and Captain Kirk. The strain causes her to overload and die.
Parodied in Scrubs, where Turk and JD act out such a scene with Rowdy, their dead stuffed dog.
In a Taxi B-Story, Alex sees a man whip his Great Dane as he's about to get out of the cab. Once the man gets out of the cab, Alex speeds away with the dog. Later in the garage the man comes back with a policeman in tow demanding his dog back. They do the standard bit of Alex on one side and the man on the other both calling to get the dog to come to them. After a few minutes the dog goes over to the man...and attacks him.
One episode of CSI had two victims: one killed by gun and another killed by dog bites to the neck. The investigation of evidence showed that the two victims were husband and wife, and they were getting a divorce. They were arguing over who'd get 'custody' of their pet dog. The female victim had bacon grease under her fingernails to lure the dog to her side. How did they die? The husband got a similar dog to replace the first dog. The wife found out and shot him. The gun shot scared the new dog and attacked the woman, killing her.
Parodied at the end of Castle, where Castle and Beckett were sharing the duties of taking care of the dog of the Victim of the Week. At the end, neither can bear to part with him, so the standard Dog Fight ensues, and the dog goes to...the freshly-cleared celebutante suspect, who already has a handbag chihuahua of her own.

Theater

110 In The Shade does this with a love-addled Lizzie in the climax of the play. "Come with me Liizzie/Stay with me Lizzie"

Web Original

Simon and Lewis of the Yogscast once tried to get a pet wolf to do this in their Yogscast Minecraft Series after getting in an argument about who tamed it. They forgot that once you've gotten a wolf to sit, it won't move until you click on it again.

Western Animation

Done to Maggie on The Simpsons a few times. Once was a choice between the Flanderses and the Simpsons (minus Marge), but then she Took A Third Option when Marge came into view. Another time the choice was between Lisa and Bart, and again she Took A Third Option and chose the TV. Santa's Little Helper and Snowball II have had this a time or two too.
- Also to Santa's Little Helper, when Bart gives him away, and he winds up with a blind man. Then Bart wants him back, and Santa's Little Helper, sort of has to choose between Bart and the blind man.
There was one episode of SpongeBob SquarePants where Gary had to choose between Spongebob and Patrick. He chose to go with Patrick, because he had a cookie in his back pocket. Gary gets back with Spongebob at the end of the episode.
Teen Titans had this with Silkie trying to choose between Starfire and Killer Moth. The indecision was so stressful that he exploded.
Adventure Time with NEPTR, the Never-Ending-Pie-Throwing-Robot choosing between Finn and the Ice King.
Done in Treasure Planet, with Morph having to choose between Long John Silver and Jim. Subverted, in that Morph doesn't really choose who wins, per se.
- Also notable in that both of the people loved Morph with all their heart. They both also really wanted the map to the treasure.
Futurama: In the episode "Mars University", Guenter the monkey wears a hat which gives him super-intelligence. Eventually he decides to return to the wild and so removes his hat and runs away. So the Planet Express crew goes to bring him back. But Leela thinks that he should be able to stay in the wild if that's what he wants. Cue the Disney Dog Fight, except with a monkey deciding between a hat and a banana.
At the end of Pocahontas, Percy the pug actually abandons his evil owner Governor Ratcliff in favor of the title heroine.