Indy the Dog, the protagonist of the 2025 horror film ‘Good Boy’, has made history as the first canine to be nominated and win a major acting award — but not everyone is wagging their tails about it.
On January 9, Indy bagged the Best Performance in a Horror or Thriller at the 9th Annual Astra Film Awards in Los Angeles for his role as himself in ‘Good Boy’.
He managed to beat out an impressive line-up of human actors, namely Ethan Hawke (‘Black Phone 2’), Alison Brie (‘Together’), Sally Hawkins (‘Bring Her Back’), Sophie Thatcher (‘Companion’) and Alfie Williams (‘28 Years Later’).
“A movie he doesn’t understand he was in”: ‘Good Boy’ director
Indy is being “recognized for his work in a movie that he doesn’t understand he was in,” ‘Good Boy’ director Ben Leonberg, who is also Indy’s owner, said in an acceptance speech video.
The “goodest boy” himself is sitting beside Leonberg, while an Astra Awards trophy is displayed next to him.
“This award and incredible group of nominees reflect the freedom that horror gives performers and, in our case, trainers, to play, experiment, and to push the boundaries,” said Leonberg.
Praising the other nominees, he added: “Indy is honored to accept this award, especially knowing that he’s standing alongside performers who didn’t even need to be bribed with treats in order to hit their marks.”
Leonberg ended their speech by thanking the cast and crew of ‘Good Boy’ for their patience and belief, saying Indy “quite literally could not have done this without you.”
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A unique genre
For those unfamiliar, ‘Good Boy’ tells a horror story through the point of view of Indy, the pet dog of Todd, who began experiencing supernatural hauntings shortly after moving to his family home.
While this isn’t an entirely new approach in storytelling in movies, it certainly is still something unique in a genre that Leonberg himself said is “fueled by originality and reinvention.”
‘Offensive and degrading.’
However, not everyone is happy about Indy’s admittedly shocking win.
Many immediately took to the social media platform X to express their opinions on the matter, most of which were criticisms directed at the Astra Awards for disrespecting artists and the performing arts.
“Can we talk about how offensive and degrading it is to the actual artists in that room to gather them all there under the guise of recognising the best, then give the award to a dog,” one user wrote.
Meanwhile, another user said, “A dog winning best performance over an actual human performer is another obvious example of creatives being pushed out of their industries.”
Horror genre award gap
The horror genre has often been overlooked by major award-giving bodies in Hollywood, an issue brought to light every year during the awards season, but is never properly given any resolution.
For example, the Oscars have so far only nominated seven horror movies for Best Picture in the nearly 100 years of its existence.
While there is an effort to fill this gap with the presence of Saturn Awards and Dead Meat Horror Awards, among other genre-specific honors, there is clearly more that needs to be done, especially in the mainstream scene.
At a time when AI is already threatening creative jobs, especially in the performing arts, frustration over a dog winning a major award over talented people feels justified.
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Shameeka Voyiya