History Main / ABoyandhisX

* ''WesternAnimation/TigN’Seek'': The series is about a boy and his super genius cat. Tiggy adores Gweeseek, and Gweeseek is always by Tiggy’s side.

* Creator/RandallGarrett and Vicki Ann Heyddrron's ''The Gandalara Cycle'' has a Gandalaran and his sha'um (a giant telepathic cat that can be used as a steed).

* ''Literature/BerenAndLuthien'': Huan (a dog) and Lúthien (a woman), leave the dog's former master to go off to rescue her boyfriend from Sauron.

%%* ''Fanfic/ABoyAGirlAndADogTheLeithianScript'': In this ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' fic you have a boy--[[TheHero human warrior Beren]]--a girl--Elvish princess Luthien--and a wolfhound--Huan.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel'' features [[TheHero Rean Schwarzer]] with his mech, [[SuperRobot Valimar the Ashen Knight]] after he inadvertently finishes the trial with his friends. Rean ends up piloting Valimar throughout the CivilWar in ''Cold Steel II'' and helps end it. At first, Valimar talks robotic but when Rean gets better at piloting Valimar, Valimar ends up talking like a human and starts remembering things from before he slept 250 years before the start of the game.

* ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'': In "ComicBook/SupergirlsSuperPet" and "ComicBook/TheSuperSteedOfSteel", Supergirl meets Streaky the Supercat and Comet the Super-Horse, respectively, and starts bonding with them while teaching how to use their new powers.

%%* ''Literature/AsuraCryin'': Tomoharu and His Ghost Misao.

%%* ''Anime/{{Heroman}}'': A Boy and His GiantRobot… IN AMERICA.

** PlayedForLaughs in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikerS'' again with Hayate. After repairing the Book of Darkness, the new artificial intelligence inside it is as sentient as the previous one, but far more amenable and not corrupted. As such, Rein, the Unison Device, is Hayate's most loyal supporter of her dreams. She accompanies Hayate raises through the ranks and is her personal secretary when Hayate is finally appointed as the commander of her own military special operations unit. Rein is the PluckyComicRelief more often than not (perks of being a miniature humanoid), but also soothes Hayate's insecurities and helps her tune down her immense raw magic output into usable spells.

* One ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' {{Yonkoma}} aptly sums up the series as "A Girl And Her Doll". Said "doll" is a combat android with the power of a fleet.

* An in-universe example with ''Fanfic/PokemonStrangledRed''. Steven's Pokémon journey revolves heavily around his Charmander/Charmeleon/Charizard, Miki. And her death traumatizes Steven so much that he [[spoiler:descends into madness]].

* ''Film/LassieComeHome'': Probably the TropeMaker, the story is about a Yorkshire boy and the collie that won't be separated from him. Lassie's strong relationship with Joe drives the plot, as she is determined to get back to Yorkshire against all odds to return to him. The film spawned five sequels, multiple reboots, multiple TV shows, cartoons, a manga and more, which all featured Lassie as a HeroicDog with a strong bond to the 'boy' in each version, where she helped him and his family out of dangerous situations.

%%* In a similar manner, Maurice and Keith in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/TheAmazingMauriceAndHisEducatedRodents'' are A Cat and His Boy.

%%* ''Literature/TheEnormousEgg'': A boy and his Triceratops.
* ''Literature/TheGoldenCompass'' features the adventures of A Girl and her X (a shapeshifting animal companion). This is a world where human's souls exist outside their body in the form of an animal (the type of animal varies from person to person).

* ''Literature/{{IQ}}'' a Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration book written by John De Lancie, parodies this when Q snarkily refers to Picard and Data as "A boy and his computer".

* ''VideoGame/{{Aether}}'', a surreal, minimalist ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbVFzanUviI and extremely short]]) indie game, revolves around a boy and the fluffy monster pet he befriended who then takes him on a trip to the clouds.

%%* ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'': A boy and his dog.

%%* ''Film/TheWaterHorse'': A boy and his, um, [[StockNessMonster plesiosaur-thing]]. Angus discovers a large egg along the shores of Loch Ness, which hatches into the titular creature.

* The ''[[Film/Transformers2007 Transformers]]'' spin-off/prequel/reboot ''Film/{{Bumblebee}}'' narrows down this trope, with the focus of the film being entirely on Charlie and her friendship with Bumblebee. The alien invasion/disaster movie aspect of the prior films being pretty much all but removed, and the robot war mostly being a factor for the backstory and the motivation of the badguys.

* The ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' spin-off/prequel/reboot ''Film/{{Bumblebee}}'' narrows down this trope, with the focus of the film being entirely on Charlie and her friendship with Bumblebee. The alien invasion/disaster movie aspect of the prior films being pretty much all but removed, and the robot war mostly being a factor for the backstory and the motivation of the badguys.

%%* ''Film/{{Paddington}}'': A boy and his bear. Jonathan get very attached to Paddington.

* The Creator/ADVFilms advertisements for ''Anime/AllPurposeCulturalCatGirlNukuNuku'' described it as: "The heartwarming story of a boy and his cat... And a major military equipment manufacturer."

%%* ''Anime/{{Heroman}}'': A Boy and His GiantRobot… [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace IN AMERICA]].

%%* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': A Boy and His [[HumongousMecha Giant Robot]] / [[spoiler:Mother]].

* Parodied in a scene from ''ComicBook/TheBadger''. Norbert pets Lamont, his North American "Buffalo". The villain promptly comments, "Ain't that sweet? '''A Deranged Individual and His Bison.'''" (Hey, at least he was biologically accurate.)

* ''Comicbook/XMen'':

* One ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' [[{{Yonkoma}} 4-koma]] aptly sums up the series as "A Girl And Her Doll". Said "doll" is a combat android with the power of a fleet.

%%* The second ''FanFic/WeasleyGirl'' fic has A Girl And Her Cat; as a {{Gender Flip}}ped Ron Weasley here becomes the owner of Crookshanks.

%%* Subverted in ''Film/TheDarkCrystal''. Fizgig, a dog-like alien belongs to Kira, the--ahem--only ''female'' Gelfling left alive.

* The TropeMaker is probably ''Film/LassieComeHome'', about a Yorkshire boy and the collie that won't be separated from him. Lassie's strong relationship with Joe drives the plot, as she is determined to get back to Yorkshire against all odds to return to him. The film spawned five sequels, multiple reboots, multiple TV shows, cartoons, a manga and more, which all featured Lassie as a HeroicDog with a strong bond to the 'boy' in each version, where she helped him and his family out of dangerous situations.

** ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'': Here, the Terminator, a RobotGirl who goes by Cameron, is also John's LoveInterest, so {{UST}} ensues instead.

* The Creator/HarlanEllison story ''Literature/ABoyAndHisDog'' twists this trope: the setting is actually post-apocalyptic, so said dog is a telepathic mutant who's technically much smarter than the boy and even taught him to read, write and count. Said boy is also a teenaged serial rapist, and the dog pays him back for finding food by tracking victims for him. The story shows that the boy's UndyingLoyalty to his dog is so strong that when the dog dying and he's met a cute girl who is sexually interested in him, [[spoiler:''he kills the girl and feeds her to his dog to save him'']]. The first part of the story implies that this is a pretty common partnership, with solitary scavengers referred to as "Solos" drifting around the ruins with dog companions, though they're usually regular dogs, not mutants.

%%* ''Literature/CharlottesWeb'': A Girl and Her Pig--at least at the beginning.
%%* ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'' has elements of A Girl and Her [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Killer Sentient Metalworking Badass]] [[BearsAreBadNews Polar Bear]] to it, but as people are born with part of their soul external in the form of an animal-shaped daemon, it also has this as the basis for most of their entire society.
* One of the books in Creator/CSLewis's ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' inverts the trope in its title, ''Literature/TheHorseAndHisBoy''. The book sometimes plays the trope straight and sometimes inverts it, as the boy is not always in charge, and is less experienced in the ways of the world than the former warhorse. The inversion is also discussed at one point, when someone tells the boy's traveling companion that it might be more accurate to say that she belonged to her horse.

* ''Literature/TheLayOfLeithian'': A Dog and His Girl, leave the dog's former master to go off to rescue her boyfriend from [[TheDragon Sauron]]. ''Creator/JRRTolkien'' was best friends with ''Creator/CSLewis'' and they frequently shared ideas.

%%* ''LightNovel/AsuraCryin'': Tomoharu and His Ghost Misao.

* ''Franchise/LeagueOfLegends'': Nunu and Willump, "the Boy and his Yeti". Nunu discovered a lonely Willump deep in the mountains of the cold Freljord, and the boy's compassion and vibrant imagination gave some much needed joy to Willump. They now venture to search for Nunu's mother, with Willump providing ancient the pair ancient magic to brave the icy region. Notably they're the only "champion" who consists of [[TheDividual two individual characters]].

%%* ''WesternAnimation/{{Frankenweenie}}'': A boy and his monster dog.

%%* ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'': A Boy and His Winged Kuriboh.
%%* ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'': A Boy, His CoolBike, and His [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Synchro Dragon]].

* The mighty Starscourge Radahn from ''VideoGame/EldenRing'' is so attached to his horse Leonard that, once he became too big and heavy to ride it, he learned gravity magic just so he could continue to do so. Even in his feral state, indiscriminately attacking anything which moves around him and devouring corpses which don't, he doesn't attack his horse.

* The [[AfterTheEnd post-apocalyptic]] classic ''Film/ABoyAndHisDog'' is about a young man and his psychic canine mentor. The film shows that the boy's UndyingLoyalty to his (talking) dog is so strong, that when his dog dying and he's met a cute girl who is sexually interested in him, ''he kills the girl and feeds her to his dog to save him''.
-->'''Blood:''' Well, I'd certainly say she had marvelous judgment, Albert, [[GallowsHumor if not particularly good taste.]]

* The Creator/HarlanEllison story ''A Boy and His Dog'' twists this trope: The setting is actually post-apocalyptic, so said dog is a telepathic mutant who's technically much smarter than the boy and even taught him to read, write and count. Said boy is also a teenaged serial rapist, and the dog pays him back for finding food by tracking victims for him. [[spoiler: The story ends with the boy killing the closest thing he has to a love interest to save the dog from starvation.]] The first part of the story implies that this is a pretty common partnership, with solitary scavengers, refered to as "Solos" drifting around the ruins with dog companions, though they're usually regular dogs, not mutants.
* In one of Creator/RobertRankin's ''Brentford'' stories Omally (always spelled without the apostrophe, for some reason) refuses to die without his faithful Marchant. Pooley [[LampshadeHanging comments,]] "A boy and his bike! I feel sick!"

[[folder:Web Videos]]
* WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick has this complaint about ''Film/{{Dragonheart}}'' and other dragon movies, seeing as how most girls loved dragons (or at least she did) and women never factor in the films.[[note]]On that note, there are actually a couple properties which feature "A Girl and Her Dragon" -- see ''[[Literature/TortallUniverse The Immortals]]'' and ''WesternAnimation/JaneAndTheDragon''.[[/note]]
[[/folder]]

* ''Fanfic/GodzillaNewEra'' has a downplayed example with Io Shinoda and the third Godzilla ("Junior") being playmates when they were both children at the Biotechnics institute for different reasons [[note]](Io was a student at the Psychic school and Junior was housed at the neighboring facility Io's father worked at)[[/note]]. A big part of Io's arc was her learning to interact with others as Junior was her only friend as a child. [[spoiler:That the current Godzilla seems to recognize her is one of the first big hints he's Junior.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'': Hiro and Baymax; a boy and his robotic healthcare companion. Hiro is a BrilliantButLazy TeenGenius who loses his brother Tadashi in a fire accident. The healthcare robot Tadashi built provides him his much-needed emotional support, and the two of them (along with Tadashi's old friends) become superheroes who [[TheyFightCrime fight crime]], with Hiro maturing into a much more responsible person.

* ''Anime/DaisukiBuBuChaCha'': Buddy is a toddler whose carelessness causes him to run into several near-death experiences and the only reason he hasn't passed away yet is his dog [=ChaCha=]. [=ChaCha=] first pulls a HeroicSacrifice to prevent Buddy from being hit by a car. Miraculously [=ChaCha=] is reincarnated into one of Buddy's toy cars, which allows him to keep accompanying (and saving) Buddy while he teaches him about the important things in life.
* In ''Anime/DigimonGhostGame'', in contrast to previous series the heroes [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman draw no distinction]] between the sapient {{mons}} and people, with TheHero Hiro seeing his childlike partner Gammamon as a younger brother. At one point he even sends him out on his traditional first errand like a typical Japanese family (using RefugeInAudacity to allow them to get away with a talking dragon buying [[TrademarkFavoriteFood chocolate]]).

* ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'': Kagura is a short-tempered, sharp-tongued girl who struggles to control her own strength. Sadaharu number 28 is the first pet she hasn't accidentally killed because of her superhuman strength and this is due to this Sadaharu's nature as an Inugami (dog deity). Conversely, Kagura is the only one able to withstand Sadaharu's preternatural strength and does, in fact, loves his bites in the head. The two further complement each other in regards to their aggressive yet caring personalities. Moreover, the act of taking care and bonding with Sadaharu brings about Kagura's motherly and girly side. Kagura convinced the other Yorouza members to keep Sadaharu and, from then on, the two have become inseparable.

%%* Manga/UshioAndTora: A boy and his tiger demon. ('Tora' means 'tiger' in Japanese.)

%%* ''Anime/BtX'': A boy and his mechanical Kirin... Named X.
%%* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'', ''Anime/MonsterRancher'' and a slew of others make up A Boy and His {{Mon}}s.
%%* ''Anime/{{Gigantor}}'': A Boy and His Giant Robot.
%%* ''Anime/PrincessTutu'': The second season really starts looking like A Boy and His Duck. Or is it A Duck and Her Boy?

* The Creator/ADVFilms advertisements for ''Anime/AllPurposeCulturalCatGirlNukuNuku'' described it as: "The heartwarming story of a boy and his cat... And a major military equipment manufacturer."
%%* ''Manga/CardCaptorSakura'': A MagicalGirl and Her Osakan-accented Winged Mouse.
* ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'':
** First {{subverted}} in the [[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha first installment of the franchise]]. Nanoha's customary magical girl pet is the ferret Yuuno. It's true he teaches her how the [[AmplifierArtifact Intelligent Device]] works and how to do magical spells with it. However, her actual CharacterDevelopment occurs upon encountering a DarkMagicalGirl.
** The trope is then played straight in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'' with the antagonists. Hayate is an orphaned, disabled girl with a chronic illness that threatens to cut her life short. To worsen matters, there's an ArtifactOfDeath in her house that one day forces her into becoming its new master. In the process, the Book of Darkness summons the Wolkenritter as its [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots sentient defense programs]]. They are not evil and easily bond with the kind-hearted girl, providing her with the family she always craved and them with their first compassionate, non-megalomaniacal master. As a result, they set out to try and prevent the Book of Darkness from consuming Hayate's life.
** It's also worth noticing the way Nanoha and Fate's (the now allied dark magical girl) Intelligent Devices copy the programing of the Wolkenritters' Devices so they mistresses have the chance to fight their new opponents on equal footing. Raising Heart (Nanoha's) and Bardiche (Fate's) even encourage them to go through the difficult, very innovative, and potentially dangerous power-up. If witty, the Intelligent Devices are usually just there to channel and shape the magic, rarely getting to the level of {{Virtual Sidekick}}s.
** PlayedForLaughs in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikerS'' again with Hayate. After repairing the Book of Darkness, the new artificial intelligence inside it is as sentient as the previous one, but far more amenable and not corrupted. As such, Rein, the Unison Device, is Hayate's most loyal supporter of her dreams. She accompanies Hayate raises through the ranks and is her personal secretary when Hayate is finally appointed as the commander of her own military special operations unit. Rein is the PluckyComicRelief more often than not (perks of being a miniature humanoid), but also soothes Hayate's insecurities and helps her tune down her immense raw magic output into usable spells.
%%* ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'': A Boy and His Winged Kuriboh.
%%* ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'': A Boy, His CoolBike, and His [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Synchro Dragon]].

%%* ''Daisuki [=BuBuChaCha=]'': A Boy and His [[{{Magitek}} Ride-in Toy Car, that's possessed by the spirit of his now-deceased dog]].
%%* ''Manga/GingaNagareboshiGin'' begins as the classic "A Boy and His Dog" variety, with the pair of them trying to take down a monstrous bear. [[GenreShift Then the dog goes feral and the story focuses on the dogs' war against said gigantic bear]].
%%* ''Chikyuu Misaki'': A Girl and Her Mini-Nessie. (Which turns into a small boy when kissed.)
%%* ''Manga/FairyTail'': A Boy and his Flying Cat.
%%* ''Anime/MyNeighborTotoro'': Two girls and their magical forest spirit.
%%* ''Anime/PonyoOnTheCliffByTheSea'': A boy and his fish-girl.
%%* ''Anime/RahXephon'': A boy and his vaguely Mayan pseudo-giant-robot.
%%* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qCbiCxBd2M Out of Sight]]'', a short Taiwanese animation about a girl and her [[spoiler: seeing-eye]] dog.

%%* ''Manga/{{Kuro}}'': A girl and her monster cat.
%%* ''Manga/{{Nukoduke}}'': A young man and his two cat-people pets.
%%* ''Anime/LaidBackCamp'': A girl and her chihuahua.
* ''Manga/JiuJiu'': A girl and her two shapeshifting, demon-fighting, werewolf familiars. Takamichi was devastated by her the death of her beloved twin brother Takayuki, and the sudden focus placed on her as the heir to the family legacy of demon-fighting (when she'd previously been [[SpareToTheThrone ignored and told she was of zero value to her clan]]) caused her to retreat emotionally. Being made responsible for werewolf "jiu jiu" pups Snow and Night gave the adolescent demon-hunter an outlet for the love & care she had only ever been able to express for her brother. Protecting the duo gave her a purpose in life beyond her family's work. Tor their part, Snow and Night are totally devoted to Takamichi (having been raised by her since werewolf-toddler-puppyhood). They want to see her succeed in her hunts, but more importantly they want to keep her safe and stay by her side. Snow and Night are the only people in the world who have shown Takamichi unconditional love since her brother, and Takamichi is everything to the two jiu jiu.
* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'': Although the series has a large, rotating main cast with countless character arcs, the central characters are Ash Ketchum and his Pokémon partner, Pikachu. After getting off to a rough start in the first episode, the two became inseparable best friends, unwilling to part ways even when offered the choice.
* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' presents a {{deconstructed}} and PlayedForDrama example. Like nearly every anime of this genre, the magical girls get a cute AnimalCompanion who is the source of the magic and introduces them to the trade. Just, this time, roping prepubescent-to-teenage girls into a war against {{Eldritch Abomination}}s proves to have very dire consequences. They are now exposed to trauma, injuries, and often death. Kyubey, the alien cat/squirrel, does not help them mature, he makes them realize who truly horrible the world can be as he [[spoiler: milks their despair as free energy to counter the Entropy Death of the universe. He even comments how the conversion from a magical girl into a witch (the monsters they battle) is akin to the process of girls growing up to women]]. While all of the girls are "mentored" by Kuybey or interact with him in one way or another, this trope is most notorious with him and Madoka. Kyubey spends the better part of the series trying to convince her to turn into a magical girl, viciously exploiting her insecurities and the tragedies her friends, who are magical girls, face.

* Parodied in a scene from ''ComicBook/TheBadger''. Norbert pets Lamont, his North American "Buffalo". The villain promptly comments, "Ain't that sweet? '''A Deranged Individual and His Bison.'''" (Hey, at least he was biologically accurate.)
* ''ComicBook/WhatIf'': "I'll Be Your Best Friend!" (v2 #92) was the tale of a boy and his robot -- specifically Josh (kid brother of ComicBook/XMen Cannonball and Husk) and a damaged Sentinel (robot designed to kill mutants such as the X-Men.) Many readers questioned why this story was published as a "What If" given that it could've easily fit into Earth-616 canon.
%%* Marvel's ''Sentinel'': A Boy and His Giant Robot.
%%* DC's ''ComicBook/StanleyAndHisMonster''.
%%* ''A Boy and his 'Bot'' by Gary Thomas Washington.
%%* C.O.P.S. #5 centered on Bowser and his cyborg dog Blitz, and Bowser/Rex Pointer's memories of his first dog, Maxie.
%%* Many, ''many'' examples in [[BritishComics girl's comics]]. To name but a few examples:
%%** "Humpy Bumpy" from ComicBook/{{Bunty}}--a girl and her Loch Ness Monster.
%%** "Elsie's Elephant" from ComicBook/{{Mandy}}--a girl and her elephant.
%%** "Sue's Fantastic Fun-Bag!" from ComicBook/{{Jinty}}--a girl and her magic handbag.
%%** "Palomo" from ComicBook/{{Tammy}} -- a girl and her horse.

%%* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': A Boy and His (stuffed) Tiger. Calvin views Hobbes as a real tiger and his best friend.
%%* ''ComicStrip/RedAndRover'': A Boy and His Dog.
%%* ''ComicStrip/CowAndBoy''

%%* The second ''FanFic/WeasleyGirl'' fic has A Girl And Her Cat; as a {{Gender Flip}}ped Ron Weasley here becomes the owner of Crookshanks.

%%* ''Fanfic/BrilliantLightsWillCeaseToBurn'' has [[Manga/MyHeroAcademia Izuku]] and his magical talking plush toy/guardian spirit [[Manga/CardcaptorSakura Kero]].
* ''Fanfic/{{Essence}}'' is a ''Pokémon'' AlternateUniverseFic where 10-year old Ash goes on a ComingOfAgeStory journey with his loyal dog Pokémon Growlithe, instead of Pikachu.

* ''WebAnimation/FinalFantasyVIIMachinabridged'' reinterprets [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Barret]] and [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Red XIII]], as part of the show's general recharacterization of the cast, as this, functioning as a duo and a double act; Barret's subplots co-star Red and vice versa, while they weren't required for each other's subplots in the [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII original]], and in general, [[AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul not really especially closer to each other as they were to any of the other party members]].

* As well as the canon Dragon Riders, Luisa, Isabela and Camilo in ''Fanfic/TheDragonAndTheButterfly'' end up training a Crimson Goregutter, a Snaptrapper and a Changewing respectively.

%%* ''Next-Gen'': A girl and her robot
* ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon'': Hiccup is a viking boy who's too scrawny and too kind-hearted to become a dragon slayer. He meets an injured dragon he names "Toothless", bonds with it and becomes its rider, maturing a lot on the way.

%%* ''WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant'': A boy and his [[GentleGiant giant]] [[HumongousMecha robot]].

%%* ''WesternAnimation/JingleAllTheWay'': A boy and his husky dog. The sequel adds a girl and her husky dog.
%%* ''Crystal Tipps and Alistair'': A girl and her dog. (And, occasionally, bird and butterfly.)

%%* ''WesternAnimation/IsleOfDogs'': A boy (Atari) and his feral dog friends (Chief, Rex, King, Boss, and Duke) while looking for his actual dog.
* ''WesternAnimation/AstroKid'': After Willy crash lands on an alien planet, he befriends a local creature named Flash. Flash quickly becomes his best friend and together they manage to survive on the planet till help finally arrives.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{SCOOB}}'' introduces Scooby-Doo as a stray pup meeting and befriending a young and lonely Shaggy Rogers, who later adopts him. Throughout, the movie focuses on their heartwarming and comedic friendship from childhood to adulthood.
** The film also lampshades this, also connecting the Man/Dog bond with the two heroes that Scooby and Shaggy have always idolized, Blue Falcon (the original and his son, Brian, who took over the mantle from his father) and Dynomutt, and with the villains, Dick Dastardly and Muttley.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'': A Man (Linguini) and His Rat (Rémy). Linguini even calls Rémy, "Little Chef". Linguini cares greatly for Rémy, whom he treats as his equal and best friend.

* The TropeMaker is probably ''Film/LassieComeHome'', about a Yorkshire boy and the collie that won't be separated from him. Lassie's strong relationship with Joe drives the plot, as she is determined to get back to Yorkshire against all odds to return to him. The film spawned five sequels, multiple reboots, multiple TV shows, cartoons, a manga and more, which all featured Lassie as a HeroicDog with a strong bond to the 'boy' in each version, where she helped him and his family out of dangerous situations.

* ''Literature/TheLastDragonChronicles'' incorporates this trope a lot. Usually it's A Boy and His Dragon although A Girl and Her Dragon pops up almost as frequently (if not more). David gets many a dragon sidekick as the series progresses: G'reth, Golly, and even [[spoiler: SharingABody with Grockle]]. But Gadzooks definitely takes home the medal. Lucy has Gwendolen and Zanna has [[spoiler: Gretel]].

* The ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'' series: A Boy and His Dragon. Or, possibly, A Dragon and His British Naval Officer. While not guiding Laurence into manhood, Temeraire does mark a significant shift both in his life and understanding of the world.
* ''Literature/{{The Golden Compass}}'' features the adventures of A Girl and her X (a shapeshifting animal companion). This is a world where human's souls exist outside their body in the form of an animal (the type of animal varies from person to person).
%%** The series also has several other variants on the trope, such as A Fighting Girl and Her Dragon, An ActionMom and Her Dragon, A Dragon and Her [[EvilOverlord Conqueror of Continental Europe]], A Dragon and His [[CoolOldGuy Overweight Middle-Aged]] [[TheCaptain Captain]]; etc.
* Interestingly [[PlayingWithATrope played with]] in ''Literature/TheNeverEndingStory'', where a Boy and His Horse relationship is early driven to [[DeathByNewberyMedal a moving end]]... only to be replaced with a better partner, when TheHero finds a much more interesting companion, turning the trope into A Boy And His Dragon (and DragonRider, incidentally).
%%* ''Literature/{{Dogsbody}}'' by Creator/DianaWynneJones is almost a standard A Girl and Her Dog story. Except that it's told from the perspective of the dog, who is actually a reincarnation of the guardian spirit of the star Sirius.
* The Anthology ''Literature/TalesFromJabbasPalace'' has a story called "A Boy And His Monster" focusing on Jabba's [[FluffyTamer Rancor Handler]] Malakili and his Relationship the abused Rancor. [[spoiler: Fortunately for him the book gives him a happy ending, despite the death of his best friend, by having him opening a successful restaurant in Mos Eisley after Jabba's death.]]
%%* The ScienceFiction novel ''[[Literature/NewKashubiaSeries A Boy and His Tank]]'' is a play off this trope.
%%* Both ''Literature/JacobTwoTwo and the Dinosaur'' (Mordecai Richler) and ''Henry Hollins the Dinosaur'' were A Boy and His Dinosaur stories.

%%* The book ''A Kestrel for a Knave'' (adapted for film as ''Kes'') follows A Boy and His... well, you can guess, can't you? [[spoiler: It also falls prey (no pun intended) to DeathByNewberyMedal.]]

* In an inversion similar to that in ''Literature/TheHorseAndHisBoy'', in Fredric R. Stewart's ''Literature/{{Cerberon}}'', the eponymous unicorn has been George's best friend his entire life. The novel opens with George clearly in command, but by the end it's Cerberon who is in charge. In a ShoutOut to Creator/CSLewis, Cerberon's mother is named Jewel, after the unicorn in ''Literature/TheLastBattle''.[[note]]''That'' Jewel was male, though.[[/note]]

%%* From Creator/RobertAHeinlein's works:
%%** ''Literature/TheStarBeast'': A Giant Talking Space Lizard and Her Boy.
%%** ''Literature/RedPlanet'': A Martian Larval Form and Her Boy.
* In one of Creator/RobertRankin's ''Brentford'' stories Omally (always spelled without the apostrophe, for some reason) refuses to die without his faithful Marchant. Pooley [[LampshadeHanging comments,]] "A boy and his bike! I feel sick!"
%%* Christopher Paolini's ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'': A Boy and His Dragon. Or a Dragon and Her Boy, depending on how you want to see it.
%%* The ''Norby'' books: A Boy and His Little Cute Robot.
%%* Steinbeck's ''Literature/TheRedPony''.
* ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'': While bond-animals of various sorts are common throughout the series, the one that fulfills the trope most strongly is the Companions. These are magical horses (that are later revealed to be spirit-guardians given mortal form) who seek out and bond with children who would make suitable Heralds. This moment of bonding marks the start of their journey towards maturity, and the bond is so strong that the death of either Herald or Companion almost invariably leads to the death of the other.
* ''Literature/HumanxCommonwealth'': Flinx is an [[TheEmpath empathic]], genetically altered mutant who, in his early life, forms a [[BondCreatures psychic bond]] with an Alaspinian miniature dragon (minidrag for short) named Pip. The species naturally forms such bonds in the wild, and is rarely known to do so with humans. However, due to Flinx's unique nature, Pip acts as an amplifier and focus for his powers in addition to being a fierce protector.

* ''Literature/{{IQ}}'' a Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration book written by John De Lancie, parodies this when Q snarkily refers to Picard and Data as "A boy and his computer".
%%* Creator/TamoraPierce loves this trope. There are two instances of A Girl and Her Cat (incidentally the same cat), followed by A Girl and her Every Animal In Existence, Including [[spoiler:Skeletal Dinosaurs]] and a Baby Dragon, But Especially the Badger God, A Man and His Skeletal Dinosaur, A Girl And Her Horse, Sparrows, Griffin, and Small Children, A Girl And Her Crows, and A Girl and her Pigeons. And that's just in the ''Literature/TortallUniverse''. The Literature/CircleOfMagic adds A Boy And His Plants, A Girl And Her Starling, A Girl And Her Lightning Blooded Glass Dragon and A Girl And Her Mountain Spirit to the list.
%%* Walter Farley's ''Literature/TheBlackStallion'' series is very much A Boy And His Horse. So was his ''Island Stallion'' series.

%%* ''Literature/CliffordTheBigRedDog'': A Girl and her [[CanisMajor gargantuan dog]]. One of the songs on the tribute album for the Scholastic animated series is titled "A Girl and Her Dog."
%%* Literature/BlackDogs: A girl and her dog... soldier.
%%* Literature/{{Shiloh}}: Classic boy and his dog scenario.
%%* ''Literature/OldYeller'', another classic "boy and his dog". Both of the above are [[DeathByNewberyMedal Newbery winners]]. Or losers, in the animal's case.
%%* Mary O'Hara's ''My Friend Flicka'': A Boy and His Horse.
%%* ''Literature/CharlottesWeb'': A Girl and Her Pig--at least at the beginning.
%%* EdgarPangborn, "Tiger Boy". The [[WalkingTheEarth wandering]] youth seems kind and gentle but lets his tiger perform euthanasia on the old and sick. This leads to a tragic ending.
%%* ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'' has elements of A Girl and Her [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Killer Sentient Metalworking Badass]] [[BearsAreBadNews Polar Bear]] to it, but as people are born with part of their soul external in the form of an animal-shaped daemon, it also has this as the basis for most of their entire society.
%%* Charles Stross: ''[[http://www.antipope.org/charlie/fiction/boy3.html A Boy and his God]]''
%%* Marguerite Henry's ''Literature/KingOfTheWind'': a boy and his horse.
%%* In Creator/KateDiCamillo's ''Literature/BecauseOfWinnDixie'', a girl and her dog.
%%* ''The Adventures of Electronic'' by E. Veltistov: A boy and his Robot Twin.

%%* The ''Literature/StephanieHarrington'' series is about one of Honor's ancestors as a young girl who was the first human to bond with a Treecat.
%%* ''Literature/HowToTrainYourDragon'': A boy and his… well, guess.
%%* ''Literature/{{Pax}}'': A boy and his fox.
%%* ''Literature/WhereTheRedFernGrows'': A tragic story of a boy and his hound. Dogs.
%%* ''The Ribbajack'' features Miggy Mags and her pet mongoose, Sailor.
%%* ''Literature/TheYearling'': a boy and his fawn.
%%* ''Literature/DannyAndTheDinosaur'': a boy and his dinosaur.
%%* ''Literature/DearDragon'' series: a boy and his dragon.
%%* ''Literature/CowgirlKateAndCocoa'' a girl and her horse. For that matter, every single PonyTale is of this format.
%%* ''Literature/JulieOfTheWolves'' a girl and her wolves
%%* ''Literature/MySideOfTheMountain'' and its sequels: a boy and his falcon
%%* ''Literature/DickWhittingtonAndHisCat''

%%* ''Literature/DearMrHenshaw'': A boy and his dog. [[spoiler: He doesn't get to keep it]].

%%* ''Literature/TheWitchlands'' has a girl and her [[spoiler:pet mountain bat (AKA dragon).]]
%%* ''Literature/CastawaysOfTheFlyingDutchman'': A boy and his dog.
* ''Literature/ADogsPurpose'' is this type of story from a dog's point-of-view. It follows a dog being reincarnated several times and its life with humans. To emphasise this, the protagonist often refers to his main owner Ethan as "the boy".
%%* ''Literature/TimmyFailure'': A boy and his polar bear. It's implied the polar bear might just be an ImaginaryFriend, however.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "{{Literature/Robbie}}": Gloria has had her RobotBuddy "Robbie" for three years before the start of this story. Her mother, worried about what the neighbors have been saying, wants to get rid of the robot. Gloria is, of course, devastated by her loss. [[spoiler:She never stops looking for where Robbie might have gone, checking every robot she comes across, and even checking factory robots.]]

* ''Literature/TheLifeOfAlexander'' contains what is possibly the UrExample, although as with many such it is something of an UnbuiltTrope here. The titular Alexander supposedly tames a "wild" stallion as a young prince, whom he names Bucephalus. The horse then follows him through his exploits over the next 20 years before dying in India. The distraught Alexander builds a splendid tomb for the horse, and names a city for him: Alexandria Bucephalia. This was regarded as little more than a cute story, until some linguistic and archaeological evidence for the existence of Bucephalia was turned up. The jury is still out on whether there's any truth to the legends of Bucephalus, it's not as if ''Creator/{{Plutarch}}'' was the sort to let trivial things like historical fact get in the way of a good story (and none of the other biographies of Alexander which survive do more than mention the horse). Still, it's hardly the most ridiculous legend about Alexander that Plutarch recorded.
* ''Literature/TheLayofLeithian'': A Dog and His Girl, leave the dog's former master to go off to rescue her boyfriend from [[TheDragon Sauron]]. ''Creator/JRRTolkien'' was best friends with ''Creator/CSLewis'' and they frequently shared ideas.

%%* ''Series/{{Salty}}'': A boy (Tim Reed) and his seal.

%%* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': Children and Their Monsters. The starter Pokémon are meant to be this the most. Especially ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Pokémon Yellow]]'', with A Boy And His Pikachu.
%%* ''VideoGame/GuardiansCrusade'' has a boy and his baby dragon. Emphasized since you have to take care of it and treat it right, so the attachment can extend to the players.

%%* The VideoGame/TeamIcoSeries have this in all of their games (as of yet):
%%** ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus'': A man and his faithful horse.

%%* Played with in ''VideoGame/{{Okamiden}}'', which is very much a "Kids and Their Dog" plot--from the perspective of the dog. And he repeats the process whenever he parts ways with one kid and meets another, to boot.
%%* The Human Noble origin story in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'': "A boy/girl and his/her warhound."
%%* ''VideoGame/SummonNightSwordcraftStory'': A KidHero and their [[HappinessInSlavery slave]]-[[{{Mon}} monster]]
%%* ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'': A boy and his dog.
%%* ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}'': A boy and his female dragon.
%%* ''VideoGame/MajinAndTheForsakenKingdom'': A boy and his Majin. (A Majin is apparently a large troll-like thing. Go play the game, you'll see.)
%%* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':
%%** A girl (Maria) and her anthropomorphic hedgehog (Shadow).
%%** A rabbit (Cream) and her [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Chao]] (Cheese).
%%** A cat (Big) and his frog (Froggy).

* The mighty Starscourge Radahn from ''VideoGame/EldenRing'' is so attached to his horse Leonard that, once he became too big and heavy to ride it, he learned gravity magic just so he could continue to do so. Even in his feral state, indiscriminately attacking anything which moves around him and devouring corpses which don't, he doesn't attack his horse.

%%* ''VisualNovel/TheCrownAndTheFlame'' has a boy and his [[AllAnimalsAreDogs very loyal and affectionate]] hawk.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
%%* ''Webcomic/TheCurseOfGaea'''s title for chapter one [[note]]A Girl and her Inu[[/note]] plays off this.
%%* ''[[http://lolilovesvenom.livejournal.com/ A Girl and Her Venom]]''. We're not kidding.
%%* Webcomic ''Webcomic/TheWotch'' did a story arc called [[http://thewotch.com/?epDate=2007-07-18 A Girl and Her Blob]].
%%* ''Webcomic/ChasingTheSunset'': A(n Elf) Boy and His Dragon.
%%* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'': A girl and her all-powerful god dog.

%%* Averted in ''Webcomic/{{HERO}}'' -- though the cat initially appears to fulfill the role, it stays behind when the protagonist enters the watchtower.
%%* ''Webcomic/AGirlAndHerFed''.

%%* ''Webcomic/LovelyLovecraft'': Howard and Phil are quickly developing into a Boy and His Night Gaunt.

%%* ''Webcomic/SandraAndWoo'': A girl and her raccoon.

%%* ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfShanShan'': A boy and his dog-shaped backpack, who talks, although no one else can hear it.
%%* ''Webcomic/NerfThis'': A boy and his [[http://nerf-this.com/what-friends-do/ monster]].
%%* ''[[http://www.webtoonlive.com/description/3+Level+Combination 3 Level Combination]]'': A boy and his robot.
%%* The ''{{Webcomic/Buildingverse}}'' webcomic ''Children And Monsters'' is about [[MegaCrossover fictional children and their monsters or other interesting companions]]. The main characters are [[{{Film/Labyrinth}} Toby Williams]] and his Goblins.
%%* ''[[http://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/the-crawling-city/list?title_no=43147 The Crawling City]]'': A girl and her Lovecraftian tentacle monster.

%%* Murphy the dog from ''Webcomic/BoyAndDog'' is baby Rowan's best (and probably first) friend.
* ''Webcomic/CameronAndCorinna'' says in the description "a boy and his thylacine".

[[folder:Web Videos]]
* WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick has this complaint about ''Film/{{Dragonheart}}'' and other dragon movies, seeing as how most girls loved dragons (or at least she did) and women never factor in the films.[[note]]On that note, there are actually a couple properties which feature "A Girl and Her Dragon" -- see ''[[Literature/TortallUniverse The Immortals]]'' and ''WesternAnimation/JaneAndTheDragon''.[[/note]]
[[/folder]]

* "A Boy And His ''Vacuum Cleaner''" is the subject of [[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0161988/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0 Stardust]], a bizarre 1998 film that's two parts ''Film/MacAndMe'', and one part each of ''Film/TheLoveBug'' and ''Film/ShortCircuit'', with a touch of ''Film/HomeAlone'' for flavor.