We've had Uggie, now the search is on to find the new Benji. Got a cute dog? You could be barking all the way to the bank

It doesn't take a genius to see that dogs are huge right now. Without question, the runaway star of The Artist was 10-year-old jack russell Uggie, while Pudsey – the canine winner of this year's Britain's Got Talent – is rumoured to be in talks with Disney about appearing in a film of his own. If you're after a fast buck, and have always yearned to live out your Hollywood dreams vicariously through an animal that drinks out of the toilet, you could do a lot worse than get a dog.

And if it happens look like Benji, all the better. You remember Benji. He was the Pepsi to Lassie's Coca-Cola – a small mixed-breed mutt with a lovable demeanour and an inexplicable propensity for helping strangers.