Uggie, the Jack Russell terrier who stars in Oscar frontrunner, The Artist, is getting a lot of attention of late. He's been showing up on more and more red carpets. He appeared on stage at the Golden Globes, and performed tricks on The Ellen Degeneres Show.

And now resentment is beginning to build.

Listen to Tom Tangney break down dog wars in Tinseltown

Oscar nominee Christopher Plummer refused to do a Newsweek photoshoot with Uggie out of loyalty to Cosmo, the Jack Russell who stars in Plummer's movie Beginners. Plummer says he's frustrated Cosmo's being overshadowed by Uggie's PR machine.

And now the legendary director Martin Scorsese is even weighing in. In an op-ed to the Los Angeles Times, Scorsese says his Oscar-leading film Hugo is being severely slighted. How so? When the nominations for the Golden Collar Awards for Best Performance by a Dog were announced, Blackie, the Doberman in "Hugo," was not among them. And Uggie scored twice, for The Artist and Water for Elephants.

Scorsese writes "OK, let's lay all our cards on the table. Jack Russell terriers are small and cute. Dobermans are enormous and ---- handsome. More tellingly, Uggie plays a nice little mascot who does tricks and saves his master's life...while Blackie gives an uncompromising performance as a ferocious guard dog who terrorizes children. I'm sure you can see what I'm driving at."

He suggests, sure it's easy to root for heroes but what about the anti-hero? We accept, even embrace human anti-heroes, so why not a canine version?

Following a vigorous Facebook write-in campaign, Blackie was allowed into the Golden Collar Award competition against Uggie and Cosmo. The winners will be announced Feb 13.