Buddy, a lethargic 19-year-old dog (133 to you and me) was owned by New York cabdriver Alex Rieger (Judd Hirsch).

For a while, Buddy lived with Alex's sister in the suburbs to give the dog a better living environment, but as the dog grew older (with diabetes and kidney problems), Alex decided to take him back to live with him in his New York City apartment.

Alex always considered Buddy to be "The smartest dog that ever lived!" His best trick (in his younger days) was to fall down and play dead when Alex pretended to shoot him. Taxi dispatcher Louis De Palma (Danny DeVito), on the other hand, remembered Buddy as the "Hound from Hell...a Devil Dog."

When Buddy died at the veterinarian's office, Alex returned to work, sat on a bench at the Sunshine Taxi Company with leash in hand and cried.