When Roy gets into an accident while transporting one of the valuable racehorses purchased by a wealthy racetrack owner, the horse is killed. This puts Roy in serious debt. For this scene, production filmed an overturned horse trailer however, the actual animal is never seen.

Roy and his wife set off to find his brother who has been involved in a robbery in which two people were killed. Roy needs to get the stolen money to pay his debt. The couple drives up behind a parked pick up truck that has a dog tied to the tailgate. From the point of view of the couple, we can only see a rope leash, but then catch a glimpse of a little mutt that is attached to it. Roy, believing this to be cruel, unties the dog and walks off with it. Suddenly a woman runs yelling after him and takes the dog she claims to be hers. She pulls the dog harshly and Roy knocks her down to rescue the animal. The dog is then seen throughout the film just traveling in the car and hanging out with the couple.

The dog was a terrier mix named Emmet. The trainer cued the dog with both visual and verbal commands to accomplish most of the behaviors. For the car scenes, Emmet was propped up on blocks to raise him into camera frame. Trainers stood outside the car giving the dog cues to keep him staying in place and occasionally to turn his head as a reaction.

In a get-away scene, Roy has left Emmet waiting for him in the jeep. However, Roy steals a corvette convertible instead of using the jeep. He pulls up next to the jeep and calls the dog to jump in and they drive away. To accomplish this stunt the trainer stood off camera and gave verbal cues. The cars were at a complete standstill and close together. Emmet rehearsed the scene prior to actual filming and easily made the leap from the driver's seat of the jeep into the lower convertible passenger seat. By this point in the film he was a pro at sitting in cars and driving around.

Roy and Emmet are chased by a police car and in danger of being caught with the stolen car and a weapon. Roy tries to pull off the road to hide the car. Emmet jumps out and stands in the road to divert the police car. The cop swerves to miss the dog and is distracted enough to give Roy a chance to hide in the bushes. For this scene the dog was placed on a mark in the road and filmed separately from the oncoming car. The scene was filmed in cuts and later edited to give the illusion that the dog took a risk for Roy