40 Fun Facts About Air Bud

In Air Bud, why do officials let Buddy join Josh Framm's short-handed team in the championship game?

No rule bans dogs from playing, so Buddy is added to the roster after an injury leaves the team with only four players. He then leads them to victory.

The real dog who played Buddy in Air Bud also appeared on which ABC family sitcom of the 1990s?

Full House was one of Buddy's screen credits before the film made him a star. His very first television appearance came on America's Funniest Home Videos.

What is the day job of Norman Snively, the abusive owner Buddy runs away from in Air Bud?

Clown is Snively's trade, and drink is his habit. He later spots Buddy on television and turns up with ownership papers, hoping to profit from the dog's fame.

How did the real golden retriever who played Buddy in Air Bud first come to his owner and trainer?

Found as a stray in the Sierra Nevada in 1989, the dishevelled dog was taken home to San Diego and trained in several sports. He liked shooting hoops best.

On which host's Stupid Pet Tricks segment did the real Air Bud dog sink baskets before the film?

David Letterman had Buddy on three times across his two late-night shows. The trick was to bounce the ball off his muzzle and into the hoop.

How does Judge Cranfield settle who keeps Buddy, Josh Framm or Norman Snively, at the end of Air Bud?

The dog chooses: Judge Cranfield moves the court outside to the lawn, where Buddy goes for Snively and picks Josh. Snively is dragged away by police.

Which studio banner released Air Bud in US cinemas after Miramax first acquired the rights?

Walt Disney Pictures took the release over from Miramax, then a Disney company. The film opened in US cinemas on August 1, 1997.

Wendy Makkena, Josh Framm's mother in Air Bud, is best known as a shy singing nun in which hit film?

Sister Act cast her as Sister Mary Robert opposite Whoopi Goldberg, a role she repeated in the sequel. Another singer supplied the character's big voice in both films.

Air Bud: Golden Receiver is set in Washington state, but in which Canadian city was it filmed?

Vancouver doubled for small-town Washington in the sequel. The film is dedicated to the original Buddy, who died a few months before it came out.

Which Andy Griffith Show star voiced bloodhound Deputy Sniffer in the Air Bud spin-off Air Buddies?

Don Knotts, the sitcom's Barney Fife, died in February 2006, months before Air Buddies came out, and the film is dedicated to him. Sniffer is a bloodhound who has lost his sense of smell.

Buddy, the real dog star of Air Bud, could stop goals in soccer and which other sport?

Hockey was one of five sports the real Buddy learned, with basketball, baseball, football and soccer. The fifth film gave his character volleyball instead.

The real Buddy could still shoot hoops after losing what to cancer in the year Air Bud was released?

A hind leg, the right one, was amputated in 1997 because of a rare cancer that forms near the joints. Buddy died in his sleep six months later, aged about nine.

In the closing scene of Air Bud: Golden Receiver, Buddy sneaks onto the field at which NFL team's game?

Seattle Seahawks players appear as themselves when the family goes to a game a few months after the junior high final. Buddy runs out and catches the ball.

Which US soccer star, scorer of the 1999 World Cup-winning penalty, plays herself in Air Bud: World Pup?

Brandi Chastain appears as the US women win a World Cup shootout with Buddy's help. Her 1999 teammates Briana Scurry and Tisha Venturini also play themselves.

After Air Bud: Golden Receiver flopped in cinemas, how were the next three Air Bud sequels released?

Direct to video was the route for World Pup, Seventh Inning Fetch and Spikes Back, and for the talking-puppy spin-offs that followed them.

Which Little Miss Sunshine star voiced Rosebud, the only girl puppy, in the Air Bud spin-off Air Buddies?

Abigail Breslin voiced the pup in the same year she played Olive Hoover, the role that brought her an Oscar nomination. Rosebud wears a pink bow to stand apart from her brothers.

Which team name do Josh Framm and Buddy play under for their school basketball side in Air Bud?

Timberwolves is the school team Josh joins, and Buddy starts out as its mascot and half-time act before being added to the roster.

What does Patrick Sullivan, who dates Josh Framm's mother in Air Bud: Golden Receiver, do for a living?

Veterinarian Patrick Sullivan is new in town, and it is he who first tosses Buddy a football. Josh resents him at first; by the next film he is his stepfather.

Why do the villains Natalya and Popov kidnap Buddy before the championship game in Air Bud: Golden Receiver?

To star in a circus: the pair want a sport-playing dog as the unique attraction of a Russian circus. They end up crashing their van into a bollard on a pier and are arrested.

In Air Bud, Josh Framm's widowed mother first agrees to let Buddy stay only until which holiday?

Christmas is the deadline Jackie sets, and when it arrives she gives in and makes the dog Josh's present. The family had only just moved to town after his father's death.

Which actor, later seen in Transamerica and Gossip Girl, plays Josh Framm in the first four Air Bud films?

Kevin Zegers, a Canadian, was twelve when the first film came out. He returned for three sequels and sat out the fifth film, Spikes Back.

Which Emmy winner from the sitcom Evening Shade plays Buddy's cruel first owner, Norman Snively, in Air Bud?

Michael Jeter won his Emmy as Herman Stiles and a Tony for the musical Grand Hotel. Young viewers later knew him as Mr. Noodle's brother on Sesame Street.

How did Josh Framm's father die before the family's move to a new town at the start of Air Bud?

A plane crash took his father, and the withdrawn twelve-year-old practises alone until a runaway dog turns up at his makeshift court.

What is the name of the fictional Washington town where Josh Framm finds Buddy in Air Bud?

Fernfield stays the home of the Framm family through the four sequels that follow, although the films themselves were shot across the border in Canada.

Josh Framm first meets Buddy in Air Bud on a makeshift court behind which kind of abandoned building?

A church, long abandoned, hides the court where Josh practises alone after school. Buddy is hiding out there too, having just escaped his owner.

Which fellow captive animal helps Buddy escape from his kidnappers in Air Bud: Golden Receiver?

A chimpanzee held by the same kidnappers helps Buddy get out. Together they free the other animals, who set off fireworks as they flee.

Which Carol Burnett Show comedian plays Fred Davis, a football commentator, in Air Bud: Golden Receiver?

Tim Conway shares the commentary box with Dick Martin of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, pairing two veterans of television sketch comedy.

Which Home Improvement cast member plays stepfather Patrick Sullivan in Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch?

Richard Karn, the sitcom's Al Borland, was the third actor to play Patrick in three films. He returned to the part in the first of the talking-puppy spin-offs.

When Josh Framm leaves for college in Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch, which relative takes over as Buddy's owner?

His sister Andrea takes Buddy on and joins her junior high baseball team, where the dog turns out to have yet another talent.

Where does Norman Snively's battered pickup truck end up after he chases Josh Framm and Buddy in Air Bud?

In a lake, after a chase through a park, and the wreck ruins the ownership papers he had been holding over the family. He sues for custody anyway.

Which actor, Reginald in Night at the Museum, plays coach Arthur Chaney in the original Air Bud?

Bill Cobbs plays the retired pro who takes over when the first coach is fired. His long career also included the singer's manager in The Bodyguard.

Before coaching Josh Framm's team in Air Bud, retired pro player Arthur Chaney holds which job at the school?

Maintenance engineer Arthur Chaney is the adult who encourages Josh to try out for the team. He gets the coaching job at Josh's suggestion once Coach Barker is fired.

Air Bud could not be titled simply Buddy because a 1997 film of that name, about which animal, came first?

A gorilla raised at home by Rene Russo's character was the subject of Buddy, released two months earlier. Air Bud's director has said he wanted that title for his own film.

Which former Saturday Night Live cast member plays the dognapper Natalya in Air Bud: Golden Receiver?

Nora Dunn spent five seasons on the sketch show before turning to character parts like this one. Her sidekick Popov is played by Perry Anzilotti.

Which quarterback, long the star of the Houston Oilers, plays himself in Air Bud: Golden Receiver?

Warren Moon had roots in the film's home state: he played college football for the Washington Huskies before winning five straight Grey Cups in Canada.

For which baseball team, World Series winners later that year, does Buddy bat in Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch?

Anaheim Angels is the club Buddy reaches after rescuing the town's kidnapped dogs. The real team won its first World Series four months after the film's June 2002 release.

Which of the five talking puppies in the Air Bud spin-off Air Buddies inherits Buddy's skill at basketball?

B-Dawg, the rapping pup with a platinum chain, is the one who can shoot hoops. Each of his siblings takes up a different sport from their father's films.

Which professional volleyball player and television host appears as herself in Air Bud: Spikes Back?

Gabrielle Reece turns up in the film that gives Buddy his fifth sport. His partner against the two crooks of the story is a talking parrot.

Which actor from American Graffiti and The Untouchables directed the original Air Bud?

Charles Martin Smith, Terry the Toad in American Graffiti, came back to animal stories as the director of Dolphin Tale and A Dog's Way Home.

Which Californian trained the real Buddy in five sports and created the character behind the Air Bud films?

Kevin DiCicco pitched the film himself after his dog's talent made them television regulars. He later fell out with the producers and said the first sequel was made without him.