When the film opens, a St. Bernard cún yêu, con chó con (later named Beethoven) and some other chó are stolen from a pet cửa hàng bởi two thieves. Beethoven manages to escape from the thieves and sneaks into the trang chủ of the Newton family. The father, George, doesn't want the responsibility of owning a dog, but his wife, Alice, and children convince him. While trying to name the dog, the youngest daughter, Emily, plays a portion of Ludwig van Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and the cún yêu, con chó con barks along, thus he is named Beethoven.

Initially, George only focuses on Beethoven's negative aspects: scratching the door, shedding...