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| I just love happy endings, don't you? |
In this episode, we see the struggles of a young dog. A dog whose carefree attitudes towards obeying has grand consequences. A dog who could be given away for his lack of ability to follow commands, a threatening loop that could continue until his new owner dumps him as well. A dog who needs both miracles and his own master's efforts to just graze the line of pass. These are the struggles of one Bart Simpson. Uh, his dog, I mean.
The need for Santa's Little Helper to learn obedience becomes apparent when the dog begins to rip and tear various things around the house. After recovering the dog while it was causing havoc at a neighbor's house, a line is drawn when the dog later proceeds to tear up Homer's cool new $125 shoes. Frustrated, Homer sends Bart and the dog to an obedience school, which uses a "choke chain" to promote obedience. While Bart refuses to implement the chain, the dog is unable to learn anything, and continues his wild streak. It reaches a head when the dog destroys Marge's six-generation family quilt she and Lisa had been working on, and especially when the dog eats Homer's massive cookie. Homer declares that he's going to give the dog away, but Bart is able to convince him to keep him if he passes the obedience school.
As the dog continues to not improve at all, the day approaches when the dog must prove its obedience or fail the school. Bart, with Lisa's advice, spends his last night with the dog just playing with him, but then afterwards breaks down, despondent as to how the dog can't even follow a simple command like 'sit'. However, finally, the dog understands the command and sits, and then follows every command Bart gives from there. Miraculously, Santa's Little Helper passes the school, and he gets to stay with the Simpsons.
Quick Review
This was another solid entry for Season 2. It did have a lot going for it. My favorite part of the episode occurred early on, when Homer's neighbor calls Homer to pick up his dog, and Homer is unaware the dog has run off, telling off the neighbor before finally realizing that, yes, the dog did fun off. The Bouvier family quilt subplot wasn't really worth any laughs, though I don't think it intended to bring any, but all of Homer's frivolous spending was worth a few chuckles. Overall, another good episode.
Final Score: 7.9
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