Helen, Martha, T.D., and Alice are watching a black-and-white movie about a man who lives in the jungle and can speak to monkeys. T.D. and Alice wish they could do that, and T.D. imagines Mrs. Clusky teaching the class how to speak monkey. Ronald comes in and rudely points out that it's a movie and people can't really talk to animals, but Martha points out that dogs can't usually talk.
Later, the kids, along with Martha and Skits, shoot hoops, and Martha reveals that she thinks she can teach humans to speak to animals, since humans can learn languages. Then, they go to the park, where T.D. reveals that he wants to be an "animal linguist" when he grows up. Martha is onboard with this and decides to start teaching T.D. how to speak Dog.
On the sidewalk, Martha tells T.D. that learning Dog will make it easier for him to learn to speak to other species, but Ronald shows up on his bike and mocks T.D. for it. He claims that dogs' barking isn't a language, but Martha and Skits disagree.
Later, Martha says that she's sure T.D. will pick up Dog quickly, since he has things in common with dogs. She tries to teach him how to growl, but he has trouble. She tells him to practice, while chewing on Skits's chew toy, so he does that. T.D. then goes to bed and dreams that he's become an animal linguist and he and his friends are rapping about it.
The next day, Martha tries to teach T.D. some Dog vocabulary at the park, accompanied by Skits. She tries to teach him to say, "Feed me" in Dog, but he again has trouble. She decides that maybe teaching him some dog body language would help. She tries teaching him some dog postures, but Ronald comes and mocks T.D. again.
T.D. is not discouraged, but when the dogs come home and Helen asks how T.D.'s dog lessons are going, Martha sadly says that he is "hopeless" at learning Dog. T.D., meanwhile, also believes that he is terrible at sounding like a dog.
The next morning, Helen and Martha go to see T.D., but his mother Janice claims that he is sick. As it turns out, however, T.D. is just faking to avoid facing mockery. He laments that the writers wrote a movie about something impossible, then Martha gets the idea that T.D. could pretend to speak Dog so that Ronald would leave him alone.
Martha whispers to Rinty, Leon, Cisco, Burt, Skits, Slappy, and three other dogs and has them meet her at the yogurt shop. There, Martha, Skits, and T.D. wait for Ronald, who approaches. T.D. pretends to have a conversation with Skits, but Ronald doesn't believe him. However, the other dogs appear and start growling and barking. T.D. says, "Woof!" and they fall silent. They have another fake conversation, and T.D. claims that the other dogs are mad at Martha for teaching him Dog since they want more privacy from humans. T.D. then "promises" to stop speaking Dog.
This episode provides examples of
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: In T.D.'s dream, Martha wears sunglasses and Jeffy wears a necklace.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Ronald scoffs at the idea of a human who can talk to animals, even though Martha can speak English. He does turn out to be right, though, since T.D. never learns to speak to animals.
- Bait-and-Switch Sentiment: T.D. practices his barking while feeding Martha a piece of his sandwich. She says, "Really good", and he thanks her, but it turns out she was referring to the sandwich.
- Big Eater: Discussed when Martha says that something T.D. has in common with dogs is that he "like[s] food".
- Buffy Speak: At one point, T.D. wonders if he doesn't sound "doggy" enough.
- Continuity Nod:
- When Martha says that people can learn languages, Alice replies, "Yeah. Some better than others", which references the previous episode, "Que Pasa, Martha?", in which she had trouble learning Spanish.
- Helen recalls T.D.'s inspirational line about humiliation from "Martha Gives Advice".
- Daydream Believer: Martha believes that being able to speak animal languages must be possible since it's in a movie.
- Dogs Hate Squirrels: Skits angrily barks at a squirrel.
- Facepalm: T.D. puts his hand to his face when reviewing how terrible he is at speaking Dog.
- Fantasy Sequence: T.D. imagines Mrs. Clusky giving her students a lesson on speaking monkey.
- Fluffy Tamer: In T.D.'s dream, he can tame alligators, crocodiles, tigers, and bears due to being able to speak to them.
- Hates Baths: According to Martha, T.D. hates baths, which is something he has in common with dogs.
- Incorrect Animal Noise: In T.D.'s dream, Tiger Baby meows instead of making a real tiger cub noise.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Ronald may have been very rude to T.D., but he was correct that he could never learn to talk to animals.
- No, You: When Skits angrily barks at Ronald for saying that dogs don't have a proper language, Ronald says, "Well, woof woof woof to you too."
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: Discussed when T.D. fears that he'll forever be known as the "dog boy".
- Playing Sick: When T.D. doesn't want to go to school for fear of facing mockery, he lies to his parents that he is sick.
- Puppy-Dog Eyes: One dog action Martha tries to teach T.D. is to make his eyes look "really big", "sad", and "pathetic".
- Self-Deprecation: When complaining about the movie, T.D. calls himself "impressionable".
- Shaking the Rump: Seeing as T.D. doesn't have a tail, he tries shaking his butt when practicing dog body language.
- Shout-Out: In T.D.'s dream, Martha says, "What's up, doc?", which is what Bugs Bunny says.
- Silent Whisper: We never hear what Martha whispers to her dog friends.
- Silly Simian: T.D. wishes he could speak monkey and imagines Mrs. Clusky teaching a lesson on monkey talk.
- Slapstick: Helen falls over while trying to get the frisbee off Skits.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: Conversed. T.D., after watching a movie about a guy who can talk to monkeys, wants to learn animals' "languages" and grow up to be an "animal linguist". Martha tries to teach him Dog, but he gives up.
- Stock Animal Diet: In T.D.'s dream, Jeffy (an elephant) wears a peanut-shaped pendant.
- Tactful Translation: When Skits angrily barks at Ronald, Martha refuses to translate it.
- This Is Reality: Ronald points out that the guy who can speak to monkeys is only a movie character and people can't "really" talk to animals.
- Toilet Humour: T.D. claims that dogs are embarrassed at having to go to the bathroom in public.
