In Helen's room (which is full of puppies), Martha explains that the vocabulary is about learning. Martha and Skits are then seen on a walk by themselves, looking for new things. They hear clanging noises coming from Kazuo's pound, so they fear he's in trouble. They enter to find five puppies running around outside the crates, and Kazuo stuck in one. The Lorraine dogs free him, and he explains that he was trying to demonstrate to get the puppies into the kennel but was locked in. He asks Martha to tell them to enter the kennel with their mother, and she does, but they don't listen. He suggests she demonstrate like he did, and she does, and it works. Martha greatly enjoys herself.
At home, Martha tells the Lorraines that she wants them to adopt a puppy. Daniel, however, vetoes it, and Mariella and Helen back him up. They think that raising a puppy takes too much effort and puppies are too messy and destructive. Martha goes into the living room and sulks, but perks up when Jake shows up, wanting to play ball. Then, she decides that, since he's already small, squirmy, and playful like a puppy, she and Skits should teach him to be like a dog.
Outside, Martha tries to teach Jake to walk on all fours, howl, and make a confused dog noise. Then, they go into the kitchen, where the older Lorraines are shocked at Jake drinking from the dogs' bowl, barking, and crawling instead of walking. Danny thinks he's regressing, but Mariella thinks Jake is just tired and goes to put him down for a nap. Martha is confused by their reaction, but Skits isn't so sure about Martha's behaviour.
When Jake is awake, Martha tells him that it's time for more dog lessons, but not in front of Mariella and Danny, because they apparently think humans are better than dogs. That night, Mariella catches Martha teaching Jake how to lick to show affection. This makes Mariella angry, since Jake has only recently outgrown a phase of licking random objects. This doesn't stop Martha from wanting to teach Jake more puppy skills the next day, however.
That night, she dreams that the Lorraine parents have come to accept Martha's dog lessons to Jake, then he grows older and is sent to school but expelled and sent away to a circus as "Jake the Dog Boy". She wakes up and for a moment believes Jake really has been sent away, but is glad to find him in the living room with his parents and sister. Martha admits she was wrong, and she and the older Lorraines teach Jake how to act like a boy instead of a dog.
This episode provides examples of
- Affectionate Nickname: Martha calls Jake "puppycake" at one point.
- Baby See, Baby Do: When Martha demonstrates "puppy skills" to Jake, he copies.
- Baby Talk: Martha calls Jake her "cute little puppy-wuppy".
- Berate and Switch: In Martha's dream, the Lorraine parents comment in a shocked voice that Jake is rolling in garbage, howling, and walking on all fours... but then they say that it's a good thing.
- Blowing a Raspberry: Martha blows a raspberry at the notion that humans are better than dogs, then Jake copies.
- Buffy Speak:
- Martha says a bush smells very "bushy".
- Helen uses the term "break-y" as a synonym for "destructive".
- The Compliance Game: To get the puppies into the cage, Martha runs into it and calls it a game of "Follow the Martha".
- A Dog Ate My Homework: Parodied in Martha's dream, where an older Jake, still acting like a dog, actually eats his own homework and isn't believed by his teacher.
- Filthy Fun: Martha, Skits, and the puppies roll in Kazuo's trash.
- Flashback: When Helen asks Martha if she remembers Skits's troublesome puppyhood antics, we see a few of them.
- Friend to All Children: Martha loves spending puppies and wants the Lorraines to adopt one.
- I Don't Think That's Such a Good Idea: Skits gives Martha dubious expressions related to her raising Skits as a puppy.
- My God, What Have I Done?: In Martha's dream, she becomes very guilty when her raising Jake as a dog leads to him being expelled and sent away to a circus.
- Nightmare Sequence: Martha's dream becomes a nightmare towards the end, where he's expelled and sent away to a circus, and he can't even write his family as he's illiterate.
- Opinion-Changing Dream: Martha falls asleep wanting Jake to be an honorary puppy, but when she has a nightmare about him still being a "dog boy" at around five or six and being sent away to the circus forever, she changes her mind.
- Slapstick: Martha falls over when demonstrating walking on two legs.
- Speak in Unison: In the final naughty Skits flashback, he tears the tablecloth off the table, prompting all the Lorraines except Jake to yell, "Skits, no!" in unison.
- Spit Take: When Martha wants the Lorraines to adopt a puppy, Danny spits orange juice all over her.Martha: "Maybe I should've waited until you'd finished drinking."
