Martha and Skits are tug-of-warring over one of Helen's shoes in the living room and knock over a vase, breaking it. Mariella and Helen enter, and tell them off, because chewing on Helen's property and tug-of-warring in the living room are both prohibited.
The Lorraine ladies send the dogs out as punishment, so Martha and Skits go for a walk on their own and find a man giving a public speech, claiming that dogs have many flaws. He then brings out a man named Dr. Pablum and a pug named Sir Lancelot, who is totally obedient, which the first man claims is a result of training at an institute. He claims that Sir Lancelot is now "perfect", but Martha protests, "That's not perfect, that's terrible!". This angers the man, whose name is revealed to be Otis, and he claims that he wants to train dogs to be perfect. Martha says that dogs are already perfect and Otis angrily confronts a woman, but he doesn't believe her when she states that it was a dog who spoke.
The institute becomes popular quickly, and Martha and Skits notice that the neighbourhood dogs have become oddly obedient. Skits bumps into one, named Donald, and knocks him over like a bowling pin, causing Martha to suspect something is wrong.
The Lorraine dogs sneak into the institute, where Otis is having three newly-trained dogs wait for biscuits. Skits bounds over and steals the biscuits, which Otis angrily labels as disobedient. He shoos the two out, and Martha mentions that something is "strange" about those dogs. Pablum overhears her while taking out the trash and wonders how it's possible for a dog to talk.
Martha complains some more about Otis's view on dogs, then she and Skits start rooting around in the garbage and eating it. Martha then sees the back door to the institute and decides to sneak in to find out what Otis and Pablum are doing to the dogs. She goes to the door and pretends to be a reporter, and Pablum lets her in but puts her into a cage. While Martha protests, Pablum calls Otis over, and Skits tries to get into the building.
When Otis comes over and Pablum tries to show Martha to him, she clams up. Lancelot starts yapping, which Otis labels as "misbehaving", so he tells Pablum to "fix" him. While Skits brings a crate over to the window, Martha asks Lancelot (who is now in a cage) what's going on. Lancelot explains (in barks) that his name is actually Bert and he was dognapped as well.
Pablum puts a collar on Bert, which causes Martha to think that the collar is what's changing his behaviour. She exclaims, "It's the collar!", and Pablum says, "You can speak?!". Martha tricks Pablum by claiming she didn't want Otis hear her because she didn't want him to steal Pablum's secret and asks how he makes Bert act "perfectly". Pablum explains that the collars are fitted with microchips that turn off every part of the dogs' brains except the "obedience lobe". He is about to take Martha's collar off, but is called out by Otis.
Skits enters and frees Martha, but the door is shut. Otis enters and kicks them out for not being paying customers. Skits wants to leave, but Martha wants to save the other dogs. They approach Pablum (who was looking for Martha) and she promises to tell him the secret of how she can talk, but only if he does something for her in return.
Otis prepares to give another demonstration, but then Pablum sneaks up behind him and puts a microchip down his shirt. Otis tries to do the demonstration, but then Martha sneaks behind him and says, "Sit!", forcing him to do so. She says to lie down, roll over, beg, and hop on one paw or foot, which the dogs and Otis are forced to do. Then, she tells Otis (whose last name is revealed to be Weaselgraft) to tell the truth about the institute. Otis explains about the collars, and Martha says, "It's not your dogs that are misbehaving — it's these two!". The owners take their dogs' collars off, and Martha tells Pablum that it's alphabet soup that makes her talk. Then, the two conmen are arrested.
This episode provides examples of
- And Your Reward Is Edible: Downplayed. Otis gives three dogs biscuits partly as a reward for their training but also to teach them to wait for them.
- Artistic License – Biology: Pablum claims that there's a part of the brain called the "obedience lobe", which isn't an actual part of the brain.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Discussed when Otis claims that dogs "don't pay attention".
- Bad People Abuse Animals: Pablum has no problem with giving dogs microchips that control their brains, and while Otis doesn't actively do that, he does have no qualms about profiting off it.
- Copycat Mockery: When the woman says, "I think it was the dog [who spoke]," Otis parrots it in a mocking voice.
- Department of Redundancy Department:
- Otis says that dogs are "not perfect; they are imperfect, which means they are not good all the time."
- Later, he says, "And by disobedient, I mean does not obey!".
- Dogs Hate Squirrels: One dog named Donald used to hate squirrels and chase every one he saw, until he went to the training school and gave it up. When his collar is removed, he's seen chasing a squirrel again.
- Dogs Love Fire Hydrants: Downplayed. Skits sniffs a fire hydrant, but he doesn't obsess over it or pee on it.
- Formally-Named Pet: Subverted. Otis's pug is apparently named Sir Lancelot but his name turns out to actually be Bert.
- Full-Name Ultimatum: Martha addresses Otis as "Otis Weaselgraft" when she is telling him to spill the truth.
- I Resemble That Remark!: Martha complains about Otis labelling dogs as imperfect and claims they're noble and sophisticated... and then seconds later, starts rooting around in the trash.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Not a single character, but an entire species. Martha states that dogs not accepting biscuits isn't perfect, but scary.
- Priceless Ming Vase: The Lorraine dogs' tug-of-war at the beginning ends up breaking a vase.
- Translation: "Yes": Martha asks Bert how they can get out of some crates and Bert replies with a lot of barks that apparently translate to "no".
- Will Not Tell a Lie: Martha says that dogs don't lie. This is clearly a conscious choice, however (and thus not an example of Cannot Tell a Lie) since Martha has lied before, including in this episode.
- You Can Talk?: When Pablum hears Martha speaking, he says, "A talking dog? How is it possible?!".
