Dr. Pablum is recording Otis Weaselgraft with a Beagle named Sparky. Weaselgraft claims that he's taught Sparky how to speak by having him feel sandpaper. However, when asked how it feels, Sparky says, "woof" instead of "ruff", so Otis has Pablum stop recording. Pablum shows Weaselgraft a robot he built that resembles Martha and claims that Weaselgraft took her to speak, but then it breaks. Otis suggests getting Martha to claim he taught her to speak so they'd be rich, but Pablum points out that she doesn't trust them. Otis suggests coaxing Martha, but Pablum thinks that won't work, so both agree on stealing her.
Helen, who is teaching Martha tongue twisters, stops for ice cream in a shop, while Pablum and Weaselgraft watch her in disguise. They pretend to be talent scouts looking for someone for their talent show. They deliberately cite a dog who can do tongue twisters as an example, so she does one, and Otis compliments her. Martha agrees to be in the show, so Pablum and Weaselgrafte hand her a flyer and tell her to meet them tomorrow. When Helen returns with the ice cream, she looks at the flyer and is puzzled that the prize is a lifetime supply of bones.
Later, Carolina, T.D., and Truman come over to visit, and Carolina sings, T.D. plays with a ball, and Truman practices stage magic. It turns out that they're practicing for the talent show as well, Truman and Carolina to show off and T.D. for the bones.
Pablum and Weaselgraft put a sign up, then make a rope trap to ensnare Martha, when she and the kids show up. Otis leaves, saying he'll be back, and Pablum catches him in the rope trap. Martha and her friends hear the crashes from outside, confusing them. Weaselgraft exits and claims that the show has been postponed until five P.M., but they need to rehearse. He asks who wants to go first, and Carolina volunteers, but they take Martha in instead.
The frauds put Martha on a stage and have her recite tongue twisters, then Weaselgraft kicks the kids out, claiming he doesn't have time for them to practice. While the conmen play the recording they took of Martha's voice, Helen is suspicious and wonders if they were just trying to flatter Martha by complimenting her the previous day. However, Martha takes this the wrong way and offendedly wonders if she means her tongue twisters weren't good. Meanwhile, Pablum and Otis add the recording into the robot Martha and plan on swapping it for the real dog.
The kids show up that evening, and Truman is starting to be suspicious too. Otis lets them in and Pablum brings out a box that allegedly contains the bones (but judging by his Suspiciously Specific Denial, it seems to actually contain the robot). The kids perform their acts, except for Helen, who looks on suspiciously, and then Martha goes onstage and recites "She Sells Seashells". When she's finished, she walks up to the box to find out how many bones makes a lifetime supply... and ends up activating a revolving mechanism in the box with the robot inside it. Pablum sees Martha and tries to sneak up on her, but then Carolina starts calling her.
Martha is announced as the winner and goes onstage, when Pablum brings the box and Otis says the bones are in it. However, Martha, having seen what's in the box, isn't fooled, but they manage to get her in the box anyway when she accidentally sets off the revolving mechanism. Luckily, however, Martha tricks the villains by pretending to be the robot, and when they drive back, the police are waiting.
On their way home, the kids and Martha talk about what happened, and Martha wonders if she's not actually good at tongue twisters, but T.D. assures her that she is.
This episode provides examples of
- Amusing Injuries: The revolving box slams shut on Otis Weaselgraft's fingers.
- And Your Reward Is Edible: The prize of the alleged talent show is a lifetime supply of bones.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Pablum and Weaselgraft openly refer to their plan of stealing Martha as "evil".
- Comically Missing the Point: When Martha starts reciting a tongue twister about "Friendly Freddie", Pablum thinks Freddie is a real person, or possibly another talking dog.
- Delicious Daydream: At one point, Martha is too distracted imagining her lifetime supply of bones to listen to Helen.
- Evil Laugh: Pablum laughs evilly at the prospect of stealing Martha, then later he and Weaselgraft both do when they anticipate selling DVDs.
- Fingore: Weaselgraft gets the revolving mechanism of the box slammed on his fingers.
- Noodle Implements: We never find out why T.D. wanted a lifetime supply of bones.
- Robot Dog: Pablum builds a robot Martha, but the robot is glitchy.
- Russian Reversal: When Sparky says, "woof" instead of "ruff" despite Weaselgraft yelling at him to say, "ruff", Pablum says that instead of Weaselgraft teaching Sparky to speak, it seems as though Sparky is teaching Weaselgraft to speak Dog.
- Say My Name: Otis shouts, "Pablum!" when he finds out that Martha tricked both of them.
- Stock Animal Diet: Martha is keen on the idea of a lifetime supply of bones.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: When Martha asks what is in a box, Pablum replies, "Not a robot".
- Tongue Twister: Helen teaches Martha various tongue twisters, including the Peter Piper one.
