Helen is at the playground playing fetch with her dogs, but Martha isn't interested. She wants something exciting to happen, and then T.D. runs up, excitedly declaring that Alice has a "Z-corp dog". Martha doesn't know what that is, so T.D. takes Helen and her dogs to the Boxwood house, where the family shows off the Z-corp dog: a robot dog designed by a computer company called Z-corp. Ronald tries to use the remote control on the dog, but he doesn't want to read the instruction manual, saying that those are "for losers". Mr. Boxwood and Ronald then explain that the robot, named Dynamo, can talk and obeys every command, but Martha is grumpy.
She continues to be grumpy on the way home, and then the next morning, Martha offers to do anything for Helen. Helen suspects Martha of trying to one-up Dynamo, but agrees to let her be her partner in a square dance (the other pair being Alice and T.D.). However, Martha has trouble dancing and they all end up in a heap.
Helen, the dogs, and Alice go to the park and play fetch, then Ronald and Dynamo join in. Helen is confused as to why Ronald would bring Dynamo to the park, but Alice explains that Z-corp dogs are designed to be a "pain in the neck" if not exercised. Two dog-walking humans show up and Ronald shows off by having Dynamo juggle in front of them with his back paws, reveal his built-in umbrella, balance on a ball on one paw, and kick said ball to its owner with his back paws.
Martha sulks, then when Dynamo hears Skits barking, he scans him, sees that he's a dog, and tries to bark back. However, the dogs don't understand. While everyone walks home, Ronald wonders if he can teach Dynamo to teach him trigonometry, while Martha tries to make small talk with Dynamo. When Helen wonders if Dynamo can square dance, Martha grows to resent him.
She has a nightmare about a whole pack of Z-corp dogs, led by Dynamo, square dancing in the street. She shows up in a giant robot suit and tries to square dance with Dynamo but fails. Helen tells Martha not to worry about square dancing, as Alice has replaced her partner. When Martha asks who, Helen says that it's someone who can't say no to her, which leads Martha to think it's Dynamo.
That night, Martha and Skits sneak to the Boxwoods' yard, intent on turning Dynamo off lest Helen become too attached to Dynamo and want to keep him. They run into Nelson, who doesn't like Dynamo either, and spy on Ronald and Dynamo (who are both still awake) through the window. Ronald is trying to play a video game, while Dynamo is pestering him to play. Nelson reveals (through meows) that Dynamo is faster than a real dog, scratch resistant, shock resistant, fireproof, can survive being run over, and never sleeps. Martha decides to tell Dynamo to do something bad and make the Boxwoods regret buying him, but Ronald is already regretting it.
The reason is because Dynamo keeps bugging Ronald and telling him to play with him. He wants to throw Dynamo away, but Martha, in spite of herself, rushes to Dynamo's defence. The girls walk in and Martha asks Helen if she's practicing square dancing with Dynamo. Helen reveals that her new dance partner is actually Mr. Boxwood, not Dynamo. Then, everyone continues to reprimand Ronald for thinking of throwing a pet away.
The next day at the park, Helen tells Martha that she can help Ronald grow accustomed to Dynamo.
This episode provides examples of
- Answer Cut: Martha asks, "What's a Z-corp dog?", then it cuts to T.D. pointing at Dynamo and saying, "That's a Z-corp dog."
- Attention Whore: Invoked. Dynamo is programmed to be a "pain in the neck" if not given attention.
- A Dog Ate My Homework: Discussed when Helen, upon learning that Dynamo can do trigonometry, says that a dog who does your homework would be better than one who eats it.
- Everybody Hates Mathematics: Nobody seems keen on the idea of trigonometry.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Martha admits to being annoyed by Dynamo, and she does consider making the Boxwoods give him back to the store, but she still doesn't want them to throw him away.
- Nelson may be mean, but even he is against the idea of getting rid of a pet for being annoying.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Part of the reason Martha is sour against Dynamo is because she's jealous of him being referred to as the ideal pet.
- Happy Dance: T.D. dances happily when telling Helen and her dogs about Dynamo.
- Irritation Nightmare: Martha's nightmare involves being made to square dance with Z-corp dogs.
- Jealous Pet: Played with. Dynamo is not Helen's pet, but when Martha thinks Helen will dance with him, she wrongly thinks that Helen will adopt Dynamo, which disgruntles her since she was already jealous of Dynamo.
- Mirthless Laughter: Martha chuckles in embarrassment upon learning that Mr. Boxwood, not Dynamo, will dance with Helen.
- My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: Dynamo tries to communicate with Martha by barking, but his bark apparently translates to "aardvark polish".
- Nigh-Invulnerability: Dynamo can survive being scratched, electrified, burned, or even run over.
- Platonic Declaration of Love:
- Around the beginning, Helen tells Martha she loves her.
- Ronald says that he loves Dynamo, to which he replies that he's programmed to love him too.
- Poor Communication Kills: Instead of saying who her new square dance partner is, Helen just says it's someone who can't say no to Alice, causing Martha to wrongly think Dynamo is Helen's partner.
- The Pratfall: When Ronald tries to pull the chewie out of Dynamo's mouth and the latter lets go, Ronald ends up falling on his butt.
- Robot Dog: Dynamo is a dog-shaped robot.
- The Sleepless: Being a robot, Dynamo never sleeps, only charges.
- Slippery Slope Fallacy: Martha thinks that if Helen dances with Dynamo, then eventually she'd want to adopt him.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: Parodied. Dynamo thinks he can understand every species, but when he tries to communicate with any species besides humans, he fails.
- Talking in Your Sleep: Implied. When Helen tells Martha that her nightmare was just a dream, she says, "You're not square dancing," implying that Martha had mentioned square dancing in her sleep.
- Tempting Fate: Martha says that robots can't play fetch, before Dynamo shows up, playing fetch.
- Third-Person Person: Zigzagged for Dynamo, who sometimes uses his name in place of "I" or "me", but sometimes uses "I" or "me" correctly.
- Three Laws-Compliant: While it's unknown if Dynamo is compliant of the first two laws of robotics (not to harm anyone or destroy himself), he does obey the third law— he responds to all human commands.
