Helen and T.D. are recording Martha, who is pretending to be a detective. Helen tells her this is unnecessary, then Martha says that it's true... because she is one (referencing the time she helped the police). She wants to go to the council meeting, but dogs aren't allowed. Then, T.D. and Helen begin filming Martha again, and she tells a story.
It begins on the stereotypical dark and stormy night, and Mrs. Demson's trash bin falls over. The next morning, Martha wakes up to the sound of Mrs. Demson screaming. The Lorraine dogs come over and start eating from the knocked-over trashcan, while Mrs. Demson calls the police about it. Skits then wanders off and hides, but Martha continues eating, and Mrs. Demson sees her and thinks she knocked the bin over. Both dogs run away and start walking down the sidewalk, while Martha complains about the accusation.
Later, it turns out that more trashcans were knocked over all over Wagstaff City, prompting dogs to eat from them and humans to blame the dogs. Helen makes Martha take a bath since she got Mrs. Demson's trash on her, while Mariella hears about Mrs. Demson's trash bin and scolds Martha. An indignant Martha goes to leave to clear her name, but she's made to take the bath first.
That night, more trashcans fall over, then the next morning, Mrs. Demson visits the Lorraines. She says that she will bring the incident up at the next town council meeting and discuss making leashes mandatory. Martha doesn't like this idea, since then she wouldn't be able to go anywhere independently, and Mrs. Demson starts a petition, which gets a lot of signatures (mainly from the owners of the knocked-over trashcans).
Martha calls a meeting, which Rinty, Pops, Burt, Cisco, John, and two others attend, with Skits showing up late. Martha points out that leashes mean no freedom, and Mrs. Demson has no proof that the dogs knocked the trash bins over. She wonders if one of her friends did it, but they all have alibies.
Then, she decides to hire all her dog friends as detectives, and they set to work that night. However, Martha sleeps all night, and wakes up to find the Lorraines' kitchen trashcan knocked over. She thinks that Helen, Danny, and Mariella obviously didn't do it, and Jake is too small, so it must have been Skits. She accuses him, but he denies it and blames her.
They have a sleepless night that night, trying to prevent the other from escaping. Meanwhile, a raccoon enters through the doggie door and while the dogs are arguing, the raccoon knocks over the kitchen trash. The dogs realise this is probably the culprit and chase it around, making an even bigger mess in the process. They eventually chase it away, but the Lorraine ladies arrive and are shocked at the mess. Thankfully, Helen sees the raccoon (who Martha reveals is male) outside the window, along with three others. Then, all the dogs in the episode chase the four raccoons away.
Back in the present, Helen shows the recording at the council meeting while the dogs watch from outside. Then, Helen and her dogs go home.
This episode provides examples of
- Accidental Misnaming: Mrs. Demson thinks Martha's name is Marla.'
- Animal Jingoism: Cisco apparently chased Nelson.
- Bait-and-Switch: Martha agrees with Helen that she doesn't need to pretend to be a detective... then, she says that it's because she is one.
- Buffy Speak: At one point, Martha calls Skits a "trashcan-knocker-overer".
- Clear Their Name: The episode focuses on the dogs trying to prove they weren't responsible for the knocked-over trashcans.
- Continuity Nod:
- Martha says, "I was a police dog, remember?", which alludes to her helping the police in "Codename: Martha".
- Martha's aversion to walking on leashes first brought up in "Dog Daze" appears again here.
- Death Glare: The Lorraine dogs glare at each other when they think the other knocked the trashcans over.
- Dogs Hate Squirrels: One reason Martha hates leashes is because she doesn't want to be prevented from chasing squirrels.
- Exhausted Eye Bags: The Lorraine dogs get bags under their eyes when they stay up all night.
- Foreign-Language Tirade: When arguing with Skits, Martha switches from English to barking when she gets angrier.
- From Bad to Worse: Martha notes that the day started bad with many dogs being blamed for knocked-over trashcans, but then got worse when she was made to take a bath.
- Hypocritical Humour: Martha says that it wasn't fair of Mrs. Demson to assume a dog knocked the bins over, but then says to her dog friends, "Which one of you did it?".
- Imagine Spot: When Martha thinks Skits knocked over the trashcans, she briefly imagines him doing it.
- Insane Troll Logic: Martha at one point wonders if she did knock over the trashcans without knowing, and "interrogates" herself.
- Is It Something You Eat?: When Helen says that every dog has an alibi, Martha says, "They do? Where did they get one?! Where's mine?! I'm starving!".
- It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: Martha's story starts on a dark and stormy night.
- Mystery Episode: The episode follows the dogs trying to determine who knocked some garbage cans over.
- No Animals Allowed: Dogs aren't allowed at council meetings.
- No Name Given: The raccoons are unnamed.
- No, You: Implied when Skits barks and Martha says, "I don't trust you either!", then later he barks again and she says, "I didn't knock it over, you did!".
- Poke the Poodle: Martha describes Skits as "evil" for allegedly knocking over trashcans.
- Red Herring: Skits hid when Mrs. Demson showed up, was late to the meeting, seemed tired during the meeting, and was the only member of the Lorraine household without an alibi. Despite this, he was not the culprit; the raccoons were.
- Slapstick:
- Twice, the dogs try making a dog pyramid, but fall over.
- When the Lorraine dogs are chasing the raccoon, they crash into things and knock things over.
- Sleep Deprivation: Discussed. When Martha thinks Skits was the culprit, she remembers he looked a little tired during the meeting and wonders if he was up all night causing trouble.
- Speak in Unison: When Martha says, "I was a police dog, remember?", Helen and T.D. say, "We remember!" at once in a voice that's simulatneously singsong and bored.
- Talking in Your Sleep: Martha sleep talks about chasing a truck, then later about food.
- Whole Episode Flashback: Most of the episode takes place in the recent past.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: John is revealed to be afraid of the rain.
