As (inept) news reporters, Martha and T.D. explain that the episode's vocabulary is on observing. Then, we see the Lorraine ladies taking the dogs to the vet for a check-up. Both of them are nervous, and Helen is confused but Martha reveals that they're afraid of getting their shots. When Martha convinces Skits to jump onto the examining table, the vet offers Martha biscuits in return for being her assistant.
She accepts, so Helen helps Martha study from a dog anatomy book. Then, Martha begins her job as the vet's assistant. She helps a dog who is afraid of her first check-up and finds the stethoscope too cold, John, whose food has been disagreeing with him, and a grumpy Bob and Nelson.
Then, at home, she watches a medical drama, but finds the acting bad, so she changes the channel. Later, Mrs. Clusky and one of her nieces bring a lethargic Butterscotch to the vet. They reveal that he's been lethargic and neither eating nor going to the bathroom very often since yesterday, and Martha just hears his barks as gibberish, apparently due to his young age.
The vet and Martha examine Butterscotch and a scan finds an object lodged in his gut. The vet says that she will probably need to operate but needs to determine what the object is first. This makes Martha sad on the way home, especially since Mrs. Clusky's niece is seen crying on her doorstep.
Martha then remembers the vet saying she needs to "sniff out" the nature of the object in Butterscotch's intestine and gets an idea. She summons Skits, Rinty, Cisco, John, Francois, a Beagle, and another dog, then, after confirming that Butterscotch got sick in Mrs. Clusky's yard, has them smell around. Rinty finds grass, Cisco finds rainwater,and Francois finds a mouldy dog biscuit, but Martha doesn't think it could be any of those. Then, she says to Mrs. Clusky that, just like the vet said, it could be a "whole laundry list" of things. This reminds Mrs. Clusky that her laundry has been hanging up since Butterscotch got sick. As she folds the laundry, Martha notices that a sock is missing and realises that Butterscotch must have stood on the nearby basket and eaten the missing sock.
She explains the situation to the vet, who operates on him and then brings him out, wearing a bandage and an Elizabethan collar and needing to be prevented from roughhousing with his brothers so as not to disturb his stitches, but otherwise okay.
Later, after Butterscotch has had his stitches removed, Martha gives him a lesson on checking if things are safe before eating them.
This episode provides examples of
- Afraid of Doctors: One chihuahua shakes with fear during her check-up.
- Afraid of Needles: The Lorraine dogs are both afraid of getting vaccinated.
- And Your Reward Is Edible: Invoked. When the vet asks Martha to be her assistant, Martha asks to be paid in biscuits.
- Appetite Equals Health: Mrs. Clusky's niece says that one sign Butterscotch may be unwell is that he hasn't been eating much.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Butterscotch's symptoms are lethargy, loss of appetite, and... not going to the bathroom.
- Canine Confusion: The dogs are sometimes shown with humanlike teeth.
- Character Tics: Played for Drama. Butterscotch likes to jump up and grab things, which is what led to him eating a sock, which led to him requiring surgery.
- Continuity Nod: Martha claims that the bad acting on the medical drama reminds her of "that pickle movie", which she and Helen watched in "Martha's Pickle".
- Dangerous Drowsiness: Butterscotch is shown looking droopy. It's then revealed that he needs surgery, and the vet points out that his life may have been on the line.
- Dogs Love Fire Hydrants: Downplayed. John sniffs a fire hydrant, but he doesn't pee on it or act like he loves it.
- "Eureka!" Moment:
- When Martha remembers the vet's "sniff it out" comment, she gets the idea to have her friends literally smell to find out what Butterscotch ate.
- Mrs. Clusky is reminded of her actual laundry after hearing Martha use the expression "laundry list".
- Extreme Omnivore: Played for Drama. Butterscotch eats a sock and ends up requiring surgery. Later defied when she teaches him to check if something is food before eating it.
- Fantasy Sequence: Martha has an imagination sequence about being the vet's assistant.
- The Food Poisoning Incident: The reason John was at the vet was because his food was giving him stomach aches.
- Foreshadowing: As pointed out by Martha, Butterscotch was shown jumping up and grabbing her ear, the vet's stethoscope, and a piece of wire, proving that he likes to jump up and grab things, which is what he must have done with the sock.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: At one point, Martha wears a medical smock but no pants.
- Heroic Dog: It's Martha who discovers that Butterscotch had eaten a sock, and as the vet points out, he might have died if not for her discovery.
- Insane Troll Logic:
- Despite acknowledging back in "There Goes the Neighbourhood" that not all Cats Are Mean and that dogs can be mean too, she still somehow thinks turning Nelson into a dog will take away his meanness.
- Cisco wonders if rainwater could have made Butterscotch sick.
- Layman's Terms: In Martha's imagination, she tells the vet that the reason Pops's skin is irritated is because he has a "parasitic infection". Then, she clarifies to him that she meant fleas.
- Pun: The vet says, "It wasn't a whole laundry list of things; it was one piece of laundry."
- Scary Science Words: Implied. In Martha's imagination sequence, when Pops barks as a response to her saying he has a "parasitic infection" which is causing "irritation of his epidermis", she says, "Relax, Pops" before explaining that the term "parasitic infection" just referred to fleas, indicating that the big words scared him.
- Suckiness Is Painful: Martha says that the bad acting on the medical drama she watches "makes [her] sick."
