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"Arthur's New Puppy"
Season/Series: 1
Number in season: 8a
Original Airdate: United States October 16, 1996[1]
Canada January 15, 1997[2]
Credits
Written by: Marc Brown (original)
Joe Fallon (adapted)
Storyboard by: Hana Kukal
Episodes
Previous
"Buster Makes the Grade"
Next
"Arthur Bounces Back"
Read transcript

"Arthur's New Puppy" is the first half of the eighth episode in the first season of Arthur. It is based on the book Arthur's New Puppy.

Summary

Arthur gets a new puppy and names him Pal, but training his pet turns out to be much harder than he had imagined.

Plot

In the intro, Arthur is playing with his new puppy. He tells the viewers he never got the chance to name him. He said it had to be just right for the puppy because a name for him can effect the way he thinks of himself and how he will grow up. He thinks of names like Champion and Bionic Puppy, but won't name the dog after his friends like Buster, Francine, and definitely not Binky. So he chooses the name Pal.

In the kitchen, D.W. is getting a drink. She sees Arthur writing Pal's name on his bowl. She suggests that Arthur name Pal "Fredrick" because he looks like one. Arthur doesn't like that name, and says that Pal likes the name he has. To prove this, he calls his puppy. Pal runs to Arthur, but only to go to his bowl. D.W. thinks Pal isn't very smart, but Arthur says that Pal is a genius and D.W. comments he hides it very well. Arthur said Pal will be one once he is trained. D.W. says she will be in college by then and bets Arthur a million dollars. Pal goes to the living room, and Jane calls Arthur from the living room, saying the rug is getting wet. Arthur quickly grabs Pal to go outside and D.W. follows along asking if Arthur would like to bet 12 million dollars.

Arthur is outside taking Pal on a walk. He soon sees Francine on her bike and they greet each other. He tells her that he named the puppy Pal. Francine said he looks more like a Steve, but Arthur doesn't think so. Pal began to chew on his leash and Francine asks Arthur if Pal does anything besides that. Arthur said not yet, but he will teach Pal some tricks soon, but for now he's just house-training him. Francine advises Arthur to train Pal quick because her cousin had a dog she couldn't train, and her parents made the dog go live on a farm, which scares Arthur a little. Pal bites Francine's wheel.

Arthur takes Pal back inside, and unsuccessfully attempts to get Pal to sit, while D.W. watches, laughing. He tries to make Pal "stay", but Pal just runs off. D.W. sarcastically remarks how smart Pal is, suggesting he was in such a hurry so he could do Arthur's homework. Arthur says Pal's just excited to be home. However, David calls for Arthur to get Pal. D.W. notes that Pal got his "excitement" all over the rug in the living room. Arthur again runs outside with Pal. D.W. then says Arthur was right about Frederick not being a good name for Pal, and that he should be called "Puddles".

Later, Arthur attempts to demonstrate to his family what he managed to teach Pal in just a couple of hours. Arthur tells Pal to speak, and he barks. Arthur then tries to get Pal to "sit" and "come", but Pal just continues to bark. Arthur asks Pal to "speak", and Pal sits down.

Arthur tries to get Pal to sleep in the garage, but Pal is afraid to go to sleep there. Arthur asks David to let Pal stay in the house. Once inside, Pal goes inside D.W.'s room and bites onto her shoe. He pulls it out of her grasp, and tosses it into the air, breaking D.W.'s lamp. They decide to let Pal sleep in the kitchen with a gate so he won't get loose. Later, Pal howls, waking everyone up in the middle of the night. D.W. says they wouldn't hear Pal howling if he was in the garage, but Arthur says he will stay with Pal for the night. After Arthur falls asleep, Pal wrecks the living room, and even gets soap from the bathroom. The next day, Arthur tells Francine and Buster about what Pal did. Buster says his mother gave away his puppy one day because of all the trouble he caused. Arthur is very concerned for Pal.

Arthur's parents tell him that Pal will have to live in the garage until he is trained. Arthur protests, saying he'll be trained in no time. David says once Pal is trained, he will be welcome in the house again. David gives the garage key to Arthur, who sadly prepares to move Pal into the garage. D.W. tells Arthur he owes her the 12 million dollars she bet him. Mysteriously, the garage key suddenly disappears. Arthur is talking to David about the missing key when Pal jumps onto the table and ruins David's party platter. David says that Arthur might not be able to keep Pal, suggesting he's untrainable. Arthur warns Pal that if he isn't good, he'll have to go somewhere else. He says he never dreamed he would have a dog like Pal, and Pal is in fact better than he could have imagined. He tells Pal they will have to work hard on training so that they can stay together.

Arthur trains Pal and gets him to do things such as sitting and fetching a ball. Later, Arthur shows to his family how Pal now obeys all his commands. David tells Arthur that Pal not only doesn't have to go to a farm, he doesn't need to stay in the garage anymore. Pal runs off and brings back the garage key. Arthur tries to get D.W. to acknowledge that Pal is much smarter than she thought. She admits that Pal might be "above average." Pal knocks D.W. to the ground and licks her.

Characters

Major

Minor

Trivia

  • At the end of the 2000 rerun intro on PBS Kids before this episode, Arthur's crashing sound remains the same.

Cultural References

  • The scary looking lawn mower in the garage with a face on it bears a striking resemblance to Kirby the vacuum cleaner in The Brave Little Toaster movie series.
  • When Arthur is training Pal he runs up stone steps like Rocky Balboa does in the movie Rocky. The music in the scene is also a reference to "Gonna Fly Now", Rocky's theme.

Episode connections

  • This episode is a follow-up to "Arthur's Pet Business."
  • When Pal morphs into Francine, he looks like one of the girl dogs from "One Ornery Critter."

Errors

  • D.W.'s ear becomes the same color as her hair.

    D.W.'s ear becomes the same color as her hair

    When Pal jumps to lick D.W., her ear becomes the same color as her hair.

Production notes

  • This is the only episode in which Hana Kukal is a storyboard writer.

Differences from the book

  • In the book, Buster mentions that his parents sold his puppy to a farm and Francine mentions that her cousin's puppy ran away from home; in the episode, Francine says that her cousin's puppy was sold to a farm and Buster says his mom gave his puppy away while he was at school.
  • In the book, the one command Pal doesn't like is "walk time"; in the episode, it is "sit."
  • In the book, the family spends a large portion of the story searching for the garage key; this is not as frequent in the episode.

Home video

VHS:

DVD:

Gallery

Screenshots

References


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