Plot
Lisa has the mumps and has to spend a few days home from school. While Marge teaches Lisa sewing, Homer goes to the mall to buy some magazines for her. There he sees and purchases some $125 shoes known as the Assassins, which he saw his neighbor Ned Flanders wear earlier. However, Santa's Little Helper promptly destroys the shoes, angering Homer. Marge shows Lisa a patchwork quilt, which is a family heirloom. Lisa makes her own contribution to it, but then Santa's Little Helper rips it up. When Homer discovers that Santa's Little Helper has also eaten his cookie, which Homer had bought earlier, he wants to get rid of the dog, but Lisa convinces her parents to keep him and take him to an obedience school first.
Santa's Little Helper does not do well at the obedience school as Bart is unwilling to use Santa's Little Helper's leash as a choke chain suggested by the school's instructor Emily Winthrop. The night before the final exam, Bart and Santa's Little Helper play, thinking it will be their last few hours together. This bonding breaks down the communication barrier, allowing Santa's Little Helper to understand Bart's commands, and consequently pass the obedience school. Lisa marks the occasions by starting a new quilt to replace the one destroyed.
Read more about this topic: Bart's Dog Gets An F
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“After I discovered the real life of mothers bore little resemblance to the plot outlined in most of the books and articles I’d read, I started relying on the expert advice of other mothers—especially those with sons a few years older than mine. This great body of knowledge is essentially an oral history, because anyone engaged in motherhood on a daily basis has no time to write an advice book about it.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
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“Morality for the novelist is expressed not so much in the choice of subject matter as in the plot of the narrative, which is perhaps why in our morally bewildered time novelists have often been timid about plot.”
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