Dog Man Unleashed

“Will our hero be able to overcome his canine nature and be a better man? Or will his bad habits get the best of him?”

Harold and George pose this question in the Foreword, which is another example of the story’s absurdity and The Importance of Creativity and Silliness. The question sets up an expectation that Dog Man’s growth and change will be a focus of the story. Like the claim that immediately follows—that the story will contain “romance”—this is misleading. It is a metafictional strategy, commenting on the way stories are typically pitched to readers, not a serious claim that Dog Man needs to change.

“I know! Let’s get him these ‘Brain Dots’ to make him smarter!”

The officers show their friendship for the Chief by demonstrating they know him well—he is a forgetful person they believe could benefit from the “Brain Dots” supplement. This helps to develop The Power of Friendship and Loyalty. This is also a fateful moment in the plot, as Flippy accidentally ingesting these pills will set the central conflict in motion in Chapter 3.

“Who wants to go to the pet store? Who wants to buy a fish?”

Dog Man’s fellow officer speaks to him in repetitive and patterned language typically used when humans speak to dogs. In this case, the officer is comically manipulating Dog Man into getting very excited about his upcoming errand. The unusual choice of one police officer choosing to speak to one another this way underscores the absurdity of Dog Man’s dual nature.

“It came to our pet shop last Friday the 13th…with a wicked heart and a soul as dark as a thousand midnights!!!!”

The pet store employee’s description of Flippy’s arrival at the shop is comically exaggerated. Diction like “wicked” and the simile of “a soul as dark as a thousand midnights” is amusing in connection with a small pet fish. The hyperbole of this statement is emphasized with four exclamation points. The dramatic irony created by the difference between what the reader now knows and what Dog Man knows builds suspense about what will happen when Dog Man takes possession of the allegedly evil fish.

“How much is that doggy in the window?”

Sarah is introduced into the narrative with this question about Zuzu; this helps to characterize Sarah as a dog lover. The specific form her question takes is an allusion to an upbeat 1952 song by Bob Merrill, made popular by singer Patti Page. This allusion imports the positive feelings of the song it refers to into the narrative, adding to the characterization of Sarah as a generally upbeat person.

“Directions: Don’t take a lot…Never more than a dot. Or something may happen…We ain’t sayin’ what.”

The directions on the bottle of Brain Dots are humorously informal, using casual diction like “ain’t” and “sayin’” and employing rhyme, rhythm, and ellipses to create a sing-song, teasing effect. These directions are featured in a close-up view of the bottle next to the Chief’s concerned-looking face: their content and this image work together to create suspense about what bad thing might be about to happen because of the Brain Dots. The language employed in this quote is an allusion to Helen Palmer’s A Fish Out of Water. Palmer was the wife of Theodore Geisel, also known as Dr. Seuss, and the book was published as a part of the Dr. Seuss series of beginner books. Because the Dr. Seuss books are known for mischievous characters who get into funny predicaments, this allusion creates an expectation of something similar about to happen in Dog Man Unleashed.

“[A]nd what happened next? Well in this book they say: Flippy’s brain grew…eleven sizes that day.”

The editorial boxes in which George and Harold explain the action as Flippy consumes the Brain Dots and gains super-intelligence use rhythmic, rhyming language with a tone like that of the directions on the Brain Dots bottle. This connects the bottle’s warning with this outcome and implies that Flippy’s newfound intelligence is dangerous. The specific rhythm, syntax, and diction of this quote closely mimics the language of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas, creating an allusion that underscores Flippy’s comedic evil.

“I’ll put my best man on it!!!! Oh, Dog Man…”

Although Dog Man’s canine qualities may sometimes get in the way of his police work and annoy his fellow officers, it is also clear that the Chief respects his abilities. When the robbery is called in, Dog Man is the officer the Chief wants on the case—and he even refers to Dog Man as his “best man.” This helps to characterize both Dog Man and the Chief and develops The Power of Friendship and Loyalty.

“Does Dog Man wanna solve the crime??? Who’s gonna catch the bad guys?”

Like Dog Man’s fellow officer did in Chapter 1, the Chief uses the repetitive and patterned language people often use when speaking to dogs. This time, the context is more serious—a police chief is sending an officer to respond to a crime—which heightens the absurdity of the joke. This helps to develop the story’s comedic tone and its thematic exploration of The Importance of Creativity and Silliness.

“‘I haven’t even escaped from jail, yet, today!’

‘Well, too bad! ‘Cuz when I catch you…I’m gonna put you right back in that cell where you belong!!!’”

The exchange between the jail officer and Petey is illogical; Petey tries to point out that he has been in jail and could not be the pet store robber, but the officer bulldozes past this logic and insists that when he catches Petey—who is, in truth, already standing in front of him, inside a jail cell—he will put Petey in jail. This absurd exchange contributes to the text’s humorous tone and its thematic exploration of The Importance of Creativity and Silliness. It also characterizes Petey as clever and devious: his dialogue implies that he routinely breaks out of jail—he has just not done so “yet, today.”

“I saw this in a book once!”

As Petey creates the flat paper version of himself for use in his escape plan, he comments that this is an idea he got from a book. This alludes to Jeff Brown’s Flat Stanley, a popular children’s book in which a falling bulletin board flattens a boy. Flat Stanley goes on to have many adventures only made possible by his flatness: This foreshadows that Flat Petey will also have adventures and not simply remain an inanimate piece of paper.

“I just found out a clue: the pet store crook didn’t steal money!!! He only stole little treasure chests!!!”

Sarah’s recognition that the treasure chests are a clue characterizes her as intelligent. It also foreshadows the later revelation that the robber is Flippy, which is another absurd element of the story’s plot.

“Right! That’ll be a million bucks plus tacks.”

The price the real estate agent quotes Flippy for the castle is a call-back joke to the scene in the pet store where the pet store employee quotes Dog Man a price for the fish he chooses and then quotes Sarah a price for Zuzu. At first, “tacks” seems like a child’s misspelling of “tax,” but when Sarah pays, she includes a box of thumbtacks. The running joke of substituting “tacks” for “tax” is a pun characteristic of the story’s humor and adds to its absurdity.

“Gimme some sugar, baby!”

As the crowd of people enchanted by the Love Ray chases Petey, they all yell in unison, insisting on a kiss. The phrasing of this demand is deliberately silly, employing an old cliché to highlight the ridiculousness of the situation. This supports the story’s comedic tone and The Importance of Creativity and Silliness.

“‘Cuz you are the wind beneath my wings!!!”

The jail officer’s overjoyed reaction to Petey’s reappearance at the cat jail is comical and unexpected. He sings a phrase from Jeff Silbar and Larry Henley’s song “Wind Beneath My Wings,” made popular by Bette Midler. This allusion to a melodramatic and sentimental song, juxtaposed with the comical scene, heightens the humor of the moment.

“Eeets alive!”

Flat Petey’s excited reaction to the T. rex coming to life is an allusion to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Although it is unlikely that young readers are familiar with the original Shelley text, the line, “It’s alive!,” is reproduced in many films based on her novel.

“Dog Man loved bones!!! So he just did what came naturally.”

Like Dog Man’s earlier defeat of Petey, his defeat of the T. rex is the result of his supposedly “bad” canine behaviors. The diction “naturally” here underscores the point that Dog Man’s behaviors are an intrinsic part of who he is—and that his true nature is not something that needs to be changed.

“‘What’s a phone booth?’

‘Beats me!’”

The two children watching the fight between Flippy and Flat Petey are puzzled by the phone booth that Flippy lifts into the air with his telekinetic powers. Their lack of recognition for “old fashioned” objects familiar to older people becomes a running joke as they subsequently fail to recognize newspapers and a mailbox.

“That tank thingy took off during your expositional monologue.”

In an irony, the same children who did not recognize the phone booth and other objects are now able to accurately label an “expositional monologue.” Openly discussing an element of text—such as Flippy’s expositional monologue—is another part of the text’s metafictional motif.

“When Dog Man heard the word ‘ball’…he stopped being afraid…and just did what came naturally!”

The repetition of diction and syntax from the quote, “So he just did what came naturally” (135), emphasizes the similarity of this moment to the moment when Dog Man overcomes the animated dinosaur. This reinforces the point that Dog Man’s instincts are not as problematic as others seem to think—they are, in fact, responsible for his success.

“Flat Petey, have you ever played rock, paper, scissors?”

The rock, paper, scissors motif concludes with the reappearance of the game in an ironic twist: This is the same game that Flat Petey used to escape from the EMTs, and now it is being used to defeat him. This is ironic and helps to demonstrate that good eventually wins in The Struggle Between Good and Evil.

“Shear terror. Don’t get snippy with me! I like big cuts and I cannot lie.”

During the Flip-o-Rama on Pages 181 and 183, each panel has an editorial box with a quip related to the scissors menacing Flat Petey. The first two are puns depending on the multiple meanings of the word “snippy” and the sound-alike words “shear” and “sheer.” The third is an allusion to the Sir Mix-a-Lot song “Baby Got Back,” in which the speaker proclaims, “I like big butts and I cannot lie.” The silly wordplay in these panels adds to the story’s comedic tone and its motif of absurdity.

“Good boy, Dog Man!”

Although Dog Man has not changed in any way and is still engaged in the same kinds of behaviors that earned him the Chief’s “Bad Doggy!” in Chapter 4, now the Chief calls Dog Man a “[g]ood boy.” The Chief’s attitude change is the result of Dog Man’s success in defeating the story’s villains, not the result of any difference in Dog Man’s approach.