Dogtown (The Simpsons) run animal medicine places like the poor Dr. Budgie, who gets arrested and put into shackles. Dr. Budgie's plea for Springfield to realize that the dogs will soon notice that humans have advocated their alpha status and turn on the citizens isn't taken seriously until it actually happens. Even Santa's Little Helper joins the feral dog pack, as the town hides from the now-vicious dogs, and a town meeting leads to the community begging their most broken-down citizen to help them: Gil. Gil's ready to face down his fellow street creatures, but it's Marge who steps up, and after finding
The Call of the Simpsons DVD review of the first season, David B. Grelck gave the episode a rating of 1.5/5, adding "the surrealism of Homer as bigfoot is a major misstep. This type of gag would be very different today, if done at all." Jon Bonné at MSNBC called the episode "a perfect example of the first season’s bizarre and fruitful balance between edgy humor and softly-drawn neuroses" and stated that "it was this combination that made Groening’s shorts for the Ullman show so compelling, and ultimately what made it possible for "The Simpsons" to break the molds of network television." Colin Jacobson at