A Boy and His Dogs is the first episode of Season 3 of Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures.
Summary
Strawberry and her friends befriend a boy after they assist him and some stray dogs.
Episode Review
It's a beautiful, average day when someone suddenly crashes.
Meanwhile, Berrykin Ed and Berrykin Earl fearfully tell the Princess and the Berry girls that they encountered a monster with seven noses. As Orange and Blueberry approach the group, Strawberry suggests they go to investigate. At the crime scene, they hear a strange sound and recognize it belongs to puppies and a boy. She finds the boy to be stuck in a van and they introduce themselves to each other before welcoming him to Berry Bitty City.
After they free him from the muddy hole a bunch of puppies suddenly break out of the van. He struggles to keep them together and explains what he does, driving around to find good people to adopt the dogs.
That evening, Huck explains Strawberry and Cherry that he has been driving from town to town in the Pup-Mobile, getting dogs adopted. Originally he started with twenty-five of them, and will be taking the remaining dogs to Berry Big City, where he plans to open "Huckleberry's home for pets". Strawberry and Cherry are impressed.
Soon the berrykins have finished doing their work and Huck thinks it's time to leave when Strawberry insists he stays the night since it's so late now, even letting him use her apartment above the Market while she returns to her bedroom at the Cafe. She leaves after remembering to grab Pupcake and Custard.
As Huckleberry sleeps, the puppies get up and make a huge mess.
When Strawberry returns the following morning, she is momentarily startled but claims the mess is okay since they're just puppies. Huckleberry feels very bad however and he apologizes and offers to fix it, no matter how long it takes. This makes Strawberry happy and later in the day she notices a blue carpet suddenly roll over to her and finds Huckleberry inside. As they talk, Raspberry and Orange show up with the cute leashes Raspberry made before they explain their idea of each berry girl being host of the dogs so that Huckleberry won't have to watch all seven of them at once. Huckleberry agrees and each girl picks one of the adorable pups.
Unfortunately, over time the berry girls begin to wonder if maybe they didn't pick the right pooch for them. Lemon's adorable pink puppy doesn't have much hair for her to groom and it seems to be more vocal then she imagined. While Plum's puppy refuses to dance and just wants the treats she has.
Meanwhile, Huck is trying to fix the room and the berrykins offer to help him but he claims he can do it himself and that he likes to do these things, so the berrykins let him use their tools. At first, it seems good but it falls apart and he decides to go take a break instead by visiting the girls. He asks to join them but he ends up falling off the stage in the process.
Huckleberry then goes to the Berry Bitty Cafe and sees Strawberry in the middle of baking and he offers to help her put the muffin mixture into the oven. But he doesn't actually know what the oven is and accidentally inserts the mixture into the toaster. He then goes to visit Cherry and Blueberry after he hears strange sounds coming from the van. However, Cherry is really teaching one of the dogs to sing, but honestly it sounds lousy. She asks Huck to sing when he claims he enjoys it, but it turns out he isn't very good either. Cherry offers Huckleberry a lesson, but he leaves instead.
Meanwhile, Orange and Raspberry are on their way to Lemon's Salon as they explain of a new hairstyle they wish to try. Huckleberry claims he's been dying to get this hairstyle too, and while they have their doubts he comes along anyway. But this too also ends up not working and he goes into hiding out of shock and embarrassment.
Later, Blueberry is trying to teach her puppy to find the puppy treats she went to hide but the little pup hesitates for a few minutes until she sees Huckleberry in a bush nearby. Blueberry confronts him and forces him out of the bush after he explains what happened. So before she brings him inside, Blueberry sprays Huckleberry with a hose after she lies and claims it has a warm setting, so it'll fix his hair.
Inside then, he thanks Blueberry and thanks her for the Ginger tea before claiming it to be his favorite. Blueberry accuses him of this claim and notices his strange behavior. So Huck explains that because everybody was so nice to him, he was trying his hardest to fit in by trying to be the same as everyone else. But Blueberry tells him he just has to be himself and when she brings up Patty Persimmon, he claims to like the book series a lot. In order to see if he told the truth, Blueberry tests him with some trivia before happily bonding with him over their love of the series. She also reveals that she has the newest book in the series and she lets Huckleberry have a copy but only if he promises to tell the truth about how he really feels.
At Orange Mart, Raspberry comes in to see the tiny little puppy hiding. Orange is disappointed since she had hoped to use it as a guard dog, but it's shy. Raspberry then comments on how her puppy doesn't like the sweater she made for it either, as Orange points out it's probably because of its thick fur. Raspberry however soon notices that the little puppy isn't afraid, it's just cold. So she takes the sweater from her pup and puts it onto the tinier one.
As this goes on, Huckleberry shows the brand new room to Strawberry and he asks her about her opinions regarding it. She is very pleased and offers him to return to Berry Bitty City at any time he pleases. Strawberry also points out that all of the berry girls cared for him right from the start when they realized how nice he was. The following day he is busy packing his items, ready to take off with all the pups until the girls casually ask if they could keep them, with some changes that it. He agrees before realizing that the last pup seems to want to be with him instead of Strawberry, so he decides he'll just take the pup and names it Tom Tom.
And so, with each berry girl now satisfied, and Huck has made some friends, the boy drives off with Tom Tom into the distance.
Quotes
- Huckleberry: Aw, mud pies...
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- Strawberry: Okay, tell me again what you saw, but slower this time.
- Ed: Okay. So there we were, were we? On a routine irrigation test...
- Earl: Bouncing boysenberries! Looks like we got a loose triple lock.
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- Princess Berrykin: Oh, how unbecoming.
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- Orange: What's going on, Strawberry?
- Strawberry: Monster in the berry patch.
- Orange: Scary berries! (with trembling voice) So... what do we do?
- Strawberry: I guess we... go meet it!
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- Blueberry: I myself don't see any evidence of a monster. (Until she heard yapping) Sounds like... DOGS?!
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- Huckleberry: Be reasonable now, that was my last biscuit.
- Strawberry: Dogs!!! And...
- Strawberry, Orange, Cherry, Blueberry: A BOY!!!
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- Strawberry: Excuse me...
- Huckleberry: No excuse me! Umm... who... w-where'd you come from?
- Strawberry: Berry Bitty City! I'm Strawberry Shortcake. I live there with my friends!
- Huckleberry: Oh, hi there. I'm Huckleberry Pie!
- Orange: Hello, I'm Orange!
- Cherry: Hi, I'm Cherry!
- Blueberry: Hello Huckleberry, I'm Blueberry!
- Ed: Ed!
- Earl: I'm Earl!
- Strawberry: Where are you headed?
- Huckleberry: (sighs) Not anywhere now. I'm kinda stuck...
- Strawberry: Hmm... not for long you aren't!
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- Strawberry: So, you've been driving from town to town in "Huck's Pup-Mobile" getting dogs adopted?
- Huckleberry: Yeah, I started with 25. I'm taking these, um... (lowering his voice) "leftover guys" to Berry Big City, to start "Huckleberry's Home for Pets".
- Cherry: (impressed) Awww...
- Strawberry: That is quite admirable.
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- Blueberry: Give Berry Bitty City a chance to like you for who you are.
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- Blueberry: (imitating Patty Persimmon) Ah-ha! I think I'm getting the better of this mystery before it betters me!
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- (final scene: the last puppy approaches Huckleberry)
- Strawberry: (chuckles) No wonder he didn't stay with any of us! He's been your dog all along!
- Blueberry: Well, Huckleberry? Will you let him adopt you?
- (Huckleberry pets the puppy)
- Huckleberry: (chuckles) I think Tom Tom already has!
- (Huckleberry and Tom Tom enter the Pup-Mobile. The girls wave goodbye)
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Lessons
Huckleberry learns over the time that he doesn't need to try so hard to make friends. As long as he acts like himself - he'll meet people who truly care for him as he is.
Trivia
- Since the series began, new clips were edited into the opening.
- A small screen-wipe transition effect is added to the series.
- The art for the cartoon has become smoother and fluid-like.
- The first premier episode to introduce a new character.
- Huckleberry is the first and only boy to be introduced in the show.
- The only episode in which Custard and all eight puppies appear together.
- This episode is somewhat similar to the Fish Hooks episode Doggonit, where Milo, Oscar and Bea are adopting a dog but he is not fitting with somebody (Oscar).
Goofs
- When Huck's van is pulled out of the mud pit/hole, it has none of the mud on it as it did beforehand.
- Notice that the pink Dalmatian dog was seen in front of Raspberry. When Lemon comments on them, she's the one petting it.