User Reviews

I really like the Dick Van Dyke show,I like Mary Tyler Moore and all the other characters of the Dick Van Dyke show. Excellent writing, great timing,and a real sense of spontaneity set this show head and shoulders above pretty much any of the other shows of the time. Just by the law of averages,all the episodes could not be fantastic,and some were indeed better than others. This particular episode is not one of the best in my opinion. In this episode,Dick Van Dyke's character,Rob Petrie gets buffaloed into dog-sitting a giant German Shepherd over the weekend. The doggy belongs to his co-worker,Buddy, and Buddy's wife "Pickles". Meanwhile,while Rob is still debating with Buddy about taking the dog,Rob's wife 'Laura Petrie',(played by the energetic Mary Tyler Moore) and son are talking about the family possibly going out of town for this same weekend. They aggree that they will discuss it with Rob when he gets home.. When Rob does get home with the unexpected doggy, his son is afraid of the doggy as soon as he sees it through the window! Character Laura Petrie is leery of the dog,from the get-go. The dog and Laura eventually meet,and it goes fine-but the young son 'Richie' is still afraid of the big dog. Rob goes through several somewhat amusing ordeals with the dog,he starts with the idea of keeping the dog in the garage for the night,that does not last very long. Eventually Rob puts the dog in an old crib and rolls it into he and Laura's bedroom. Laura wakes up and starts squawking to Rob about the 'empty crib next to your bed'... Empty crib? Where's the doggy? It turns out that son Richie and doggy have become fast friends over some chicken salad ! (that looks an awfull lot like lunch meat..) As I said,this is not one of the better episodes but is still worth watching,and good for several (somewhat predictable) laughs. The very few,(5% or so) below-average episodes like this one only serve to make me appreciate the other 95% of the episodes all the more.