The Dog Broomer

"The Dog Broomer" is the second segment of the eleventh episode of season 2, and the forty-seventh Rugrats segment overall.

Characters Present

 * Tommy
 * Chuckie
 * Phil
 * Lil
 * Stu
 * Lou
 * Didi
 * Spike
 * Ilsa Umlaut
 * Bernie
 * Allen Murphy

Synopsis
''The Rugrats think Ilsa Umlaut, the dog groomer Didi hires to clean Spike, is evil. Can they convince her to leave their dog alone?''


 * - Description from Klasky Csupo

Summary
The babies try to rescue Spike from Ilsa.

Plot
The episode begins with Tommy Pickles and Chuckie Finster watching Spike play near the garbage outside. They wonder what it's like for him, since he gets to have all the fun.

Around the same time, Didi, Stu and Lou begin to watch The Merminator, a Science Fiction musical film which "the bald guy" gave thumbs up. Lou jokingly bets that "the fat guy" hated it. As the film begins, Lou hears Spike wanting to come in and proceeds to open the door for him. Over a few minutes' time, the three adults smell something very unsanitary. Didi had just changed Tommy and Chuckie's diapers recently, and Stu took out the garbage earlier, so it's neither of them. Soon they learn that the smell is coming from Spike.

Didi searches through the yellow pages on her phone book for a phone book for a dog groomer to clean Spike. Tommy and Chuckie overhear and think that "dog brooming" sounds pretty scary.

Later that morning, after Phil and Lil DeVille come over, a storm forms. Tommy tells his friends what he thinks the dog broomer does. After they hear the door bell rings, the babies hide, thinking it's the broomer. It's actually Bernie, the wood cutter who was called to take care of the Pickles' tree stump. Soon after Stu answers, the babies are relieved. The bell rings again, and before Tommy could hide along with his friends, Stu picks him up. Again, Stu answers the door, and an insurance salesman named Allen Murphy comes by to offer the Pickles family protection. As the babies again come out of hiding in relief, Chuckie's getting pretty tired. The bell rings yet again. This time, Didi answers. Ilsa Umlaut, the dog groomer, arrives right on time.

As Didi talks to Ms. Umlaut about the weather today when allowing her in, she replies that it's beach weather in Helsinki. As soon as they enter the kitchen, Ms. Umlaut shows Didi a book of dog styles to choose from, like The Schwarzenegger Special, The Dreaded Dreadlocks and The Don King. After careful consideration, Didi chooses The Trident, which she states is adorable. Spike yipes in fear when seeing this and runs upstairs. When Ms. Umlaut goes upstairs to find Spike, Tommy follows her to try to save Spike after Chuckie, Phil and Lil think Ms. Umlaut's rather nice than mean. As Tommy goes upstairs, Didi picks him up.

Ms. Umlaut ties Spike to the kitchen table after finding him in the bedroom. After Ms. Umlaut shows Didi the doggy hair dryer (with heat lamps), the puppy steamer and the spinning doggy lathe (for easy clipping), which the babies all think are weapons, Didi thinks that it's too much work. Ms. Umlaut assures her that she thinks of it as fun. Stu calls Didi to the study about the insurance protection Mr. Murphy's offering.

The babies think of a plan to keep Ms. Umlaut from "brooming" Spike. After some convincing from Lil, Tommy finds Spike's chewtoy and puts it in Spike's place. Ms. Umlaut sees the toy in the tub and chases after Tommy and Spike. After reaching a dead end, Spike pushes Ms. Umlaut into the tub.

After hearing Ms. Umlaut screaming, Stu, Didi and Mr. Murphy rush into the kitchen. It's when Ms. Umlaut admits that she hates dogs and decides to quit dog grooming altogether. She then tells Didi that she went to beauty school in Stockholm to be a hair dresser. Didi pays her a tip anyway to ease her emotional pain. After being paid, she loses the European accent and says it will help ease her pain. Mr. Murphy then runs off with the bill Stu signed in fear.

The babies celebrate their victory against "the broomer" and hope she doesn't come back. Spike kisses Tommy after he tells him that he's "been broomed for the last time".

Goofs

 * Ilsa Umlaut, the con-artist dog groomer, describes that pouring rain is "beach weather" in Helsinki. She also states that she went to the best school in Stockholm. Helsinki is the capital of Finland, and Stockholm is the capital of Sweden. The family should have known she was a fraud, because unless Ilsa traveled to many countries many times, she did not keep her story straight.
 * During the closing credits for this episode, David Doyle (in addition to E.G Daily) is credited as the voice behind Tommy when it should say Grandpa (who was briefly in the beginning of the second segment of the episode).
 * They should've just bathed Spike instead of getting a dog groomer to clean Spike.

Trivia

 * The movie the parents watch, The Merminator, is a parody of The Terminator. The bald guy that gave it thumbs up whilst the fat guy hated it is an homage to the two reviewers, Siskel and Ebert.
 * Moral: Taking care of a pet is a big responsibility.