'Animal Practice' Season 1, Episode 3: 'Clean-Smelling Pirate' Recap

We’re back in the action as George is in the middle of bandaging a bird that keeps flying into a couple’s window. When the husband makes the mistake of insulting the bird’s intelligence, George snaps back at him about choosing birds over humans when it comes to evolution… Yamamoto proves his point by continuing to run into the glass doors while attempting to deliver coffee.

Dorothy is speaking with an “emotionally unavailable” father who is dumping his kid at the hospital for the day while his terrier awaits surgery. Dorothy is determined to try and get George off the surgery and put Doug on it, but George is suspicious. She explains that she wants him off because he hates kids, and he lost her nephew at Coney Island. Doug is great with kids, with the help of his puppet, Dr. Rick.

Later, George goes in and tells Doug that Dorothy changed her mind and wants him on the surgery. They argue about George’s ability to handle children. Doug thinks he is just trying to show Dorothy that he could be a good father. George takes some stickers and suckers and goes to charm the boy.

The boy, however, just wants to know what is going on with his dog Barnaby. George’s plans are thrown a little for a loop when he discovers that Barnaby is in kidney failure, and has only a 30% chance of surviving the surgery. Doug tries to explain to him how to tell the boy gently, but George messes it up. The boy and his dog vanish.

Everyone is on the hunt for them, finally enlisting a helpful Basset Hound who tracks them down where they are hiding. “Maybe we can coax him out, with some kind of child biscuit.”

George tells the boy that his dog is a strong breed, and if anyone can survive the surgery, it is him. The boy comes out and agrees to let it happen—but only if Doug performs the surgery. He wants George to keep him company.

Yamamoto, it turns out, has a puppet phobia, and Dr. Rick is his worst nightmare. Juanita steps in and sneaks the puppet onto his hand when he isn’t looking—Yamamoto is terrified, but then uses the puppet to flatter himself, and gets over his fear. That is until sleep-deprived Rizzo crawls inside of Dr. Rick and animates him.

In Angela’s grooming world, nerdy Jerry keeps bringing her gauze. Dorothy notes his interest, and approaches Angela telling her that she should try going out with him, but Angela already has a man in prison. Jerry later tells Angela that the cafeteria has beefsteak, and Dorothy pressures her into agreeing to meet him for lunch. “Hello meat snack!”

After her date, Dorothy tries to get her to dish, and Angela admits that dating a nice guy is okay. However, Jerry comes up to Dorothy later, despairing, as Angela hits on a heavily-muscled man outside. Jerry wants to resign, after Angela had her way with him and then started ignoring him. Angela calls Dorothy out on interfering with her love life. They both agree that there is something a little appealing about a nice guy with a bad streak--“A clean-smelling pirate… or a dirty-smelling millionaire.”

Thankfully, Barnaby’s surgery goes well, and Dorothy admits to George that maybe she was wrong.