Bart's Dog Gets an "F"

Tracey Ullman as Emily Winthrop/Mrs. Winfield

"Bart's Dog Gets an "F"" is the sixteenth episode of The Simpsons' second season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 7, 1991. In this episode, the Simpson family's dog, Santa's Little Helper, manages to infuriate Homer and Marge by destroying Homer's new shoes, ruining a family heirloom, and devouring Homer's cookie. As a result Homer considers giving him away while Bart is forced to train Santa's Little Helper at an obedience school so that the family will not have to give him away. At first, the dog is extremely disobedient, but, at the last minute, passes the test.

The episode was written by Jon Vitti and directed by Jim Reardon. Tracey Ullman guest starred as Emily Winthrop, the instructor at the obedience school and as neighbour Mrs. Winfield. The animal noises for the episode were performed by Frank Welker. "Bart's Dog Gets an "F"" features cultural references to films such as Predator, Jaws, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and National Lampoon's Animal House. Since airing, the episode has received mostly positive reviews from television critics. It acquired a Nielsen rating of 13.8, and was the highest-rated show on the Fox network the week it aired.

Lisa has the mumps and has to spend a few days home from school. While Marge teaches Lisa sewing, Homer goes to the mall to buy some magazines for her. There he sees and purchases some $125 shoes known as the Assassins, which he saw his neighbor Ned Flanders wear earlier. However, Santa's Little Helper promptly destroys the shoes, angering Homer. Marge shows Lisa a patchwork quilt, which is a family heirloom. Lisa makes her own contribution to it, but then Santa's Little Helper rips it up. When Homer discovers that Santa's Little Helper has also eaten his cookie, which Homer had bought earlier, he demands that the family get rid of the dog and laughs at the kids when Marge agrees with him, but the kids, terrified that Homer will take away their pet, promise their dad that they will train their dog to prevent future circumstances.