Dog Tags

Plot

Ren was heading out to what he called his "dog lodge meeting," and Stimpy helped him into a hat and shoes that looked like part of a costume. It turned out Ren had been a member of the Benevolent Order of Dog Bone Eaters for over fifty-three years. Despite Stimpy being a cat, Ren gave in and let the persistent tagalong come with him. At the lodge, Stimpy tried to pass himself off with a disguise made of Hamburg steak, which fooled nobody.

A walrus had been thrown out for a similar stunt, but Stimpy got in because his odd look didn't really scream "cat." Ren, however, was blocked at the door for not looking like a dog—the Order banned "mosquito rat-faced rodents." He showed his membership tag to prove himself, but it had expired back in 1972, so he still had to pass tests. He agreed.

Ren tried to hunt an elk, but the elk mistook Ren for a rat, attacked him, and flew off. The dogs told him those weren't the real tests. Meanwhile, Stimpy blended in with the dogs and whacked a piñata full of bones. Ren chased a car and got run over; the dogs said he needed to hot-wire one.

He misunderstood, destroyed a police car, and escaped from prison. The dogs kept messing with him, telling him to marry a millionaire. After more painful tasks, they gave him a final one: clean himself in public. Ren refused, unwilling to lose his dignity.

He gave up his "doghood" and tried to jump into the sewers with a brick, but Stimpy stopped him and snuck him into a "cat bar" where the regulars were friendlier. The two drank milk together.

Production

"Dog Tags" was created for the fourth season but aired during a fifth season that Nickelodeon had commissioned. To cut costs, Jim Kammerud had it storyboarded at Character Builders in Ohio, a cheaper option that drew criticism for many Games-era episodes like this one. The episode's weak storytelling was compounded when director Ken Bruce took over after Rough Draft Korea had already animated it. This episode marked the final appearance of Ren's tail, a feature that appeared inconsistently throughout the series.