| SPOILER ALERT!!! This article or section contains spoilers. Read at your own risk! |
| “ | When all else fails, can love prevail? | ” |
–The Book's Blurb | ||
Dog Man: Mothering Heights is the 10th book in the Dog Man series. This book was released on March 23, 2021.
Plot[]
Dog Man is down on his luck, Petey confronts his not so purr-fect past, and Grampa is up to no good! The world is spinning out of control as new villains spill into town. Everything seems dark and full of despair. But hope is not lost! Can the incredible power of love save the day?
Characters[]
- Dog Man
- Petey
- Li'l Petey
- 80-HD
- Petey's Father
- Chief
- Nurse Lady
- Big Jim
- Grace (flashbacks only)
- Sarah Hatoff
- Zuzu
- Molly
- Sippy Cups
- Roscoe
- Dr. Scum (dream only)
- MiIIy
- Robo Shark Duck (dream only)
- Dippy
- Kinney
- Unnamed Meerkat Robot
- Genie S. Lady
- Mean Officers
- Buster
- Robo-Kitty 3000 (from Super Diaper Baby 2: The Invasion of the Potty Snatchers) (cameo in flashbacks only)
- Robo Bee (from Dog Man: Brawl of the Wild) (cameo in flashbacks only)
Summary[]
Meet The Cast[]
A special 2-page look at the cast, reciting their biographies, strength and weaknesses, indexed with their mugshots.
Chapter 1: The Line of Duty[]
Chief jumps out of bed knowing Dog Man is in an incident
Chief racing to the hospital.
Chief has a dream of himself as a muscled version saving Dog Man and Milly from Dr. Scum and his Robo Shark Duck. After that, he and Dog Man started flying through the sky while a parody of the song "The Greatest Love of All" is in the background. He wakes up due to his phone ringing, and is informed that Dog Man was injured in the line of duty. Chief rushes quickly to the cop station only to discover that Dog Man was injured in the line of doodie, while drinking out of a toilet bowl, and then the toilet bowl lid slamming on his fingers. Chief gets mad and yells at the cops as they fled out of the hospital. He goes to meet Dog Man, and finds him wearing a dog cone and his hands were wrapped in bandages.
Chapter 2: The Cone of Shame[]
Chief is very surprised that Dog Man is wearing a cone. He takes Dog Man home, and Nurse Lady says she notices (and likes) Chief's slippers. Chief is happy (although, his expression looks like he has a crush on Nurse Lady). Chief leaves, and Dog Man describes how the day went to Li'l Petey and 80-HD. Both try to assure him that everything is gonna be okay and leave the "Supa Pillow Fort." They then go up to the grand ballroom.
Chapter 3: Escape from Cat Jail[]
Grampa tries to escape from Cat Jail using the Cupcake Exit, but Big Jim (as Commander Cupcake) has installed a security mechanism so Grampa can't get through. Big Jim claims only him and his cardboard robot can escape. Grampa then claims that it needs a battery. Big Jim runs up to get the battery, while Grampa climbs into Big Jim's robot.
Chapter 4: Cone of Destiny[]
Li'l Petey and 80-HD are inventing a new Mecha-Cone Suit for Dog Man. They return to the Supa Pillow Fort and take off the old cone from Dog Man and replace it with a new one. Dog Man is happy with the new cone, and Li'l Petey dubs it "The Cone of Destiny". Li'l Petey tells Dog Man if he ever needs help, just press the button on the top, and all of his dreams will come true. Dog Man rushes out of the house to the police station, knocking over Petey who has come to pick Li'l Petey up for the week. Petey takes Li'l Petey and 80-HD to his lab, telling the latter the he needs to fix the damage he caused in Dog Man: Grime and Punishment.
Chapter 5: Bring on the Bullies[]
The officers wet their pants.
Dog Man arrives at the police station and the Mean Officers start bullying him because of his cone. Dog Man presses the button on the top, which causes him to change into his Mecha-Suit. The mean officers run away in fright after this encounter, and they hide behind the plant Dog Man usually hides behind. Dog Man turns off the Mecha-Suit and discovers that Chief is writing a love letter to Nurse Lady. Dog Man doesn't like the letter, and expresses this by blowing a raspberry. Chief crumples it up and throws it away and admits that he'll always be alone. Dog Man then comforts Chief after realizing what he's done.
Chapter 6: The Playdate[]
Big Jim returns with a battery from Grampa's alarm clock. Grampa made a note that he "escaped" while Big Jim was getting the batteries. After tossing the battery into the head of the robot, Big Jim is convinced that the robot came alive. Grampa (disguised as the robot) says that they need Living Spray and Cannery Grow "because cupcakes are delicious forever". They exit through the Cupcake Exit and run off to find the ingredients. Meanwhile, Petey employs 80-HD to fix Petey and Son. Petey gives Li'l Petey a bath, telling him that Sarah is going to interview him on his former villainous life. Suddenly, the doorbell rings, and Li'l Petey jumps out of the bathtub to answer it, causing Petey to clean up the spilled water. Later, Li'l Petey asks Petey if Molly can come over to play, and Petey says no, unbeknownst to the fact that Molly has already arrived. Petey lets Molly and Li'l Petey play downstairs, as long as they don't mess up the interview.
Chapter 7: A Buncha Stuff That Happened Next[]
Dog Man digs up roses from Mayor's new garden. He drops them off at the hospital, expecting Nurse Lady to give them to Chief, but she shares them with her patients. Meanwhile, Grampa and Big Jim go from store to store trying to find Living Spray and Cannery Grow, with no avail. When they ask Kinney, he says that Living Spray was banned due to complaints, and the Cannery Grow factory was destroyed in book #5; Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas. Meanwhile, Sarah, her cameraman, and Zuzu arrive at Petey's house where 80-HD is fixing it up. Petey welcomes them, calling Zuzu "little doggy", causing her to growl at him. They begin the interview, but Li'l Petey and Molly interrupt with a parody of "If You're Happy and You Know It". They request a snack, specifically chips. Later, they were thirsty and asked for "chip dip" from Petey. But he don't have any. Molly then takes a bite of one saying that they taste way better with chip dip, causing Petey to say once again that he's out. Then Li'l Petey and Molly leave where Molly calls Petey, "Wally", causing Sarah to ask why she calls him "Wally", where Petey says, "I HAVE NO IDEA!!!"
Chapter 8: Becoming Petey[]
Grampa and Big Jim ask the people at Cal and Bunga's for living spray.
Grampa and Big Jim try going to Cal and Bunga's Surf Shop for living spray, but to no avail. Sarah interviews Petey when he shows her around his lab. Grampa decides to go steal the living spray from Petey's home. Dog Man tries again to give Nurse Lady a romantic gesture with a box of chocolates but she accepts them for her staff. Petey is interviewed back in his living room, but Sarah does not give him any opening to answer her questions. Molly and Li'l Petey interrupt again, this time singing a parody of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" requesting for a drink because "Potato chips can get pretty dry if you don't have chip dip." So they walk to fridge where Petey has apple juice and cranberry juice, where Li'l Petey and Molly interrupted Petey by saying apple. Petey pours some apple juice into sippy cups where Molly asks for real cups because "Sippy cups are for babies." Then Petey mentions that "Last week you kids spilled cherry juice all over the couch!" and replies to Molly by saying "... It's either sippy cups or nothing!!" Then they leave, then drop their sippy cups where Molly asks why Wally is such a grouch today.
Chapter 9: The Bad Old Days[]
Petey takes Sarah and the kids on a walk to continue the interview. Petey tells about his first prison, Jail 4 Cats. He says he could not rehabilitate completely after his time, so he became a villain. Meanwhile, Grampa and Big Jim arrive at Petey's lab, where they greet 80-HD. Grampa goes downstairs but slips on the sippy cups that contained the apple juice that Lil Petey and Molly received from Petey. He loses his disguise and Big Jim starts defying him, knocking over a can of living spray, which brings the two sippy cups to life. They get hit with growing spray and ultimately destroy Petey and Son.
Chapter 10: Night of the Living Sippy Cups[]
80-HD finished fixing Petey and his son's home, when the sippy cups destroyed it and 80-HD has to start all over again! The sippy cups are on the loose, and capture Grampa and Big Jim. 80-HD tries to defeat the sippy cups, but one of them squirts at him with apple juice, causing him to fall apart. The malic acid from the apple juice destroys 80-HD. Then, the same sippy cup swallows him. The second sippy cup eats Grandpa and Big Jim. Grampa calls Big Jim "buddy." Big Jim tortures Grampa later on for the rest of the book for this, sparking their argument. Meanwhile, Lil Petey and Molly entertain Sarah with their silly songs, to Petey's chagrin. They use outhouses because they need the bathroom. Petey takes Sarah to where it all began.
Chapter 11: Where It All Began[]
Petey tells Sarah that he moved to Happy Home Shelter when he was little with his mother, even though they were very poor his mother gave him love. Even after she passed away, Petey felt that love with Li'l Petey and thinks that love can last forever. Sarah ends the show, and can't think of anything going wrong. Then, Sarah, Petey, Li'l Petey and her cameraman are snatched by the sippy cups and Sarah admits that something has gone wrong.
Chapter 12: Big Fight[]
The sippy cups eat the gang, but Molly is still safe. She leaves the mouth of the sippy cup and controls its mind with her psychokinesis. The other sippy cup sprays her, and she finds out about the destruction of Petey and Son and worries that Wally is going to be mad. Meanwhile, Chief and Dog Man have gone through millions of love notes to Nurse Lady at the station, but can't come up with the perfect one. Nurse Lady calls them to the hospital, so they run for her. Chief enters the hospital to save the patients and help Nurse Lady, while Dog Man activates his Cone of Destiny to defeat the sippy cups. While he fights one, the other tries to destroy the hospital. Chief and Nurse Lady try to tickle it, but it swats them with a fly swatter. they are falling, but Dog Man throws them his umbrella and they float gently in the air.
Chapter 13: The Most Romantic Chapter Ever Written[]
Nurse Lady does not want to hold Chief's hand while they are in the air, but wants to kiss him. They then proceed to kiss in Smooch-O-Rama.
Chapter 14: Meanwhile, Back at the Terrifying Battle...[]
Dog Man gets swatted into the sippy cup and loses his Cone of Destiny. After Li'l Petey explains why he lost it, everyone agrees apple juice is bad. Molly uses the headless meerkat robot and turns it into her Mecha Suit with her psychokinesis. With it, she slices up the sippy cups and frees everyone (with some rock/action music from Dippy playing the drums). Sarah says it was violent, where Molly thanks her. Dog Man takes the last pieces of 80-HD home so they can rebuild him the next day. Chief and Nurse Lady float along the streets on their umbrella. Chief asks Nurse Lady if Dog Man can come with them on their date. Nurse Lady says yes. And so Chief says one of his catchphrases again, "Oh boy, this is gonna be great!"
Chapter 15: The Memory of Love's Refrain[]
Molly and Li'l Petey talk about Rudolph, Santa, and Batman. Petey is annoyed. At the sight of Petey and Son, Petey is distraught. Molly asks to take the meerkat suit home. Petey sarcastically says yes as he just lost everything. Molly believes he isn’t being sarcastic and flies away. Li'l Petey then finds Petey's mother's Ukulele, and Petey plays a few notes, because he thought he lost it. Li'l Petey takes Petey to live with him and Dog Man while Petey and Son is rebuilt. Li'l Petey says they still have love and that it lasts forever. Following up with Petey hugging his son and saying: "Forever and ever" while heading back to the doghouse where Dog Man was waiting for them.
Trivia[]
- In Chief's dream, the musical interlude in Chapter 1 is a parody of the song, "The Greatest Love of All" by Michael Masser, with lyrics by Linda Creed.
- Chapter 2’s title, ”The Cone of Shame,” may be a reference to the cone of shame from the movie “Up.”
- Petey's red cardigan sweater and tie were based on the clothing often worn by beloved children's television host, Fred Rogers from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
- On page 123, Petey is paraphrasing John 8:7 (New International Version) from the Bible.
When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” - John 8:7 NIV
- Petey's youthful "mistakes" and "bad choices" were chronicled in the graphic novel where he made his primary debut, Super Diaper Baby 2: The Invasion of the Potty Snatchers.
- The title of Chapter 15 is the final line of the 1927 song, "Stardust" by Hoagy Carmichael, with lyrics by Mitchell Parish.
- This book was inspired by the two songs mentioned above, the quote on page 6 and the law of conservation and energy (a.k.a. the first law of thermodynamics).
- On page 91, Sarah Hatoff says “Heeeeere’s Petey!!!” This is probably a reference to “Johnny” from “The Shining.”
- On the fridge which Petey get the juice from has a Li’l Petey made Drawing of Petey.
- Big Jim and Grampa make a cameo after they started arguing about Grampa calling Big Jim "buddy" when they were in the pink Sippy Cup.
- This is the first Dog Man book not to feature a George & Harold intro or a recap of "Our Story Thus Far."
- Piggy was originally intended to appear in this book, but never appeared. His return might've been scrapped.
- Piggy did return in the next book, Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea.
- The last pages did not show any spoilers of Dog Man 11 or Cat Kid Comic Club: Perspectives.
- Petey's flashback shows the parts from Books 3 and 6.
- A collection of evil stuff can be seen when Petey shows Sarah Hatoff his dangerous items. These are references to the past books in the series.
- The Word B Gone 2000 from Dog Man
- The Love Ray from Dog Man Unleashed
- Petey's Shrink Ray from Books 5 and 6
- Cannery Grow from Books 4 and 5
- The Remote from Dog Man and Cat Kid
- Living Spray from Books 1, 2, 3, and 6
- The Fourth Wall was broken 4 Times in this book.
- When Kinney says to Grampa and Big Jim that the Cannery Grow Factory was destroyed in book 5.
- When Sarah and Petey see the hospital patients eating the candy and then Sarah says, "Speaking of weird transitions..."
- Twice when Li'l Petey acknowledges Petey's thought bubbles.
- This has also happened in book 5.
- Molly mentioned Batman in this book.
- This is the second time someone has mentioned Batman. The first was Li'l Petey in Dog Man: Brawl of The Wild. Note: it Could be Possible that this book takes, place About one week after the events of Grime and Punishment, Likely due to Petey mentioning some things that happen in that book as a week ago.
- This is the second time someone has mentioned Batman. The first was Li'l Petey in Dog Man: Brawl of The Wild. Note: it Could be Possible that this book takes, place About one week after the events of Grime and Punishment, Likely due to Petey mentioning some things that happen in that book as a week ago.
- A reference to Book 4 when Zuzu growls at Petey, Sarah said "Be nice Zuzu" and Petey said "Yeah, be nice, Zuzu!" This first happened when Lil' Petey's "babysitter" took him to the movie studio.
- Jail 4 Cats first appeared in Super Diaper Baby 2: The Invasion of the Potty Snatchers.
Cultural References[]
- The title is a spoof of the classic book Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë.
- Li'l Petey and Molly's songs are parodies based on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Take Me Out to the Ball Game, and If You’re Happy and You Know It.
- Chapter 8: Becoming Petey's title page is based from the book cover of Becoming by Michelle Obama.
- The unknown book Petey reads in page 93 is a part of Oprah's Book Club, which was started by TV Host Oprah Winfrey as a segment in The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1996-2010, then relaunched in 2012.
- The onomatopoeic sounds in Page 65 has references to musicians such as Engelbert Humperdinck, Weird "Al" Yankovic, and Fonzie from the TV show Happy Days.
Errors[]
- After Grampa is hit in the next panel the stripes on his arm are gone.
- In Chief's dream in which he saves Dog Man and Milly, the hole Chief kicks in Robo-Time Industries is somehow the same size when he battles the Robo-Shark Duck.
- When Grampa is writing down his evil plan, the cover is on the wrong side.
- When the patient in Chapter 8 eats the candy Genie S. Lady gives out, the bed he was lying on in the previous comic panel is gone.
- On page 200, Genie S. Lady's Red Cross Symbol is black.
- On the How 2 Draw of "Nurse Lady and Chief," the last step says to turn the Black Cross from black to red, which is impossible.
- When 80-HD is about to reattach the door on Petey and Son's, the stripes on his arms disappear. A similar error also occurs in Dog Man to Petey.
- On the How 2 Draw of "The World's Most Terrifyingly Evil Sippy Cups," the last step says to turn the veins in their eyes from black to red, which is impossible.
- On the How 2 Draw of "Chief + Nurse Lady", the last step changes Nurse Lady's cross from black to red, which is also impossible.
- In page 15 panel 1 Chief’s hat doesn’t show the “Chief” on it.
Gallery[]
Covers[]
Characters[]
Others[]
Trailer Transcript[]
"Dog Man is back! Part dog, Part man, And all hero! This time the heroic hound gets a super new suit! Li'l Petey and Molly can't stop singing silly songs, and Petey reveals how his mom's love changed him. A love that lives on in Li'l Petey. But things take a turn for the worse! When Grampa sets off two sinister sippy cups. Will the Supa Buddies stop the apple juice onslaught in time? Or will all be lost? Not if they remember that love can win! Find out what happens in Dog Man: Mothering Heights!"
Book Description (Amazon)[]
- Publisher : Scholastic; 1st Edition (23 March 2021)
- Language : English and French
- Hardcover : 224 pages
- ISBN-10 : [[1]]
- ISBN-13 : 978-1338680454
- Reading age : 7–12 years
- Item Weight : 500g
- Dimensions : 14.61cm x 1.91cm x 21.59cm
- Country of Origin: USA
- Best Sellers Rank: #28,555 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
External Links[]
| Dog Man Books |
|---|
| Dog Man (2016) | Dog Man: Unleashed (2016) | Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kitties (2017) | Dog Man and Cat Kid (2017) | Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas (2018) | Dog Man: Brawl of the Wild (2018) | Dog Man: For Whom the Ball Rolls (2019) | Dog Man: Fetch-22 (2019) | Dog Man: Grime and Punishment (2020) | Dog Man: Mothering Heights (2021) | Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea (2023) | Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder (2024) | Dog Man: Big Jim Begins (2024) | Dog Man: Big Jim Believes (2025) |