The next morning, Homer has a plan to convince Gil to not sue his family by visiting him at Springfield Hospital, but couldn't make him desist from suing them.
Mayor Quimby decides to ride the pro-pooch sentiment by instituting measures that cater to canines and punish humans who do such things, like round up strays and even run animal medicine places like the poor Dr. Budgie, who gets arrested and put into shackles.
All of the dogs return to their homes and families, from Ned's Baz and Mr. Burns' hounds, to Lisa and Bart's joyous reunion with Santa's Little Helper.
But here, the jokes aren’t good enough to sustain the premise, the character elements are perfunctory and sparse, and, as has been the case for a few years in a row now, the season finale has seemed less like an attempt to go out with a bang, and more like an afterthought.
"[4] Tony Sokol of Den of Geek gave the episode 4/5 stars stating, "'Dogtown' panders to puppy love and yet somehow manages to mangle the mutts into a mangy mess of mischievous mayhem.
Who doesn’t love cute puppies, playing piano, getting their snouts stuck in pickle jars or scratching their butts along the concrete to clean their fire hydrant debris?