Stop or My Dog Will Shoot!

"Stop or My Dog Will Shoot!" is the twentieth episode of The Simpsons 18th season, and the 398th episode overall.
==Synopsis==
When Homer gets lost in a cornfield maze, Santa's Little Helper comes to the rescue, sending the hound to animal police academy. However, when he bites Bart rather than play catch with him, Bart gets a new pet - a snake - which gets loose in the school.
== Full Story ==
Homer, excited about going to Oktoberfest, is disappointed when he discovers that Marge has tricked him and the kids into going to a Harvest Festival, which bans alcohol. While attempting to leave, Homer accidentally leads the family into a cornfield maze. Lisa crafts an escape plan with Tremaux's Algorithm, a real-life maze-solving method, but Homer is left behind. Santa's Little Helper is called upon by Bart to find Homer. Santa's Little Helper manages to locate and drag Homer out of the maze. Santa’s Little Helper becomes a hero and the Simpsons, persuaded by Chief Wiggum, enroll him in the Springfield Animal Police Academy, then gets teamed with Eddie and Lou.
In the park, Santa's Little Helper catches Snake Jailbird selling drugs to the bullies. Snake is taken to court, but liberated on a technicality. This makes Santa's Little Helper jaded, and when he returns home, he bites Bart. The Simpsons send the pet to live with Lou.
As a replacement, Marge buys Bart a huge pet python, which he names "Strangles". Bart takes Strangles to show and tell at school, where Strangles escapes into the school lab and unintentionally knocks over flasks that are filled with chemicals, creating a toxic cloud. Bart collapses inside the building.
Santa's Little Helper and Strangles arrive to rescue Bart, who chooses his faithful dog to save him. Santa's Little Helper goes back to living with the Simpsons. Strangles becomes adopted by Groundskeeper Willie, who places him in the fire hose coil.
==Behind the Laughter==
=== Casting ===
Rudy Giuliani was originally announced in the official press release as appearing in this episode. As a result, several images of him recording his part as well as a promotional image of him in Simpsonized form, were released. However, his appearance was not included in the original airing. According to executive producer James L. Brooks in an interview with Charlie Rose, the show was not allowed to use Giuliani's appearance because he had become a presidential candidate. Since then, the scene of Rudy Giuliani speaking at the police dog graduation has been shown in reruns on FX, FXX, and Freeform, as well as on the season 18 DVD, Disney+ streaming, and on the UK's Sky One/Sky Showcase channel.
Giuliani's absence marks the second time during season eighteen that a guest was announced in the official press release but did not appear in the final episode, joining "Homerazzi", which originally was supposed to have Harry Hamlin and Peter Wolf as guest stars, but neither of them appeared.
== Citations ==
fr:Petit Papa Noël super flic
pl:Stop or My Dog Will Shoot!
pt:Pare, Senão o Meu Cachorro Atira!
Category:Bart episodes
Category:Crime-themed Episodes
Category:Santa's Little Helper episodes
Category:Animal-themed Episodes
Category:Episodes featuring guest stars
Category:Environment-themed episodes
Category:Chief Wiggum episodes
Category:Groundskeeper Willie Episodes
Category:Episodes on DVD
Category:Episodes named after a film or TV Show
Category:Episodes where Homer chokes Bart
Category:Highly Rated Episodes
Category:Eddie and Lou Episodes
Category:Eddie and Lou episodes
Category:Officer Eddie and Lou episodes