Mr. Monk and the Dog - Recap

Painter Amanda Castle wakes up in the townhouse bedroom of her lover, Steven DeWitt. She's staying there with her dog Shelby. As Amanda makes breakfast, she discovers that Steven has hidden his wedding ring and photos of his wife Gwen. He tries to explain but Amanda starts throwing the photos into the garbage disposal. When Steven tries to stop her, they struggle and she hits her head on a countertop. She tries to call 911 but passes out as Steven looks down at her.

Days later, Natalie takes Monk to her family's 25th annual anniversary reunion. He's clearly uncomfortable there and can't bring himself to participate. He refuses Natalie's invitation to stand in for the family photo. Afterward, he goes home and eats alone. The next day, Stottlemeyer calls him to Amanda's house to investigate. Her agent, Samantha Austin, hasn't heard from Amanda in several days and thinks something is wrong. Amanda has seemingly disappeared, and left her dog and her medication. Monk is nervous around the dog, Shelby, but finds enough clues to indicate that Amanda was seeing someone, a man who wore glasses. Shelby follows him everywhere, much to Monk's disgust, but Natalie insists that the dog likes him. When an animal control officer comes by to take the dog away, Monk reluctantly agrees to adopt it with some urging from Natalie.

At home, Monk insists that Shelby sleep on an umbrella and stay in one corner of the apartment. Shelby, a female dog, refuses to cooperate and Monk recoils in horror after the dog drinks out of the toilet and then tries to lick him.

The police call for volunteers to help search the area around Amanda's apartment. Monk brings Shelby along, insisting he can't leave her alone in the apartment and that he isn't totally unhappy with the dog. Steven, who is there under a false name, notices Shelby and the dog runs over to him. Steven pats her on the stomach and notices that she's getting overweight, and says that Shelby probably smells his dog on him. The search party goes through the nearby field and Steven finds Amanda's pocketbook. There's a note stuck in it saying Amanda was going to see her ex-husband. However, when Stottlemeyer shows Monk the note, the detective realizes that it's only been there a few hours because of the lack of rust. He also notices that Steven has glasses, just like Amanda's lover. Monk asks the volunteers to raise their hands if any of them murdered Amanda. No one reacts, but Monk notices that Steven is the only one who doesn't look around. That's enough to convince Monk that Steven killed Amanda, joined the search party, and planted the pocketbook to implicate the ex-husband.

Monk goes to the station with Natalie to see how the investigation, but keeps checking the time to make sure he's back to take care of Shelby. Stottlemeyer confirms that Steven is really Steven DeWitt, an industrial engineer whose wife Gwen owns their brownstone. Steven is a patron of the arts and they figure he met Amanda at a showing. The police confirm that Amanda made a 911 call but they can only place it within six blocks of DeWitt's townhouse, so they don't have enough evidence to connect him to her. Monk leaves an hour early to make his "appointment" with Shelby. Monk continues to bond with Shelby, buying her ice cream and taking her for a walk. He even plays fetch, once he realizes that he should take the ball out of the bag.

A father and his two sons are hiking in the woods when they find a rug with Amanda's corpse rolled up inside.

Stottlemeyer calls Monk with the news about Amanda's death. The detective reluctantly gives the news to Shelby, sympathizing with the loss of a loved one.

Later, Monk and Natalie go to see Steven. He denies knowing Amanda and claims he joined the search party out of a sense of civic duty. However, Monk notices that the floor has recently been cleaned and that Steven has bought a new rug. Steven's wife Gwen arrives with their dog, a male Australian Tailless Shepherd, and notes that she's been out of town for three months and Steven bought the rug a week ago while she was in London.

Monk goes home to where Natalie's niece Anne Marie has been watching Shelby. After arguing with the girl about paying her $5 for babysitting, Monk tries to feed Shelby, but notes that she's been losing appetite and is lethargic. He takes her walking but an unseen driver tries to run the dog over. Monk manages to save Shelby and the driver gets away. The detective goes to the police and reports the incident to Stottlemeyer, but admits he can't identify Steven as the driver. However, Monk insists that it isn't a coincidence and Shelby must somehow be able to implicate Steven in Amanda's murder.

Monk takes Shelby home and calls the veterinarian to tell her that Shelby is sick. Once he describes the symptoms, she realizes that Shelby is about ready to have a litter and offers her congratulations. Monk panics, covers the apartment in newspapers, and calls Natalie. She tries to convince him that it's a fact of life but Monk isn't so sure. He orders Shelby to stop giving birth but she does anyway. The first puppy is born and Monk gently holds it, touched. However, when he sees what the puppy looks like, he says he's going to name it Exhibit A. He calls Stottlemeyer and Disher over, and explains what happened. Amanda and Steven met and had an affair while Gwen was out of the country. Their dogs also met and mated: Shelby's litter of puppies is all tailless, just like their father. Now that they have the evidence, Stottlemeyer and the others leave and the police will put out an APB on Steven.

Later that night, Steven breaks into the apartment and prepares to eliminate the only evidence that can connect him to Amanda's death. Monk is waiting for him and tells him that it's too late: Shelby has already given birth. All Steven can do now is murder the dog and then Monk and the puppies as well. Monk insists that so far it's only manslaughter and obstruction, and that Steven can stop now before he moves on to murder. Steven reluctantly hands over the nice and both men admire the puppies.

Later, Natalie invites her niece Anne Marie and her sister to take one of the puppies. They pick one but Monk insists he can't split up the litter. Anne Marie's mother agrees to take all of the puppies and Shelby as well to live on their acreage. She assures Monk that they'll be fine and he promises to visit every day. As they get ready to go, Shelby puts her paw on Monk's knee and he removes a protective glove to stroke her.

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