The following version of the book was used to create this study guide: Pilkey, Dav. Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder. Scholastic, New York, NY, 10012. 2024. Kindle AZW file.

Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder is the 12th graphic novel in Dav Pilkey's series about a character known as Dog Man. Pilkey gives the reader a very basic overview of some of the main characters of the story in the opening pages. The backstory is that Dog Man's character is a cop with the body of a man and the head of a dog. The Chief is Dog Man's best friend. Dog Petey is a cat who was originally a bad guy. However, he has become a good guy. When Petey cloned himself, the result was Li'l Petey who calls Petey “dad.” There are several other recurring and important characters in the graphic novel. Fans of the series will already know most of these characters.

In this novel, Chief marries the Nurse Lady and the two go on their honeymoon leaving a mean cop named Maude in charge. While the Chief is away, Dog Man has a close encounter with a skunk. When Petey washes him in tomato juice to get rid of the smell, Dog Man turns red and learns the color is going to remain for several days. Meanwhile, a villain named Dr. Scum arrives on the scene. He is supposed to be in jail, but he created a robot to take his place. When Maude orders Dog Man's arrest, Dr. Scum offers to create a robot to take Dog Man's place in jail as well, but there is a catch – Petey must become a bad guy again. Petey, desperate to save Dog Man, agrees, and the switch is made.

Petey is sad that he is forced into being a bad guy, but he feels he has no choice. With Dr. Scum giving the orders, Petey is creating many robots. These are A.I. machines – meaning they have artificial intelligence. Eventually, the machines begin to band together to take over the world, making humans nothing more than slaves to the A.I. robots. Dog Man and Li'l Petey, accompanied by their crime-fighting friends Molly and 80-HD, set out to stop A.I. robots. An epic battle ensues.

Petey works so hard that he falls asleep and dreams about his childhood. He and his mother had to move to a shelter. Petey was disappointed in their new situation until he met a kitten who had even less. From this memory, Petey realizes that he cannot control his situation, but he can always control how he reacts. Petey runs away from Dr. Scum to join Li'l Petey and the others.

As the graphic novel comes to an end, the Chief and Nurse Lady have returned from their honeymoon. The Chief takes back the chief's hat, meaning he is again in charge. As Petey and the others go back to Dog Man's house, Petey says he is proud that he reacted like one of the good guys. The others hug Petey, saying they knew he was a good guy. In the notes at the end of the graphic novel, Pilkey explains that he drew the A.I. robot by hand. However, he purposely included inconsistencies typical of A.I. drawings.