Western Animation / PAW Patrol

Left to right: Skye, Rocky, Zuma, Ryder, Chase, Rubble, Marshall, Everest, and Tracker. Not pictured: Tuck, Ella, Rex, Wild Cat and Liberty.

"No job is too big, no pup is too small!"

PAW Patrol is a Canadian All-CGI Cartoon made by Guru Studio and Spin Master, which made its Nick Jr. debut on August 12, 2013 and then came to its home country on TVOntario on August 27 that same year.

Every episode follows a Two Shorts format following the adventures of Ryder and his team of heroic puppies. Each dog's house transforms into a special vehicle which corresponds to their special skills. Together they help save Adventure Bay from many troublesome situations. Essentially, think Precious Puppies meet Thunderbirds, just without the extreme disasters, Stuff Blowing Up or atomic technology.

PAW Patrol eventually surpassed Dora the Explorer as Nick Jr.'s most lucrative Cash-Cow Franchise, and eventually exceeding such as the longest running Nick Jr. show by nine seasons. It's also sold a lot of The Merch, which isn't surprising considering that Spin Master, the company that makes PAW Patrol toys, owns the property.

The series got its first mini-movie in 2018 in the form of PAW Patrol: Mighty Pups, which involves the cast getting superpowers and all the chaos that comes with it. That same year, a video game titled PAW Patrol: On A Roll! was released. A second video game, PAW Patrol: Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay, was released in late 2020. PAW Patrol: Grand Prix, a racing game à la Mario Kart, was released on September 30, 2022.

A theatrical film, titled, PAW Patrol: The Movie, was released on August 20, 2021. A sequel, PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie, released on September 29th, 2023. A Spin-Off series starring Rubble, titled Rubble & Crew, was released on February 3, 2023 to celebrate the show's 10th anniversary.

PAW Patrol World (not to be confused with PAW Patrol Rescue World made by Budge Studios for mobile devices) is a "free-roaming 3D adventure" game that released on September 29, 2023 for consoles and Steam.

Recap page is under construction.

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"TV Tropes! TV Tropes! We'll be there on the double!":

Tropes A-K

• Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Adventure Bay's sewer is large enough for one to drive an ATV, or a hovercraft, or carry a giant chicken statue through the tunnels. You don't even have to duck.
• A Cat in a Gang of Dogs:
  • In the early seasons, Cali, along with Chickaletta being the only neighboring house pets, occasionally join in on the fun whenever the PAW Patrol is off duty. Cali even gets her own color-coded bowl in "Pups Save a School Day".
  • In the "Moto Pups" sub-series, the stunt cyclist feline Wild Cat is deputized as a member of the PAW Patrol to help stop a trio of unruly canine bikers known as the Ruff-Ruff Pack. This makes Wild Cat the first ever cat member of the PAW Patrol. In other words, the only member who's neither a human nor a dog (robot dogs included).
• Accidental Hero: In "Ultimate Rescue: Pups Save a Movie Monster": Okay, all the fires have been put out and said movie monster has been neutralized. But how are they going to finish the movie? Believe it or not, it was Daring Danny X who followed the Patrol on their mission and getting enough footage on his helmet camera to finish the movie.
  Danny: Good thing I always forget to turn this off!
• Accidental Misnaming: In "Pups Save a Goldrush", Uncle Otis mishears Ryder's name as "Spider" and calls him that the rest of the episode.
• Ace Pilot: The aptly-named Ace Sorensen, a stunt pilot whom Skye idolizes in the episode "Pups Save an Ace".
  • All the PAW Patrol in the Jet to the Rescue special including Sweetie
  • Duke of Flappington is the Defied Trope. Claiming to be the best pilot but turns out He never flies, The Eagle did
• A Day in the Limelight: A given when the show has loads of characters, but notably the "Ultimate Rescue" episodes, where one pup becomes second-in-command as the emergency at hand requires that pup's expertise the most.
• Adults Are Useless: Most of the adults are quirky at best and downright incompetent at worst, and all of them, including the freaking mayor of Adventure Bay, tend to always rely entirely on the Patrol to solve all their problems, even the most trivial ones. Of course, if the adults didn't need the PAW Patrol, there wouldn't be a PAW Patrol.
• Aerith and Bob:
  • We have pups with common names like Chase, Skye, Marshall and Ella, pups with more rare names like Rocky, Ar(r)by and Tuck, and then there's names like Zuma, Rubble, Everest, Tracker and Sweetie.
  • Among the human children, we have names like Alex, Danny, Katie, Carlos, Harold, and then there's Ryder.
• Ageless Birthday Episode: There have been a few episodes celebrating a character's birthday.
  • "Pups Turn on the Lights" features one for Chase.
  • "Pups Save Jake's Cake" is one for Jake.
  • Alex celebrates one in "Pups Save a Piñata".
  • The pups throw one for Ace Sorensen in "Pups Save Ace's Birthday Surprise".
• All Just a Dream: There have been several episodes where the mission was all just a dream. Most of them were dreamt up by Rubble ("Pups and the Beanstalk", "Pups Bark with Dinosaurs", "Pups Find a Genie", "Pups Save Apollo”, "Pups Save a Playful Dragon", “Pups Save a Mayor Frog”), but two were dreamt up by Marshall ("Pups Save a Dragon" and "Pups Save Tiny Marshall"). Tracker later has one ("Pups Save Baby Humdinger"), then Rocky ("Pups and the Werepuppy"), and then Chase ("Pups Save a Freaky Pup-Day").
• All That Glitters: In "Ultimate Rescue: Pups Save the Pupmobiles", the team dupes Sid Swashbuckle into stealing a massive pile of "gold" conveniently left behind in an abandoned mine. The pirate realized too late that it was just spray-painted rocks as the weight of his loot sinks his submarine to the bottom of the sea. Had he chose any other of his stolen goods, he might have been able to escape.
• Alternate Species Counterpart: The Kitastrophe Crew are a group of kittens led by Mayor Humdinger from Foggy Bottom. The cats are almost identical to the PAW Patrol and even have the same gear.
• Animal Sweet on Object: In "Pups Save a Cuckoo Clock", Mayor Goodway's handbag chicken Chickaletta falls for the model cuckoo in Jake's antique cuckoo clock, and gets trapped inside the clock when she tries to get closer to it.
• Animation Bump:
  • Season 2 featured improved animation, notably having individual shards of grass instead of a flat texture.
  • A second one from Season 8 onwards, possibly to coincide with the then upcoming movie.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: As of Season 2, any episode dealing with something out of the ordinary will have Chase as the obligatory skeptic. This is a little odd when one considers that he had already encountered a space alien and Mer-Pups.
• Apathetic Pet:
  • Cali rarely seems interested in what's going on around her, or with Katie, except for when it's grooming time.
  • The Kitten Catastrophe Crew often show a distinct lack of interest in Mayor Humdinger's plans, and often leave him out to dry when things go south for him.
  • Sweetie appears to be neutral to her owner, the Princess of Barkingburg, and she has no qualms with manipulating her. In "Mission PAW: Pups Save the Royal Throne", she floats off on a throne using balloons so she can rule somewhere else and she doesn't seem to miss the Princess (though the latter definitely misses her). However, she draws the line at the Princess being in danger, as shown in Jet to the Rescue, when she decides to help the PAW Patrol save her owner.
• Art Shift: The animations on the bigscreen while Ryder is giving the mission as well as his tablet showing the problem are 2D Flash animated.
• Artistic License – Animal Care:
  • In "Mighty Pups, Charged Up: Pups vs. the Dome," that pie Mr. Nibbles was eating would have made him very sick or even killed him in real life, as it was stated to contain rhubarb, which is toxic to cats.
  • In "Pups Stop a Super Shaker" the pups are treated to some pumpkin spice almond milkshake. It's recommended to avoid feeding almond to dogs as it can cause digestive problems.
• Artistic License – Physics: To keep with the Running Gag of Marshall doing a wipeout, he's tripped and slid on many things, a lot of which shouldn't be able to slide 20 metres along a dirt and concrete surface.
• Aside Glance: In "Pup-a-Doodle-Do", while watching Hello, Adventure Bay!, Marshall claims watching the team's exploits on TV is fun.
  Marshall: Why can't all our adventures be on TV?
  Ryder: You never know, Marshall...
• Ass in a Lion Skin: In "A Pup in Sheep's Clothing", Marshall goes deep undercover as a sheep to find out who is causing trouble in Farmer Al's farm.
• Baby Morph Episode: In "Pups Save a Baby Humdinger", Mayor Humdinger turns into an infant after drinking the water from a special golden coconut, then proceeds to cause as much trouble as he did as an adult. Everything returns to normal just as Tracker wakes up.
• Babysitting Episode: Ryder and the pups have to look after Julia and Julius after their mayoral aunt realized she bit off more than she could chew in "Pups' Adventures in Babysitting".
• Badass in Distress: The PAW Patrol occasionally has to rescue one of their own members, including Skye ("Pups Save Skye"), Rubble ("Pups Save a Super Pup"), Marshall ("Sea Patrol: Pups Save their Pirated Sea Patroller"), Chase ("Mission PAW: Quest for the Crown") and even Ryder ("Pups Save Ryder").
• Bait-and-Switch Comparison: From "Pup Up and Away", when Mayor Goodway and Ryder manage to get the old hot air balloon in the sky:
  Mayor Humdinger: Hmm, it looks like they got that dusty old bag of wind up in the air. And the balloon is working, too!
• Balloonacy: Generally, any episode with a balloon in sight will lift something or someone off their feet, be it a short gag or a major emergency. In "Pups Save a Goodway", Zuma starts flying away while holding on to a bunch of balloons. A serious one happens in "Pups Save Friendship Day", where Mayor Humdinger unknowingly sent bunnies floating out to sea, and then later on, Mayor Goodway and Humdinger join in on the floating.
• Band Episode: The team decides to form a band as their act for Mayor Goodway's talent show in "Pups Save a Talent Show." They get to perform again in "Pups' Winter Wonder Show", now with Everest and Tracker.
• Base on Wheels:
  • Vehicle No. 8, the PAW Patroller. It's used whenever the PAW Patrol have to travel out of Adventure Bay, and is large enough to hold all 6 puphouse vehicles in a vertical rotary garage.
  • Later seasons added the Air Patroller, which is used mostly for air rescues and when it's too treacherous to drive there, the Sea Patroller, to allow for rescue operations in deeper water, and the Mission PAW Patroller, which is a secondary base while outside Adventure Bay. And the Mobile Pitstop counts too since they fix the Formula One car while moving.
• Bedsheet Ghost:
  • "Pups Save a Ghost" featured a mysterious canine ghost dressed in a sheet prowling about the Lookout, doing things like taking treats, digging holes, and leaving Pup Pup Boogie on. Rocky devises a trap to catch the ghost, baited with a cookie and set up to drop a sheet on the ghost when he fell for it. Unfortunately, the trap gets triggered, and Ryder is covered in the sheet, making the pups briefly think he's the ghost, then a victim of the ghost. The "ghost" is then revealed to be Marshall sleepwalking around under a bedsheet, which is foreshadowed by the ghost having Marshall's shape.
  • In "Pups Save a Pony", Zuma pulled this off on a couple of children to get them back to their tent when they were playing around at night.
• Big Badass Rig: The "Big Truck Pups" subseries gives each and every pup an 8-wheeler truck that's bigger than their Ultimate Rescue vehicles. They transform into hefty specialized equipment when they're deployed.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: The chickens in "Pups Save Queen Cluck-Cluck" all have these, making them stand out from regular chickens.
• Big, Stupid Doodoo-Head: "Pups Save a Friend" has Marshall think that everyone called him a silly pup, presumably since it's the only word mild enough that it'll be allowed on a show aimed at kindergartners.
• Bizarre Beverage Use: In "Pups Save a Surprise", this is discussed when Ryder informs Mr. Porter that he should bathe in tomato juice to get rid of skunk spray.
• Blind Without 'Em: As shown in "Pups and the Ghost Pirate", Cap'n Turbot can't even tell Mayor Goodway and Alex apart up close without his specs. This may extend to everyone named Turbot since they all wear glasses.
• Blush Sticker: With the exceptions of Ryder and Carlos, all human children have one.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: This bit from "Pups Save A Pinata":
  Mayor Humdinger: Jewels? Candy? Candy jewels?
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: In "Pups Save the PAW Patroller", after hitching a ride on Ryder's ATV, Chase turns to the camera and says "It's nice to have someone else drive for a change!".
• Brick Joke: In "Pups Find a Genie", Rocky keeps an old, rusty bucket that was about to be thrown out by Farmer Al. It's not mentioned again until near the end of the episode in the most comically abrupt way possible.
  Rocky: You guys want to see an old rusty bucket?
  Chase & Marshall: Uh, yeah!
• Broken Aesop:
  • "Pups Save the Flying Food" claims that the lesson is "not all new things are good", with Mr. Porter going back to his old delivery van after losing control of his new delivery drones. Problem is, the drones only went out of control when Mr. Porter, who was taking too many orders on his phone and operating hundreds of drones at the same time, dropped their remote control into one of the pies they were delivering. The problem wasn't with the drones, but with Mr. Porter trying to do too many things at once.
    However, as seen in "Pups Save an Out of Control Mini Patrol", he hasn't abandoned the use of delivery drones entirely and operates only one drone to focus on one delivery at a time, so it seems he learned the proper lesson by the end of it.
  • This is unfortunately repeated in "Pups Save Uncle Otis from his Cabin". The story includes another "fancy technology isn't always best" lesson, with the new "smart cabin" Mr. Wingnut creates for Uncle Otis going haywire. But this only happens because Mr. Wingnut chooses to discard the instructions and install the system himself (and ends up forgetting a vital circuit board because of it), meaning the problem is once again caused by human error rather than a flaw with the tech itself.
• Building Swing: How Tracker traverses the jungle, thanks to his pup-pack grapple cables.
• Bullet Time: Or more appropriately, Pickle Time, as Rocky jumps in to save Mayor Goodway from a ricocheting pickle in "Pups Save the Fizzy Pickles".
• Butt-Monkey:
  • Downplayed, but Marshall is often subjected to slapstick-like comedy due to his clumsiness.
  • The aquaphobic Rocky was often hit with water for the sake of a joke, especially from Marshall's water cannons.
  • Cap'n Turbot often ends up in predicaments and is sometimes a human version of Marshall.
• Call-Back: Season eight's "Pups Save Travelin Travis From Really Big Bill" mentioned how birds really like Marshall, something that hadn't been brought up since season one(!).
• Camping Episode: In "Pups Save a Camping Trip", Rocky and Skye go camping with Mayor Goodway and Chickaletta to earn scout badges.
• Canine Confusion:
  • In a few episodes, Rubble the bulldog is shown swimming with no issue. In real life, bulldogs cannot swim without a life jacket because their legs are too short and their bodies are too robust.
  • Dwayne is a dog with buckteeth, and he's noticeably the only dog in the series with them. Dogs do not have buckteeth in real life, they have fangs (which every other dog in the series has).
  • Zizagged with Tracker due to Flip-Flop of God; he has been called a chihuahua or a potcake dog depending on the source. Assuming he is a chihuahua, he is not the right size for one, as he's one of the tallest members of the PAW Patrol even though chihuahuas are extremely small in real life.
  • There are several dogs who look nothing like their supposed breed. Chase is a German Shepherd, but his coloring makes him look more like a mixed breed. Everest is a husky who resembles a malamute and she has lavender fur. Sweetie is a West Highland White Terrier who is much lankier and smaller than her actual breed^note Though this could be excused by the fact that she's a kid. Tuck and Ella are Golden Retrievers who resemble Labrador Retrievers. Sylvia from "Pups Save a Herd" is a Palette Swap of Chase with blue fur.
• Canines Primary, Felines Secondary: The PAW Patrol dogs are all heroic puppies and any of the cats that do show up are either helpless and to be rescued, otherwise minor or supporting characters (like Cali), or rivals (like the Kitten Catastrophe Crew). Averted with Wild Cat coming into the picture.
• Catchphrase: Every member of the PAW Patrol has one, and they're almost all uttered Once an Episode. There's even a whole page on the wiki dedicated solely to catchphrases.
  • In season two's "Pups Save A Mer-Pup", Cap'n Turbot introduces his own catchphrase after being called upon as an official PAW Patrol member for the first time ("Turbot tackles trout!"). In season four's "Pups Save Puplantis", he changes his call-out to the catchier "This cap'n can do!"
  • Borrowed Catchphrase: When Zuma is called upon to drive Rubble's rig in "Pups Save a Super Pup", he borrows Rubble's "on the double" line. He does it again in "Mighty Pups, Charged Up: Pups Save a Mighty Lighthouse", to Rubble's amusement.
    Zuma: Bubble on the double!
• Cats Are Mean: There are two feline antagonists in the show: Mayor Humdinger's Kitten Catastrophe Crew (counted as a single antagonist) and Mr. Nibbles/the Copycat.
• Cats Are Snarkers: Cali and the Kitten Catastrophe Crew, often resorting to eye-rolling to show off their annoyance at those around them.
• Character Development: Danny has been showing development in later episodes, due to him being less reckless, as well as acknowledging (and apologizing!) when he screws up.
• Chaste Toons: Both Mayor Goodway and Mayor Humdinger don't have children of their own, but they have young relatives (Goodway has a nephew, Julius, and a niece, Julia, while Humdinger has a nephew, Harold).
• Chekhov's Skill:
  • In "Pups Save a Desert Flounder", Zuma's attempts to master a skateboarding trick turns out being instrumental in getting a maritime ship out of the desert.
  • In "Sea Patrol: Pups Save a Windsurfer", Marshall was able to relay to Ms. Marjorie how they can jump off an erupting volcano (while surfing on a palm tree) thanks to Zuma demonstrating a kickflip earlier in the episode.
• Childish Tooth Gap:
  • Danny has one. Knowing what kind of person he is, that tooth probably didn't fall out on its own.
  • For some reason, Ryder was drawn with on the cover of this compilation book◊, despite not having one in the actual series.
• Christmas Episode: Three, "Pups Save Christmas". On the wiki, it's even been the episode of the month for December every year since 2015. It has a second Christmas themed special with "Pups Save a Bah-Humdinger!", released a full seven seasons after the first one which came up during the show's first season, it recently got a third Christmas themed special for it's tenth season, "Charger's Christmas Adventure", unlike the previous two, which were 22 minutes, this one is an 11 minute segment, and brings Charger, one of Rubble's family member's, from the franchise's spin-off series into the special.
• Circus Episode: In "Circus Pup-formers", Ryder and the PAW Patrol volunteer to perform in Raimundo's travelling circus after half of the circus acts are stuck stranded. Naturally, they gave a great performance and had fun doing so. There have been other episodes involving Raimundo and his circus, but they're mostly about saving his animals.
• City of Adventure: Adventure Bay.
• Class Pet: Of the hamster variety in "Pups Save a Class Pet", named Mayor Goodwhiskers.
• Clown Car: How Ryder and the pups exit the show in "Circus Pup-formers", to the tune of a circus-styled rendition of "Good Pups".
• Colony Drop: In "Mighty Pups, Charged Up: Pups vs. the Copycat", The Copycat tries to use a magnet to take a meteor from space during a meteor shower to make himself even more powerful, but the trope is Downplayed because it's explicitly stated the meteor would only crush Adventure Bay and not the whole world.
• Color-Coded Characters:
  • ^{For the pups and kittens:*}
    • Chase: Royal blue
    • Marshall: Red
    • Skye: Pink
    • Rocky: Lime green
    • Zuma: Orange
    • Rubble: Yellow
    • Everest: Teal
    • Tracker: Olive green
    • Sweetie: Magenta
    • Arrby: Dark Brown
    • Tuck and Ella: Sky blue/Gray
    • Rex: Chartreuse/Cerulean
    • Wild Cat: Light Gray, later Amber
    • Ruff-Ruff Pack: Brown
    • Liberty: Coral
    • Claw: Violet
    • Rory: White
    • Shade: Purple
    • Leo: Pale Yellow

• ^{For the human children:*}
  • Ryder: Red/white
  • Katie: Pink
  • Alex: Orange/green
  • Carlos: Orange
  • Danny: Yellow
  • Julius: Blue
  • Julia: Purple
  • Harold: Violet

• Comically Missing the Point: In "Pups save a Dragon", when Rubble shows more interest in a string of sausages than the dragon.
  Marshall: How can you be thinking of your tummy at a time like this?
  Rubble: I'm always thinking of my tummy!
• Competence Zone: Averted. The other kids in Ryder's age group — Katie, Carlos, the Princess of Barkingburg, and especially Daring Danny X — are little to no more competent than any of the adults, and call on the PAW Patrol just as often as the adults do. It just so happens that the professionally trained civil service team in charge of handling emergencies is a 10-year-old boy and his pack of puppies.
• Computer Voice: Captain Turbot gives his diving bell one in "Pups Save a Chicken of the Sea" by installing Seabee, an automated-voice computer system. Other voiced electronics include the Pluck-O-Matic^*in "Pups Save a Pluck-O-Matic", the Waiter Bot^*in "Pups Save a Waiter Bot", and the Smart Home 3000^*in "Pups Save Uncle Otis from His Cabin".
• Cone of Shame:
  • In "Pups Save an Ace", an overzealous Marshall puts one on Ace Sorensen after examining her.
  • Skye also gets one in "Pups Save Skye" after spraining her paw. She even refers to the trope by name.
• Continuity Cavalcade: PAW Patrol's 10th anniversary teases an episode called "All Paws on Deck", where Ryder calls on every member of the PAW Patrol that was introduced at that point, including the Mighty Twins, the Cat Pack, as well as two non-members, namely Sweetie and Arrby, to save Adventure Bay from actually being completely demolished.
• Continuity Nod:
  • In "Pups Save a Sleepwalking Bear", after the mysterious bear snow sculpture turns out to be a real bear named Spot, who spends the entire episode sleepwalking, Rocky recalls how the same thing happened to Marshall back in "Pups Save a Ghost".
  • In "Sea Patrol: Pups Save Puplantis", one of the items on Sid Swashbuckle's ship is the genie-in-a-box from "Pups Find a Genie".
  • In "Pups and the Mischievous Kittens", Zuma dubs Marshall as a pinball wizard after the latter nabs the high score during his usual wipeout bit. Marshall then proudly exclaims he's still the pinball wizard after a similar wipeout happens in "Air Pups".
  • A sunken ship in "Pups Save a Mer-Pup" features a portrait of Captain Blackfur, Rubble's pirate ancestor introduced in "Pups and the Pirate Treasure".
• Convection, Schmonvection: Zig-zagged. During "Ultimate Rescue: Pups Save the Tigers" Francois, Captain Turbot and two tigers are all on rocks floating on magma, playing the trope straight. The team try and save them by knocking stones into the magma so they can hop across, but mention that the stones would be too hot for them to stand on.
• Cool Airship: The Air Patroller, the PAW Patrol's aerial mobile base. It can only carry one puphouse vehicle unlike the PAW Patroller, but it has the capability of launching the pups, with their flight packs, out the back.
• Cool Bike: Ryder held nothing back when building the team's motorcycles in the "Moto Pups" subseries, even fitting the Moto HQ's ramp with fireworks so that the bikes will always take off in style.
• Cool Boat: The Sea Patroller, the PAW Patrol's mobile base for water-based rescues introduced in "Sea Patrol: Pups Save a Baby Octopus". It even has an amphibious mode as seen in "Pirate Pups to the Rescue".
• Cool Old Lady: Ms. Marjorie proves she's quite the skater in "Pups Save a Rocket Roller Skater".
• Cool Plane: The pups' high-speed jets in Jet to the Rescue. Each jet is equipped with the appropriate rescue tools, as well as a super-secret stealth mode.
• Credits Pushback: Whenever Nickelodeon airs the episode "The New Pup", a very odd instance of this occurs: not only does it have bottom-half credits, it's the former Nickelodeon credits pushback screen that was phased out in 2015, making this episode the only thing on the network to still use it. And it gets crazier from there: instead of a promo, it shows a video of SpongeBob and Patrick watching the end credits.
• Crop Circles: In "Pups Save a Space Toy", Zuma impresses a space toy-shaped crop formation on Farmer Al's barn to get the attention of their alien friends, who are circling around Adventure Bay searching for their lost toy.
• Crossover: Three in the form of animated shorts:
  • One with, of all shows, The Jim Gaffigan Show, starring Jim himself as a dog.
  • Another with Rusty Rivets, where Rusty builds a new vehicle for Marshall.
  • A third with Abby Hatcher, where a Fuzzly gets lost in Adventure Bay and Ryder calls Abby to come retrieve him.
• Cultural Translation:
  • In the UK dub of the show, some of the dialogue is tweaked, likely because it is deemed "Too American-English". Words like "super" and "awesome" are replaced by "really" and "brilliant", and Zuma says "dude" less often. Also, some of the song lyrics are changed.
  • The Japanese dub changes the catchphrases to ones that allow for more Japanese wordplay, removes all dog sounds like barks, howls, yelps and whimpers, and calls out the names of their vehicles and equipment like they're attacks^exampleRyder: Kento! Dash Buggy! Let's go!. It even goes so far as to add bonus ending segments, such as real-life segments featuring photos/artwork submitted by Japanese kids and kids dancing to the theme song, hosted by Kazuma Ryusei.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Mayor Humdinger is depicted as a bumbling villain, but in the process of trying to become mayor, or sabotage the PAW Patrol, he has invented everything from a town tour bus—operated by an AI robot cat, to an animatronic brachiosaurus—operated by actual cats!
• Darker and Edgier: While it is still preschooler-friendly, the missions have gotten more violent as the series progressed. As an example, the Copycat's debut episode has the threat of a giant meteor potentially crushing the town if the Copycat isn't stopped.
• Denser and Wackier: While it was never really a realistic show to begin with, exactly, it wasn't until either the second or third season that the plots and rescues began to become more outlandish and bizarre in nature.
• The Dentist Episode: Chase is terrified of going to the dentist in "Pups Save a Toof". Also doubles as a "What Do They Fear?" Episode.
• Different in Every Episode: Marshall crashes into the elevator in various different ways, most commonly tripping over something.
• Dismantled MacGuffin: In the Jet to the Rescue special, the Gem of Barkingburg (which is granted to the ruler of Barkingburg on their tenth birthday) is part of a set with the Gem of Flappington. When the two are combined and attached to an ancient scepter, they grant the wielder the ability to make things float.
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: In comparison to the original theme song being sung by a male singer, the Japanese dub has the theme sung by the voices of the pups.
• Dogs Love Being Praised: Most (if not all) episodes have Ryder say something along this lines of "You're all such good pups!".
• Dream Episode: The Season 9 episode "Pups Save a Lonely Ghost" takes place in Rubble's dream, where he meets a ghost who wants to make friends but is too scary to have anybody's attention.
• Dub Pronunciation Change:
  • In the Latin American Spanish dub, the "PAW" in "PAW Patrol" is pronounced "pow" as opposed to "pah" in the original English version. In that same dub, Marshall's name is inconsistently pronounced like "mar-chawl" instead of "mar-shawl", such as in the theme song.
  • In the Italian dub this doubles with Inconsistent Dub, as it's pronounced "pah" in the theme song but "pow" in the proper show.
• Dwindling Party: In "Pups Save a Sniffle", the pups all get sick one by one until Rubble is the only healthy one left. And then Ryder and Rubble start sneezing...
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: The spiders in the earlier seasons are nothing more than balls of fluff on sticks. Come the episode "Pups Save the Spider Spies", and the spiders are now more detailed and realistic. And so much cuter that the arachnophobic Rubble has made an exception for them.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • The animation in Season 1 is very different compared to subsequent seasons.
  • Minor one, but in Season 1 of the show, the Pup-Tags could only receive calls from Ryder, so the pups had to run all the way back to the Lookout to contact him. The tags also just lit up without audio visualisation, changing brightness based on volume. Doubles as Art Evolution.
  • In early episodes, the pups were Free-Range Children. In later episodes, they usually always have Ryder or another human (like when Rubble was with Uncle Otis in "Pups Save a Goldrush") with them when they go somewhere.
  • The title cards in the first season only feature a certain pup who is first deployed, later seasons would feature other people in the title cards who needs to be rescued.
  • Season 1 is the only season not to feature Everest.
• Easter Episode:
  • In "Pups Save an Easter Egg Hunt", Mayor Goodway injures her arm, so the PAW Patrol has to plan the Easter egg hunt for her. Alex finds an egg and takes it to be painted, but then it hatches into an eaglet named Little Eggle. His mother grabs him and the basket full of eggs and candy, requiring Skye to go after her and retrieve the basket despite her phobia of eagles.
  • In "Pups Save a Sweet Mayor", Mayor Goodway is planning an Easter festival and receives a golden egg from the Princess of Barkingburg. Mayor Humdinger seals himself within a chocolate bunny so that he can steal the egg when she isn't looking. Unfortunately for him, he gets captured by a family of raccoons, so the PAW Patrol has to save him. During the festival, Humdinger finds out that the egg isn't actually golden and just has a chick-shaped marshmallow inside it, and he's irritated that he went through all that for nothing.
• Elmuh Fudd Syndwome:
  • Zuma demonstrates this, largely because his voice actor Alex Thorne has it. It gets more subtle throughout the seasons and Zuma loses it entirely when Alex is replaced by Carter.
  • In the British dub, Alex invokes this instead.
• Epic Fail:
  • Zuma's attempts to use Rubble's bulldozer in "Pups Save a Super-Pup".
  • Francois trying to steer Cap'n Turbot's boat, the Flounder, in "Pups Save a Floundering Francois". It ended in him falling overboard and losing the ship.
  • Rubble says it ad verbum in Danny's introductory episode.
• Everything Sounds Sexier in French: Skye is drawn to Francois, partly due to his accent. Her attraction to him is a running gag throughout the show, being briefly referenced at least once a season so far.
• Evil Is Hammy: Every villain in this show is a ham.
  • The Humdingers (Mayor Humdinger, Harold, and the Cheetah) are all very dramatic and passionate with their villainy. They even all have evil laughs!
  • Sweetie, despite being a sneaky, cunning villain, is still quite hammy in her own right. The snort in her laugh is what sells it.
  • Sid Swashbuckle chomps on every scene he's in, as if the director handed his VA a microphone and said "Go wild".
  • Ladybird gets to be crazy all the time, and it's glorious.
• Evil Nephew: Mighty Pups introduces Harold Humdinger, Mayor Humdinger's nephew, who's just as bad as his uncle.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: In specialty episodes (like "Mission PAW" and "Sea Patrol"), Ryder's hair is slicker/thinner than normal. However, as of "Sea Patrol: Pups Save a Frozen Flounder", this is no longer the case.
• Facepalm: Wally the walrus likes to do this around Cap'n Turbot often.
• Faint in Shock: In "Pups Save a Mer-Pup", Chase at the beginning of the episode insisted that mer-pups aren't real. When he saw Skye actually turning into one, he does this.
• Fantasy Kitchen Sink: In addition to the premise itself, the various sub-series have added "mer-pups", superheroes, Living Dinosaurs, and dragons to the show's world.
• Fast-Roping: Used quite often in the show, usually with Skye's helicopter, sometimes with Rubble's crane.
• Fear Is Normal: In "Pups Save a Toof", Alex goes well out of his way to avoid a dentist appointment. Ryder approaches him when he's hiding in a treehouse and says that everyone gets frightened sometimes, even the PAW Patrol, and he brings the rest of the gang to prove it.
• Fictional Earth: Zigzagged. Real-world locations name-dropped include Alabama ("Pups and the Kitty-tastrope"), Antarctica ("Pups Save an Antarctic Martian"), Canada ("The Movie") and South America ("Pups Save the Penguins"); however there exists a country named Barkingburg, and in the Mighty Pups special, an overhead shot of the globe clearly depicts fictional landmasses. This could possibly be an instance of Early Installment, uh, Reality given the wackier direction the show has gone, another possibility is that Mighty Pups and its follow-up subseries, and perhaps other stories with fantastic elements, are set in an Alternate Universe, however it's been zigzagged again due to the first movie's sequel, having two overshots of their planet, and an overshot showing planets like Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune, so technically they still live on Earth, the landmass is inconsistent throughout the franchise.
• Fictional Video Game: Pup Pup Boogie, which is probably based on DanceDanceRevolution.
• Filling the Silence: The Japanese dub has characters talk during scenes that were originally silent, most notably when the pups are taking off in their vehicles, where they say their names and the name of their vehicles.
• Filthy Fun: Rubble enjoys being dirty, but also likes bathing.
• Firehouse Dalmatian: Marshall the Dalmatian serves as the fire pup (and later medic pup) of the PAW Patrol.
• First-Name Basis: To the point where it would actually take less time to name all the characters with confirmed full names. ^{The list}Horatio Turbot, Francois Turbot, Tilly Turbot, Grover Goodway, Gustavo Goodway, Julius Goodway, Julia Goodway, Arizona Goodway, Otis Goodway, Luke Stars, Sid Swashbuckle, Ace Sorensen, Alex Porter, Harold Humdinger, Hailey Daily, Tammy Turbot, and Taylor Turbot. There are seventeen in total.
• Flaw Exploitation: The PAW Patrol sometimes invoke this in order to trick their enemies.
  • In "Pups Save the Pirated Sea Patroller" and "Pups Save the Stolen Pupmobiles", they take advantage of Sid's Greed to trick him into going after a fake prize (a better ship in the former and a gold mine in the latter), allowing them to get the drop on him.
  • In "Mighty Pups, Super Paws: Pups and the Big Twin Trick", Tuck lures the Ladybird into a trap by talking about a jewel-covered statue (actually Ella in disguise), playing on her desire for shiny things.
  • In "Ultimate Rescue: Pups Save the Adventure Bay Games", Chase formulates a plan to lure out the medal thief by having the team loudly talk about how a box is filled with even more medals.
• "Freaky Friday" Flip: Between Chase and Chickaletta in "Pups Save a Freaky Pup-Day", and Chase must complete the mission while in Chickaletta's body. It turns out to be All Just a Dream, though.
• Four-Fingered Hands: Look closely at the humans' hands. ^note Incredibly useless fact: They are missing specifically their pinkie finger.
  • Averted in the movie, where they give Ryder, and the Adventure Bay citizens a pinkie finger thus giving them five fingers, this is due to the fact that the franchise arrived in Japan two years before the movie came out, and the show is extremely HUGE in Japan, in fact, the movie released in Japan on the same day as the USA, and Canada, and also the fact that Western four-fingered characters are edited to include a fifth finger in the Japanese versions due to controversy surrounding four fingers.^note Yakuza members chop off fingers if they can't pay back their debt or as punishment for other offences that don't warrant death, meat packers having work related accidents that involved accidentally cutting off their pinkie finger which is a highly disrespectful symbol which offends them due to their very low class working and social conditions, and in Japanese culture, the number 4 is unlucky and also means death. Not to mention, Nickelodeon and Spin Master wanted to avoid paying 5 million USD to Japanese pressure groups to avoid being sued for "insulting" four-fingered hands, unlike Nickelodeon's biggest rival in the family friendly market, Disney. ^note Disney had to pay said groups 5 million a year due to the company having a strict no censorship policy they implemented because Disney refuse to have their works being edited in any way.
• The Foreign Subtitle: In Mexico and Latin America, the show is also know as "PAW Patrol: Patrulla de Cachorros" (Puppy Patrol) but in some promotions, they accidentally use the European Spanish name, "La Patrulla Canina"
• Frame-Up: In "Mission PAW: Quest for the Crown", Sweetie frames Chase for the crime of stealing the crown of Barkingburg, and pretends to "recover" it so she can look like a hero. She almost gets away with it, until Chase uses his bowtie camera to show her gloating about framing him.
• Free-Range Children: In early episodes, the pups were often seen in other locations (often the pup-park) alone. This was phased out in later episodes, likely because it made Ryder look neglectful.
• Friendship Song: The pups celebrate friendship day and sing about being friends across the globe in "Pups Save Friendship Day".
• Friend to All Living Things: Birds really like Marshall.
• Full-Name Basis: Daring Danny X will insist that people call him by his entire name (title?) when people refer to him as just "Danny" or "Daring Danny".
• Fun with Acronyms: The creators have stated that the "PAW" in PAW Patrol stands for either "Protect And Wag" or "Pups At Work".
• Gadgeteer Genius: Ryder, Rocky, Mr. Wingnut, and Harold Humdinger. Mayor Humdinger may also be one since he's able to create Meow-Meow, though the fact that he'd rather steal than repair a simple TV puts that into question.
• Giant Squid: A giant octopus terrorizes the citizens of Adventure Bay in "Sea Patrol: Pups Save a Baby Octopus". The episode title clearly gives away that the sea creature isn't as terrifying as it seems.
• Goggles Do Something Unusual:
  • Skye's goggles can act as binoculars, telescoping out to let her see faraway objects.
  • Chase's goggles have a similar HUD.
• Going Down with the Ship: Cap'n Turbot invokes this in the very first episode, but with a snorkel and a duck lifesaver on.
• Good Colors, Evil Colors: The bad guys seem to hold exclusive rights to brown and purple. Ryder had to settle for more shades of blue and green to codify the secondary members of the PAW Patrol. Averted with Shade from the Cat Pack, leaving brown the only color left in the bad guys' clutches.
• Go-to-Sleep Ending: In "Pups in a Fog" and "Pups Save a Bat".
• Green Aesop: Emphasized by Rocky, the recycling pup.
  "Don't lose it! Reuse it!"
• Growling Gut:
  • Rubble's stomach growls numerous times in the series.
  • Zuma's stomach growls in "Pups Save a Talent Show".
  • Cali's stomach growls five times in the episode, "Pups Save a Train".
  • In “The New Pup”, Everest’s stomach growls repeatedly. Each time it happens, her rumbling tummy gets mistaken for thunder and an angry bear.
• Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: In "Sea Patrol: Pups Save Tilly Turbot", Marshall slips (again) and slides across the water of the beach, sitting on the surface for about half a second before sinking. Noteworthy in that it's the first time the show really uses Toon Physics, Marshall's improbable crashes into the elevator notwithstanding.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Tuck and Ella, since they don't have assigned roles and gear for regular rescues, and they also do not have a designated vehicle number. However, there is no question that they are officially members of the Mighty Pups. At first, the twins prioritized catching the Ladybird over joining the pups in Adventure Bay, but catching the superpowered thief has since stopped being their raison d'etre. They have now occasionally helped out in other missions, with "All Paws on Deck" showing the twins in their Mighty Pups guises helping out the regular non-superpowered PAW Patrol. The question now is whether the Mighty Pups as a team can still be called the PAW Patrol, the ambiguity being exacerbated further by the show trying to meld continuities with The Mighty Movie's version of the superhero team.
• Halloween Episode: "Pups and the Ghost Pirate" in Season One, and "Pups Save The Trick-Or-Treaters" in Season Five.
• Hair Reboot: In "Pups Save an Underground Chicken", Ryder gets splashed with water and his hair flops in his face. He dries it for about seven seconds and it sticks right back up.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: Ryder and the PAW Patrol are all clad in stylish black leather to really drive it home that the "Moto Pups" sub-series is about motorcycles and bikers. Even Daring Danny X gets to wear a leather jacket.
• Help, I'm Stuck!: The sticky, syrupy kind in "Pups Save Breakfast".
• Heroic Canines, Villainous Felines: Downplayed. The "Kitten Catastrophe Crew" introduced in "Pups and the Mischievous Kittens" are villainous feline versions of the PAW Patrol (and are also one of the few cases of kittens playing this straight) and "Mighty Pups, Charged Up: Pups vs. the Copycat" introduces another cat villain, Mr. Nibbles aka "The Copycat". However, Cali isn't villainous, though she can be cranky at times, and neither are any of the other unnamed cats that appear in the show; Rubble is even implied a few times to be quite fond of cats. There are also some villainous dog characters, most notably Sweetie.
• Heroic Dog: The whole point of this show.
• Home Base: The Lookout Tower, where the PAW Patrol live and where Ryder dispatches them on their missions, complete with a slide to get the pups down into their homes/vehicles. In Season 2, the PAW Patroller trailer is a secondary Base on Wheels.
  • Season 3 introduces the Air Patroller, a Cool Airship used to transport the PAW Patrol and their equipment to faraway locations.
  • Season 4 introduces the underwater Mission Headquarters, a base underneath the far-away kingdom of Barkingburg, and the Beach Tower HQ, a shoreline base which transforms into the Sea Patroller, a Cool Boat used for water-based rescues.
  • Season 7 introduces the Dino Tower, a headquarters similar to the Lookout installed in the mysterious Dino Wilds, and the Moto HQ, a satellite base that houses and dispatches the team's motorcycles.
• Honorary True Companion:
  • Cap'n Turbot straddles the line into Sixth Ranger territory, since he's called upon as an official member of the PAW Patrol in the Mer-Pup episodes, making him the only human to be dispatched by Ryder for a mission. He even has a call-out catchphrase.
  • Alex was given honorary member status in "Pups Save Alex" for helping save Cali, though he never participates in serious rescues again^* except in a (likely) dream sequence in "Pups Save a Playful Dragon" probably due to his age and inexperience. He goes on less dangerous missions with his Mini-Patrol instead.
  • Mayor Goodway became an "official make-believe member" in "Pups Rescue a Rescuer" and assisted in rescuing Danny, but only for a day as part of a rescue camp.
• How Unscientific!: If the holiday episodes or "Pups and the Beanstalk" don't count, then it's definitely "Pups Save a Space Alien", the episode that introduces little green aliens. Of course, this assumes that this wasn't already the case with the premise of the show, a group of talking pups being an entire town's worth of public services.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Skye is surprisingly the smallest pup on the team, and is way smaller than Chase, the largest boy pup on the team. It doesn't explain the fact that both pups are seven.
• Huge Rider, Tiny Mount: In "Pup Pup Boogie", Ryder tries to fit inside Rubble's rig. Key word: tries.
• Hulking Out: Mayor Humdinger finally gets a piece of the meteor in "Pups Save a Mega Mayor", and it turns him into a hulking purple monstrosity that gets angry at the thought of not having enough cats to play with.
• Hypocrite:
  • In "Pups Save the Chili Cook-Off", Mayor Humdinger has the nerve to accuse Adventure Bay of cheating when the pups' chili wins the cook-off, despite the fact that he had been cheating the entire episode (and is subsequently exposed by Chickaletta as having used store-bought chili in his recipe).
  • After pretending to break his toe in "Pups Save a Hum-Mover", Mayor Humdinger claims Mayor Goodway tripped him, and calls her a cheater - in spite of the fact that he'd had his Kitten Catastrophe Crew trying to sabotage Goodway the whole time.
  • In "Pups Stop Harold's Big Freeze", Harold, who had been using his Freeze Ray to freeze people all over Adventure Bay, is trapped by Mighty Everest's ice breath. He immediately proclaims "Freezing people isn't nice!" (although he does realise his hypocrisy momentarily).
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Try to find an episode title that doesn't have the word "Pups Save X" or occasionally "Pups..." in it. "Mission PAW: Quest for the Crown", "Mission PAW: Royally Spooked", "Rocky Saves Himself", and "Dancing with Luke Stars" are some of the few exceptions.
• Idiosyncratic Wipes: The PAW Patrol's pup-tags and other characters' emblems spinning around in the middle of the screen.
• I Got You Covered: In Jet to the Rescue, with Everest and Tracker captured and Sweetie floating helplessly from taking a hit meant for the Barkingburg castle, Skye is the only one left that can save Barkingburg from the Duke of Flappington. She then is accosted by a swarm of relentless eagle drones. Enter Ryder and the rest of the pups, now in their own jets (and jet-pack), rushing in to give Skye some crucial air support.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Frankie in the episode "Pups Save a Lonely Ghost". She wants to make friends, but being a ghost, has to get help from Rubble since she's too scary to keep anyone's attention.
• Ill-Timed Sneeze: At the beginning of "Pups Get Growing", Mr. Porter is working with Ryder and some of the pups on making the world's largest pizza. When Skye opens a sack of flour, it causes her to let out a big sneeze, blowing flour all over everyone. Mr. Porter then has everyone sneeze all at once, and this blows the flour off everyone.
• Implausible Deniability: In "Pups Save the Cat Show", Mayor Humdinger insists that his entry into the show, Meow-Meow, is not a robot, even though Meow-Meow is currently flying above the show on its rocket paws.
• Imprinting: In "Pups Save the Ostriches", Oscar and Olivia's eggs hatch while Robo-Dog is watching over them. This causes the ostrich chicks to believe Robo-Dog is their parent. They follow him around, and even mimic his barking.
• Incredible Shrinking Man: The essential premise of "Pups Save Tiny Marshall".
• Inexplicably Identical Individuals: For some reason, Buddy the dragon from "Pups Save a Playful Dragon" looks identical to the dragon from "Pups Save a Dragon".
• Inexplicably Speaks Fluent Alien: In "Pups Save a Space Toy", it's revealed that Cap'n Turbot can understand alien speech when the young alien says he's lost his favorite toy. "Pups Save a Space Rock" also shows that he can understand alien rocks.
• Instant Costume Change: The pups instantly change into their gear halfway up the tower prior to meeting Ryder (and also get instantly rearranged into the same left-right order each time regardless of who had been where).
  • In his second episode when Hailey leaves Mr. Nibbles instantly changes into the Copycat costume in a flash of light.
  • Sweetie instantly changes into her Mission PAW outfit after going in and out of a revolving wall section in Jet to the Rescue.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: What sets Sid Swashbuckle apart from other villains. While both Mayor Humdinger and Sweetie don't care about anyone but themselves, Sid has the heart to take care of (and even steal to provide for) Arrby. As the show goes on, however, Mayor Humdinger and Sweetie do get their chances to show that their hearts aren't made entirely of jerk.
• Jet Pack: In "Air Pups", Ryder and all the main pups receive some method of Flight, with a few variations between them.
• Jump Rope Blunders:
  • In one episode, titled "Pups and the Kitty-tastrophe", the pups are playing jump rope. Marshall jumps in the middle while Zuma and Rocky are holding the rope, only to stumble and get his legs all tied up.
  • In "Pups Save a Surprise", Marshall unintentionally runs into Skye while Rocky and Zuma are holding a jump rope for her, resulting in Marshall and Skye getting tied to each other.
  • At the end of "Pup Pup Goose", the PAW Patrol members are jump-roping. Chickaletta joins in, which distracts Marshall. He then trips and gets tangled in the jump rope.
• Karma Houdini:
  • Mayor Humdinger commits several crimes that should land him in jail (including grand theft auto, animal abuse, and even kidnapping!), but he and the KCC always walk after the Patrol stops them. Same with Sweetie, who tries to steal national treasures.
  • "Mighty Pups, Charged Up: Pups vs. the Copycat" ends with the titular villain Copycat escaping punishment, with neither the PAW Patrol or his owner Hailey Daily being aware of his secret identity as Mr. Nibbles.
• Karmic Butt-Monkey: Mayor Humdinger's schemes to outdo Mayor Goodway almost always result in him embarrassing himself and being forced to clean up the mess afterwards, especially if he was caught cheating. It's how he's punished in the series, as he never gets arrested for his worst deeds.
• Karmic Nod: In "Pups Save a Freighter", Danny admits that he deserved to get splashed by a whale.
• Kids Hate Vegetables: In the episode "Pups Save a Toof", Ryder says that he fears Brussels sprouts. He then proceeds to eat one so that he can teach Alex about facing your fears. Unfortunately, Alex isn't convinced.
• The Klutz: Marshall, who has a habit of crashing into the elevator's walls and other things. And getting his head stuck in stuff.

Tropes L-Z

• The Leader:
  • Ryder is a mix of Type 1 and Type 2. He assembles the PAW Patrol for a set reason, has clear goals, and is seen as a mature figure of authority in Adventure Bay.
  • Chase is Type 4. He's The Face of the PAW Patrol, and is one of (if not the) most skilled members.
  • Mayor Humdinger is Type 1. He assembles the Kitten Catastrophe Crew, KCC for short, to sabotage Mayor Goodway or the PAW Patrol. Mayor Humdinger also manipulates to get what he wants. He is usually exposed and then punished by the end of episodes, going back to square one later.
• Laser-Guided Karma: In some scenarios just like in the episode "Pups Save an Underground Chicken", Mayor Humdinger managed to stop Zuma and Ryder from reaching him but his plans were foiled by an alligator living in the sewers. The evil mayor gets captured and the statue is reclaimed... by Chase and Skye. As punishment, he and his kittens were forced to clean the statue, but as he escaped, the same alligator who stopped him appeared, forcing Humdinger back to his punishment.
• Last-Name Basis: Mayor Goodway, Mayor Humdinger, Mr. Hudson^who?The guy often seen driving things like trains, boats, etc, and usually in the UK version has a Scouse accent., Mr. Porter, Mr. and Mrs. Wingnut, and Ms. Marjorie (assuming that "Marjorie" is her surname) all lack a first name.
• Lighthouse Point: Cap'n Turbot's home away from the Flounder, and the basis for a handful of episodes including "Pups in a Fog".
• Lighter and Softer: Despite the dangerous missisons throughout the seasons and the series itself, this show is targeting young kids and teens to show that real-life rescuers can do their part in the community.
• Little Green Men: "Pups Save a Space Alien" introduces us to a mother-son duo of green, diminutive, beep-booping, saucer-riding, melon-headed space aliens.
• Loose Tooth Episode:
  • In "Pups Save a Toof", Chase accidentally knocks his fang loose while he's playing tug of war with the others. Ryder suggests taking him to the dentist to have his fang extracted, which Chase is less than enthused about. After Chase and Alex decide to see the dentist, Chase gets his fang taken out. The next day, Chase knocks his other fang loose after he bites into a bone. Cue the "Everybody Laughs" Ending.
  • In "Pups Save a Lost Tooth", Alex's tooth ends up embedded in a carrot after he bites into it, but a series of mishaps results in it going around town, so Alex and Mr. Porter get the PAW Patrol to get it back for them.
• Lost Voice Plot: "Parroting Pups": Rocky loses his voice, so the patrol has to train a parrot to use Rocky's voice-activated Pup-Pack.
• Mad Scientist: Mayor Humdinger acts like one when he builds the robotic Meow-Meow in "Pups Save the Cat Show".
• Magic Meteor: The source of all superpowers in the Mighty Pups special and its follow-up "Super Paws/Charged Up" subseries. Except Ryder's.
• Mauve Shirt: After seven seasons since his first appearance in Season 1's "Pups Save a Train", the train engineer was finally given a name in "Pups Stop the Cheetah". Please welcome Engineer Ed to Adventure Bay's ensemble of named villagers.
• Meaningful Name: Most of the pups have names connected to their respective roles. Also, Cap'n Turbot's surname is borrowed from a species of fish, which fits as he is a fisherman. (It doesn't fit, though, for Francois...)
• The Middle Ages: The Season 8 subseries "Rescue Knights", which brings the PAW Patrol to a time of chivalry and dragons, not just the cardboard or storybook kinds. It introduces a disgruntled ex-knight Doberman pup named Claw and his dragon mount Sparks.
• Mid-Season Upgrade: Ryder regularly builds new vehicles and equipment, as well as upgrades them, to meet the demands of the PAW Patrol's ever-expanding purview. Season 2 alone introduces the PAW Patroller, Chase's spy gear, Marshall's EMT gear, and Zuma's submersible upgrade, all of which are staples in the series ever since.
• Mind-Control Music:
  • In "Sea Patrol: Pirate Pups to the Rescue", the team discovers a magical whistle that was used to turn jungle animals into mindless slaves, which Carlos unwittingly played. By playing a special song on the same whistle, Tracker and the team were able to turn the animals back to normal.
  • Harold blasts some irresistible dance beats in "Mighty Pups, Charged Up: Pups vs. The Super Sonic Sound System".
• Minor Living Alone: Ryder, Katie, Carlos, Danny, and Ace all seem to live alone and support themselves with their own jobs/businesses with no parents seen or mentioned or any adults acting they should have any. By all appearances, it's normal and acceptable in this setting for people we would consider children to live independently and support themselves.
• Moving Buildings: In "Pups Save Uncle Otis from His Cabin", courtesy of Mr. Wingnut. Uncle Otis's cabin has been outfitted with high-tech fixings, which include a pair of giant mechanical legs should Uncle Otis ever want to move or take a vacation. Uncle Otis may not have intended to relocate his cabin off a cliff, however.
• Mr. Fixit: Rocky often assumes this sort of role, thanks to the multitude of recycled materials in his truck and the repair equipment in his pack.
• Mundane Utility:
  • At one point, Skye and Zuma try to keep some kids cooled off while they wait for the pool to be fixed. Zuma runs off and grabs some popsicles; Skye flies up to a nearby mountain and brings back a bucketful of snow.
  • In "Pups Save the Treats", Rubble and Rocky use their packs' respective equipment to build a snowman.
• Never My Fault: While it is expected that the antagonists would occasionally slip into this once their plans fail, Francois is more egregious than they are when it comes to deflecting blame. In "Pups Save a Floundering Francois", he blames a stationary whale-shaped rock for hitting the Flounder after he forcibly steered the ship toward it.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In the episode, Mighty Pups, Charged Up: Pups vs. the Copycat, from the show's sixth season, Ryder allows the reporter Hailey Daily to see how the Lookout works and also shows her the meteor the pups use to get their superpowers. Unknown to them, Hailey's cat, Mr. Nibbles, enters and touches the meteor, giving him the same powers as the pups, and making him the Copycat.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Also in that same episode, Mayor Humdinger is the one who begins destroying the Copycat's tower by just jumping and stomping on it due to it's very poor design (anyone should know that having the thickest part of a tower be on top is a bad idea) causing the Copycat to fly out of the danger, leaving Mayor Humdinger and his kitties behind on the now-collapsing tower.
• Non-Standard Character Design:
  • Ella has a pink nose, unlike the other pups, who all have black noses.
  • Mr. Nibbles/The Copycat from the Mighty Pups, Charged Up sub-series has a very different design from the other cats we've seen in the show (here's a pic of Cali for reference).
  • Dwayne from the Ruff-Ruff Pack has noticeably more anatomically accurate back legs compared to any dog in the show, probably because he's the tallest dog so far and the usual cartoony stumps would look too awkward on him.
• No Antagonist: A large portion of the episodes don't have a villain, or even a non-villanous sort of a bad guy, just an unfortunate situation for the Pups to deal with.
• No Ontological Inertia: In "Pups Save their Floating Friends", the mother-son alien duo returns for a quick visit to watch Apollo the Super Pup. Unbeknownst to them, their spaceship's anti-gravity beam cannon breaks, causing it to continuously fire beams that make anything or anyone they touch float helplessly in mid-air, with a handful of Adventure Bay citizens and animals, including Ryder and Chase, getting hit in the crossfire. Rocky repairs it by covering it with a trash can lid, which instantly brings everyone literally back down to earth. In one of the rare instances of Mood Whiplash in the show, Ryder didn't actually expect the effect of the anti-gravity beam to wear off that quickly, and would have been seriously injured if not for Skye saving him at the last second.
• The Nose Knows: Chase's sense of smell is so acute, he can identify jelly beans by color while blindfolded.
• Not So Above It All: Chase tries to stay "professional" while on missions, but doesn't always succeed.
• Not Where They Thought: Whenever Traveling Travis appears in an episode, he'll usually mistake the place he's in for someplace else. Some examples include mistaking the jungle for the North Pole in "Pups Save a Wrong Way Explorer" and mistaking Antarctica for Mars in "Pups Save an Antarctic Martian".
• Number Two: Chase is this to Ryder, their number designations pretty much spell it out. In turn, Marshall seems to be Chase's Number Two.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: "Sea Patrol: Pups Save Their Pirated Sea Patroller" has Marshall playing clumsy (well, clumsier than usual) in order to fool Sid into thinking he's just a harmless klutz.
• "Oh, Crap!" Smile: Danny delivers one in "Pups Raise The PAW Patroller".
  Danny: So, I guess for now the PAW Patroller is a boat.
• Once per Episode: The Pups all gather for an emergency at the bottom of the elevator, and have a clumsy moment usually caused by Marshall. They go up the elevator together, which halfway up takes about 1.2 seconds to change them all into their suits and rearrange them into the same order left-right as every other time. At the top, they all jump out of elevator, where Ryder explains the problem of the week and picks 2 particular Pups to work on it. Those 2 then go down the slide and land in their vehicle, where we hear their names shouted as the vehicles transform.
• One-Note Cook: The Wingnuts' diner only serves one item: burgers.
• One-Steve Limit: Done not with characters, but with episodes.
  • "Pups Save the PAW Patroller": Humdinger steals the PAW Patroller and the pups have to get it back. "Pups Raise the PAW Patroller": The PAW Patroller ends up in the bay and the pups have to get it back.
  • "Pups Save a Pizza": The pups save the Porters, who slid off the road while delivering a pizza. "Pups Save a Tower of Pizzas": Adventure Bay tries to make the world's largest stack of pizzas.
• Origins Episode: "Pups Get a Rubble", wherein Ryder explains to Mayor Goodway how Rubble became a part of the group, and demonstrated excellent digging skills to rescue a trapped snowboarder. The movie would also go into Chase's origins as a puppy abandoned on the street until he was found by Ryder.
• Or Was It a Dream?: In "Pups Save a Playful Dragon", Rubble and Alex dream of a purple dragon (the same one from Marshall's dream in "Pups Save a Dragon") from a storybook they were reading coming to life. At first, it's clearly Alex's fantasy when he gets called to help return the playful dragon back into the book before it burns down Adventure Bay with its hiccups, and gets his own jet pack and pup-tag from out of thin air. After Rubble and Alex wake up, the dragon on the book's cover winks at them, under the shade of a burnt umbrella.
• Our Mermaids Are Different: "Pups Save a Mer-Pup" reveals the existence of "mer-pups", which appear under the moonlight during specific conditions, according to Cap'n Turbot. The mer-pups reappear every once in a while (in season 3's "Merpups Save the Turbots" and season 4's "Pups Save Puplantis").
• Our Werewolves Are Different: "Pups and the Werepuppy" introduces the titular werepuppy, a werewolf-ish transformation of a pup (in this case, Rocky) into a larger, stronger, furrier version of themselves. Too bad it's All Just a Dream…
• Palette Swap: Sylvia, a one-off character who only appears in "Pups Save a Herd", is a blue recolor of Chase.
• Parental Bonus:
  • Canadian writers, evil mayor of Foggy Bottom (section of Washington, DC).
  • "Put your metal to the pedal."
  • In "Pups in a Jam" Rocky cocks his leaf blower just like you would a shotgun.
  • "Pups Save a Show Jumper" has Winnie Winnington trying to remember what the titular team is called. One of the names she throws out is "The Barky Bunch".
  • The Big Damn Movie has a character named Marty Muckracker. Muckrackers are people that expose the flaws of society, and were prominent during the Industrial Revolution.
• Perplexing Pearl Production: The Shell of Puplantis produces pearls at a very rapid pace. Justified; those pearls are Puplantis's life source, and without them, Puplantis will crumble.
• Pirate:
  • In "Pups and the Pirate Treasure", Ryder and the pups search for pieces of a treasure map to uncover Captain Blackfur's lost treasure.
  • In "Sea Patrol: Pirate Pups to the Rescue", the team puts on their pirate gear as they help Carlos and Tracker recover the notorious Jack Scallywag's stolen loot.
• Plank Gag: In "Sea Patrol: Pups Save Their Pirated Sea Patroller", Arrby, carrying a mop, turns around and hits Sid in the butt.
• Poorly Disguised Pilot: The 25th episode of Season 8 is a collection of four 5-minute shorts, the first time in the series that an episode is in this format. The shorts feature Wild Cat and three completely new feline characters, Rory, Leo and Shade, collectively known as the "Cat Pack", working alongside the PAW Patrol and showing off their own tech.
  Wild Cat, who was introduced in Season 7's "Moto Pups", gets to be the first post-Season 4 subseries character to return, though he swaps the gray PAW Patrol shield tag that he wore before to an amber hexagonal tag to signify that he's now part of the Cat Pack. Videos in Nick Jr.'s official Youtube channel even open with their own title sequence narrated by him. The Cat Pack is formally introduced in Season 9's "Pups Meet the Cat Pack", and has become a sub-series within PAW Patrol itself.
• Prized Possession Giveaway: In "Pups Save a Bah Humdinger", Mayor Humdinger gets a cat plush toy from Santa Claus. A little girl trips and breaks a toy, so Mayor Humdinger gives her his stuffed animal. Santa is touched by Mayor Humdinger's rare moment of kindness and gives him another cat plush.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: Everest gets the honor of having her name called out in the Mighty Pups special; Tracker alongside her in Jet to the Rescue. The other secondary members are not up for promotion just yet.
• The Psycho Rangers: The Kitten Catastrophe Crew unleashed by Mayor Humdinger in "Pups and the Mischievous Kittens."
• Puppy-Dog Eyes:
  • In "Pups Save a Tightrope Walker", Francois attempts to do this to a flock of seagulls interrupting his tightrope act to make them leave. It doesn't work.
  • In the first episode of the "Rescue Knights" subseries, the ex-knight Doberman Claw tried to pull this on Sweetie to make her stop tattling on him to the Princess of Barkingburg, only for Sweetie to rebuff him since she also knows that trick, a callback to her own first appearance in the first "Mission PAW" episode. He did succeed in the end since Sweetie left to eat her snacks instead.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Alex's Mini Patrol, which consist of a cat (Cali), a chicken (Chickaletta), an owl (Little Hootie), a bunny, a turtle (possibly Star), and later, a mouse (Squeek). How he managed to bring this random team of cute little animals together, and stay together, is anyone's guess.
• Recurring Extra: Adventure Bay's citizens show up fairly frequently in the background throughout the show. Probably the most well-known is a little girl around the same age as Alex, only known as Precious' Owner due to her first appearance in "Pups and the Kitty-tastrophe".
• Red Is Heroic: Marshall, and to a lesser extent, Ryder, wear red and are heroes.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni:
  • Marshall is the clumsy, energetic Red Oni to Chase's collected, loyal Blue Oni. Fitting since Marshall's color code is red and Chase's is blue.
  • Everest is the tomboyish, hands-on Red Oni to Skye's girly girl, kindhearted Blue Oni.
  • Sid Swashbuckle is the loud, selfish Red Oni to Arrby's sweet, quiet Blue Oni.
• Rescue: That is the genre of this animated series.
• Retcon: Ever since the franchise's second film, "The Mighty Movie" came out, current episodes involving "The Mighty Pups" segment have been rewritten to connect ties with the film (such as the pups keeping the powers from the movie, the uniforms and vehicles and Liberty now being a part of the Mighty Pups crew) although some elements tie in with the previous "Mighty Pups" segments (such as the Mighty Pup Tower's design being previously used).
• Reused Character Design: With over 8 seasons under its belt, it was inevitable that some of the show's many characters be of the same template.
  • Strong Family Resemblance aside, the Turbot family looks like they could easily swap in for each other.
  • Engineer Ed, the train conductor who first appeared in "Pups Save a Train", looks very similar to Mr. Hudson, the school bus driver from "Pups Save the School Bus", as well as the boat captain from "Pups Save the Bay" and the construction worker from "Pups Adventures in Babysitting". They were originally thought to be only one person with an impressive resume until this cameo group shot◊ from ''Mighty Pups'' proved that they're actually four separate but identical persons.
  • Uncle Otis, Mr. Postman, and Mr. Wingnut all seem to be made from the same "thin old man with mustache" cloth.
  • The cameraman for Hello, Adventure Bay!, who was first seen in "Pup a Doodle Do", is a dead ringer for Roger, the frozen goods delivery man from "Pups Chill Out", and Cletus, the draw-bridge operator from Season 6.
  • Of course, unimportant throwaway one-offs are going to be this, like the members of Foggy Bottom's basketball team, who all look like Ryder with different hairstyles, and Sylvia, the shepherding dog that's obviously Chase colored blue.
• Rewatch Bonus: "Merpups Save The Turbots". At the end of the episode, Francois tries to show the footage he took of the mer-pups, but it's just a black screen. Captain Turbot asks whether he took off the lens cap. Earlier in the episode, one can see that the preview screen on the camcorder Francois was using is also black, which means he hadn't.
• Rogues Gallery: Despite being a Rescue-focused show that started out with no villains at all, the PAW Patrol has garnered quite a sizable number of troublemakers. Troublemakers that intently cause trouble, that is.
  • Ever since Mayor Humdinger's introduction as Mayor Goodway's rival, he has since been the PAW Patrol's most persistent antagonist. He even formed his own mischievous version of the PAW Patrol, the Kitten Catastrophe Crew.
  • "Mission PAW" introduces Sweetie, a selfish pup with plans to usurp the throne of Barkingburg.
  • "Sea Patrol" introduces a kleptomaniac pirate appropriately named Sid Swashbuckle, and his first mate, a dachshund pup named Arrby.
  • Mighty Pups and the subseries "Mighty Pups, Super Paws" and "Mighty Pups, Charged Up" have Harold Humdinger, Mayor Humdinger's technopathic nephew who intends to take over Adventure Bay, as well as the Ladybird, who is a thief with an affinity for shiny objects, and Mr. Nibbles/the Copycat, who can use all of the Mighty Pups' powers.
  • In the Ready, Race, Rescue special, the antagonist is The Cheetah, who is both Mayor Humdinger's cousin and Marshall's opponent in the race.
  • Jet to the Rescue adds the Duke of Flappington and his pet eagle, Jean-Claude, the first avian animal antagonist.
  • The "Moto Pups" subseries introduces a trio of hooliganistic biker pups, Dwayne, Gasket, and Hubcap, collectively known as the Ruff-Ruff Pack.
  • "Rescue Knights" aqcuaints us with the disgraced Barkingburg knight, Claw, and his not-so-fictional dragon, Sparks.
• Running Gag:
  • Marshall crashing into the elevator, usually followed by him cracking a cheesy joke that somehow still gets a laugh out of him and the other pups.
  • Rocky getting sprayed in the face with water.
  • Ryder trying to change his hairstyle, only for it to stick right back up.
• Santa Claus: Even the jolly red bearded man knows to call Ryder and the PAW Patrol whenever Christmas is in danger.
• Save the Villain:
  • During the mayoral race and the search for the outlaw's loot, Mayor Humdinger's attempts to sabotage his competitors lead to him nearly falling off a cliff. The PAW Patrol save him, only for Humdinger to go right back to his crooked acts. This pattern of the pups saving Humdinger and him returning to his crooked ways afterwards is repeated many times in the show.
  • In "Mission PAW: Quest for the Crown", the PAW Patrol save Sweetie after she falls from her hoverboard while trying to escape. Like Humdinger and the Kitten Catastrophe Crew, she goes right back to her villainous ways in the next "Mission PAW" episode, in which she needs to be saved again.
  • In the first "Sea Patrol" episode, the PAW Patrol save Sid Swashbuckle when his submarine gets trapped.
  • Skye saves the Duke of Flappington and Jean-Claude in their freefalling eagle jet, after they overheat it from trying to escape custody, in Jet to the Rescue.
• Schizo Continuity: The more recent subseries (namely "Mighty Pups, Super Paws/Charged Up", "Dino Rescue", and "Moto Pups") so far seem to be operating within their own self-contained continuities, wherein whatever or whoever is introduced in one of these subseries stays within that subseries. This is most likely because their underlying premises (superpowers, dinosaurs, and a cat joining the PAW Patrol) would irrevocably alter the status quo to something more fantastical than fans are comfortable with, and would be near-impossible to handwave away if they were ever acknowledged outside of their subseries.
  • Season 9 has now acknowledged these subseries, even bringing back the Mighty Pups to stand side-by-side with Wild Cat and his Cat Pack, officially making the status quo irrelevant.
• "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: In "Mission PAW: Royally Spooked", Sweetie uses remote-controlled suits of armor to try and convince the Princess and Earl of Barkingburg that the castle is haunted, so they will leave, allowing her to have the place all to herself.
• Security Cling:
  • Some of the pups have a habit of jumping into Ryder's arms when they get scared.
  • Similarly, Cap'n Turbot and Francois tend to cling to each other when in danger.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Cap'n Turbot tends to talk with long and alliterative words.

  Cap'n Turbot: It's perplexing, how to pull a poor pachyderm up such a steep perpendicular precipice.

  Francois: (confused) Uh...what?

• Shipshape Shipwreck: In "Pups Save a Mer-Pup" and in "Sea Patrol: Pups Save a Sunken Sloop."
• Ship Tease:
  • Ryder and Katie. He pushes her on a swing at the end of "Pups Save a Train," and they dance together in "Pups Save Friendship Day" (the lyrics were talking about "best friends", and with others dancing with characters they're often seen with, the song and visuals infer that Ryder and Katie are best friends). In "Pups Save a Dragon," when they learned the play they were rehearsing for required that the princess (Katie) had to be woken by "True Love's Kiss," Ryder was nervous at the prospect, while Katie smiled and giggled at the idea.
• Shout-Out:
  • Pup Pup Boogie is a doggy version of DanceDanceRevolution, though humans play it too.
  • The Robo-Pup Ryder builds in "Pups Save Ryder's Robot" resembles the Teksta robot puppy toys.
  • "Tracker Joins the Pups" has a definite Indiana Jones vibe, with the monkey temple and a giant coconut acting in place of the iconic boulder. Mandy's theft of the crown also reminds one of Abu.
  • "Royally Spooked" has the pups explore a haunted house and find four suits of armor that seemingly came to life... and doing Jojo poses.
  • "Pups Save the Fizzy Pickles" has a flying pickle about to hit Mayor Goodway... cue Rocky jumping into the air, time pausing, the camera rotating 180 degrees around him, and the mixed breed catching said pickle with his claw.
  • Jet to the Rescue opens with a hologram of the Princess of Barkingburg imploring the PAW Patrol that they're her only hope.
  • Even cats can't seem to resist doing the motorcycle slide from AKIRA in "Moto Pups: Pups vs. the Ruff-Ruff Pack."
  • In "Pups Save the Royal Armor", the pups read a comic book called "The Pupinator". While the title is a nod to The Terminator, the premise (five pup "Space Knights" piloting vehicles that combine into a giant warrior robot) is modelled after Voltron.
  • In "Pups Save a Clown", Toodles the clown holds up a giant wind-up key suspiciously like a sword.
  • In the episodes, "Pups Save an Ostrich", and "Pups Save the Baby Ostriches", Marshall, and Rubble respectively both accidentally ride on the Wingnuts' pet ostrich, Oscar, like how Donkey Kong, and Diddy Kong ride on Expresso the Ostrich.
  • At the end of "Aqua Pups: Pups Save a Floating Castle", when Coral looks up at the moon and sees Skye flying off, Skye pulls a maneuverthat’s exactly like the one from a certain Batman movie.
• Show Within a Show: Apollo the Super Pup, which is a superhero show starring a dog that the pups (especially Rubble) are huge fans of. There's also Hello, Adventure Bay!, a news program that covers noteworthy events and stories that happen in the titular city.
• Sick Episode:
  • "Pups Save a Show": Chase has a cold, so Marshall has to take over his part in the show.
  • "Pups Save a Sniffle": The whole patrol (minus Rubble) has a cold, which leads to a Dwindling Party during their mission. At the end, it's implied that Ryder is catching it as well.
  • "Parroting Pups" has Rocky getting laryngitis, forcing the other PAW Patrol members to train a parrot to voice-activate his tools until he recovers.
• Signature Headgear: Nearly all important characters have a hat as part of their iconic outfits. The PAW Patrol are never seen without hats that match their jobs or helmets for their special mission uniforms. Even characters that usually don't wear hats have their favorites, such as Mr. Porter's fedora. These hats occasionally end up as makeshift receptacles and, in the case of one particularly troublesome mayor, as pancakes.
• Signature Team Transport: Loads of them, including individual vehicles for each of the team members. And they're all numbered, some of which don't even appear on the show but are still respected in the numbering system, namely the PAW Terrain Vehicle (12) and the Pirate Patroller (13).
• Sinking Ship Scenario: Usually at the expense of Cap'n Turbot and the Flounder. Other instances notably include the PAW Patroller in "Pups Raise the PAW Patroller".
• The Smurfette Principle: The PAW Patrol features only one female member, Skye, until the introduction of Everest in Season 2.
• Sneeze of Doom: In "Pups Save the Songbirds", when Ryder calls the PAW Patrol to the Lookout, Marshall sniffs a flower, causing him to sneeze so hard that he flies into the Lookout and actually makes it in first this time.
• Spell My Name With An S:
  • Cali's name is frequently misspelled as "Callie" in closed captioning.
  • A few people have misspelled Ryder as "Rider".
  • The show itself doesn't know if "mer-pup" is hyphenated or not between the episodes "Pups Save a Mer-Pup" and its follow-up "Merpups Save the Turbots".
• Spiky Hair: Ryder, and a few episodes (see Hair Reboot above) imply it's natural.
• Spoiler Opening: Almost all episode title cards reveal who will need to be rescued and which pup will be one of the first responders. If that isn't the case, then expect that pup to have a much bigger role later on. As well as that, if Chase is wearing his spy gear and/or if Marshall is wearing his EMT gear, expect them to play a part in the rescue.
• Status Quo Is God: Every mer-pup-themed episode ("Pups Save a Mer-Pup", "Merpups Save the Turbots" and "Pups Save Puplantis") ends with Cap'n Turbot's photos of the mer-pups being ruined in some way so that more mer-pup plots are possible.
• Stinky Flower: In "Pups Save a Stinky Flower", Mayor Humdinger gives Mayor Goodway a flower that opens and releases an odor that can be smelled all around Adventure Bay, and Mayor Goodway even initially wonders if Chickaletta farted when she first gets a whiff of it. Even a skunk is shown to hate the smell. As such, the PAW Patrol has to get to the flower before the wind catches its seeds and more foul-smelling flowers grow.
• Stopped Dead in Their Tracks: In "Pups Save a Toof", Alex starts to walk off to play, only for Mr. Porter to remind him that he still has to go to the dentist later. Alex then stops in mid-step with a nervous look.
• Strong Family Resemblance: The Turbots have the same Black Bead Eyes, comically long noses, and stick-figure builds, including the females. It even looks like Tammy Turbot from the "Dino Rescue" subseries would eventually grow up to have the same features. And every single one of them wears glasses, whether they be Nerd Glasses or Round Hippie Shades. Contrast the Goodways, who absolutely look nothing alike other than skin color.
• Sub Story: Underwater episodes exist as early as Season 1, it's only until "Pups Save the Diving Bell" that we see submarines start surfacing.
• Sudden Name Change: Mayor Goodway's niece was named Justina in Season 1, but was renamed to Julia in all subsequent seasons.
• Super-Senses: Tracker's talent lies in his heightened sense of hearing, demonstrated with radar sound effects.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • In "Pups Save a Hum-Mover", Mayors Goodway and Humdinger face off in an obstacle course race. Humdinger naturally has his Kitten Catastrophe Crew repeatedly sabotage Goodway. This fails to work for two reasons:
    • Goodway is both athletic and resourceful enough to recover from each sabotage (and even uses one attempt to her advantage).
    • Humdinger was relying entirely on cheating to win, never training for the race (and hadn't bothered to warm up first, or even walk there). Despite getting the lead due to the sabotage, he tires out quickly, slowing down enough for Goodway to catch up to, and even pass him. Out of desperation, Humdinger resorts to faking an injury in order to stop the race.
  • When Zuma is called upon to drive Rubble's vehicle in "Pups Save a Super Pup", he struggles at first due to it being different in design to his normal vehicle.
  • In "Moto Pups: Pups Save the Donuts", the entrance to the Ruff-Ruff Pack's hideout is blocked by a giant donut. The Ruff-Ruff Pack escape by simply eating a path through the giant confection. The very next scene shows that all three of them have gotten a stomach ache from eating all that donut.
  • In the trailer for the theatrical movie, Ryder and the pups relocate to the much larger Adventure City, and get their heroic launch sequence interrupted by gridlock for the first time ever.
• Talking Animal: Interestingly enough, only the dogs (and five cats) talk, but they still exhibit doggy habits like appreciating rubs and scratches, howling, and eating dog treats.
  • We can't hear it, but some other animals "talk" and can communicate with both dogs and humans. Chickaletta understands Goodway and vice versa (she will properly use her cellphone at request). Humdinger can understand his kittens' meows. Bettina communicates. The Copycat also gains the ability to speak audibly after he gets powers from the meteor.
  • In "Pups Save Queen Cluck-Cluck", Mayor Goodway dreams that she and Chickaletta end up on an island populated by chickens who can say "All hail Queen Cluck-Cluck!"
  • Even if it's played for laughs, the presence of a whale-speaking manual and Rubble's offhand comment that talking is just a treat-worthy trick suggest that verbal interspecies communication is not impossible in this world and actually documented. It's just a matter of taking the time to learn for both sides, just as anyone would with any foreign language.
• Technicolor Eyes:
  • Skye has pinkish-purple eyes.
  • Sweetie, the evil pup belonging to the Princess of Barkingburg in the "Mission PAW" subseries, also has purple eyes.
  • Ladybird, a villain from the "Mighty Pups, Super Paws" subseries, has magenta eyes.
• Technicolor Fire: The dragons in the Rescue Knights subseries are show to breathe purple fire.
• Tempting Fate: One episode has Ryder leaving town for the day and having Katie watch the pups. He gives her a spare Pup-Pad just in case, to which she immediately asks, "What could happen in a single day?" You'd think she didn't live in Adventure Bay. Just to drive it home, Mayor Humdinger, a frequent troublemaker, is sitting right there when Ryder visits and immediately starts planning havoc in a few not-too-subtle comments to his cats.
• Theme Tune Roll Call:
  "Whenever there's a problem round Adventure Bay, Ryder and his team of pups will come and save the day!"
  "Marshall! Rubble! Chase! Rocky! Zuma! Skye! Yeah! They're on their way!"
• This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: "Ultimate Rescue: Pups Save a Swamp Monster". When an emergency arises in a swamp (where the water is too shallow for the Sea Patroller to move through), Ryder decides to have the team utilize Zuma's Ultimate Hovercraft.
• Tightrope Walking: Francois is revealed to be very skilled at this in "Pups Save a Tightrope Walker".
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Lampshaded, but Everest is the second biggest pup on the team. She is bigger than all the other boy pups except Chase. Justified, since she's eight, making her the eldest pup on the team, while the other pups are seven and under. Everest and Chase's sizes may be related to seniority—Chase is the most mature member of the patrol as the deputy leader under Ryder, with his role as the skeptic enhancing this maturity. As for Everest, she is implied to have had an owner before Jake.
• Token Heroic Orc: Wild Cat, after seven seasons, is the first heroic feline to ever grace the show^* not counting poor Cali as a member of Alex's Mini Patrol, of course. Naturally, he becomes a member of the PAW Patrol.
• Token Human: Obviously, there's Ryder, but we also have Robo-Dog, a robot, and honorary member Cap'n Turbot.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Everest and Skye respectively accept their roles.
• Tooth Strip: All characters' teeth are animated like this, with the exception of Danny who has a Childish Tooth Gap.
• Totally Radical: Zuma since he's the water pup talks like this from time to time, usually by referring to people as "dude".
• Transforming Mecha: The puppies' homes double as vehicles with many functions to support their jobs.
• Traveling at the Speed of Plot: Many times, the PAW Patrol is called to rescue someone when the person must be saved in a few minutes at most. But then Ryder calls the pups as usual, they gather together from various locations, Ryder briefs them without urgency, and they travel to the often distant location, always arriving in time.
• Tron Lines: Seen in some of the team's newer outfits and vehicles, starting with their "Mission PAW" uniforms and the Air Patroller's stealth mode.
• Tropical Island Adventure: A number of episodes regularly feature the PAW Patrol going to the jungle, starting with "Pups Jungle Trouble". Though not on an island, it has all the makings of a tropical paradise — monkeys, coconut trees, ancient temples — and a far enough drive away from Adventure Bay.
  • In a couple of these episodes, the PAW Patrol actually do travel to an island. In "Air Pups", they fly to Volcano Island to save the Turbots from, obviously, an erupting volcano, and in "Sea Patrol: Pirate Pups to the Rescue", they sail to Jack Scallywag's Island to help Carlos and Tracker find lost pirate booty.
• Two Girls to a Team: Skye and Everest, until the arrival of Ella in Season 6.
• Unconventional Food Usage: In "Pups Save a Tower of Pizza", the citizens of Adventure Bay stack pizzas on top of each other to get into the record book for the tallest pizza towers.
• Unexpected Kindness: In "Pups Save a Stinky Flower", Mayor Humdinger says he has a gift for Mayor Goodway. Mayor Goodway asks if there's a catch, and Humdinger says there isn't, before giving her a flower. She's touched and thinks she has misjudged him. Subverted, though, as it was actually a stinky flower that he gave her as a prank.
• Universal-Adaptor Cast: So far the PAW Patrol have been secret agents ("Mission PAW"), a coast guard equivalent ("Sea Patrol"), and even superheroes ("Mighty Pups").
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The conflict of "Pups and the Ghost Pirate" is kicked off when Cali and Chickaletta run about the pirate ship, causing it to drift into the Bay with some of the cast trapped on it.
• Villain Song:
  • In the build-up to "Mission PAW: Quest for the Crown", Sweetie was given a very James Bond-esque one of these on Nick Jr.'s Youtube channel.
  • She received another one in the build-up to "Mission PAW: Pups Save the Royal Throne".
  • In "Sea Patrol: Pups Save Puplantis", Sid had one that doubles as both an "I Am" Song and his leitmotif.
• Wacky Racing: The Ready, Race, Rescue special, complete with Humdingers stopping to cheat while they're ahead. Before that is "Pups Great Race", where the PAW Patrol themselves compete in a much friendlier race to see who's the fastest.
• West Coast Team: Wild (formerly Wild Cat) left the PAW Patrol and created his own team, the Cat Pack, alongside newcomers Rory, Shade and Leo. They're based around certain big cats that they look up to rather than themed around professions/specializations, and they wear Powered Armor that gives them abilities as you'd expect (Wild having a cheetah's super speed, etc.). The Mighty Pups had to be brought out of retirement so the pups aren't left out.
• "What Do They Fear?" Episode: In "Pups Save A Toof", in order to ease Alex's fear of going to the dentist, Ryder and the pups tell him what they're afraid of; Ryder hates eating Brussels sprouts, Rocky doesn't like getting wet, Rubble is afraid of spiders, Marshall is scared of flying, Skye is afraid of eagles, and Chase also fears going to the dentist (Zuma is skipped over for some reason).
• What Happened to the Mouse?:
  • At the end of "Pups Save the Bunnies", Skye convinces Ryder to let her keep one of the bunnies as a pet. Said bunny effectively vanishes afterward. However, since this bunny has no identifying characteristics whatsoever, it could very well be the bunny that pops up every now and then, such as in Mini-Patrol episodes.
  • Matea's chick, born in "Pups Save a Parrot", is neither seen nor mentioned ever again.
• Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Adventure Bay is someplace with a sunny waterfront and beach. There's a nearby town (Foggy Bottom) with large amounts of fog. Snowy mountains, rocky terrain, forests, and a desert are all fairly nearby. The best odds are somewhere in California. (The city could be based on San Francisco.)
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?:
  • Skye has a fear of eagles for some reason.
  • Rubble is terrified of spiders.
  • It's not an intense fear, but Rocky does have an aversion to water-related activities.
  • Tracker is afraid of the dark, due to his acute hearing allowing him to hear every little sound.
• World of Ham: Let's see; the mayor of Adventure Bay is a ham, most people who live in Adventure Bay are hams, all the villains are hams... yep, sure seems like it.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: In "Pups Save a Hum-Mover", Mayor Humdinger pretends to break a toe, using the "injury" as an excuse to get a mechanized wheelchair specially made, and to take advantage of the sympathy of others.
• Writing Around Trademarks:
  • Pup Pup Boogie is likely based on DanceDanceRevolution.
  • "Pups Save a Heady Humdinger" featured a bone-stacking game that is very similar to Jenga.
  • Averted with what seems to be a clip of an unaired episode of Ryder easily solving a Rubik's Cube. Everyone already knew that Ryder is a little bit beyond his years, so at this point this is just Spin Master gloating that they now own Rubik's Cube and that they get to call the damn toy what it actually is.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: While he isn't the only character that has to overcome feelings of inadequacy, Marshall gets the most episodes dedicated to doing so due to his clumsiness, starting with "Pups Fight Fire".
• Your Tomcat Is Pregnant:
  • In "Pups Save a Parrot," the PAW Patrol are called to the jungle to find Ryder's friend Carlos' missing parrot, Mateo. When they finally find Mateo, they learn that "he" has laid an egg. In all subsequent episodes, Mateo is renamed Matea.
  • In "Pups Save Chickaletta's Egg", Jimmy the crocodile turns out to be a female crocodile who laid eggs some time ago. Upon discovering this, Francois renames her Jenny.
• Youthful Freckles: Sported prominently on Ace and Danny, while fainter on Sid Swashbuckle and the Princess of Barkingburg.

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You're all such good pups!