Martha is the titular protagonist. Martha is a talking Labrador mix that was born an energetic stray and was put in the dog pound as a puppy. She gained the ability to talk after Helen gave her a bowl of alphabet soup; the letters in the soup went to her brain instead of her stomach. In order to retain this ability, Martha has to continue to eat the soup.[11] She is also capable of speaking other languages if the soup she eats is from another country, but can only speak one language at a time (if she were to eat a can of soup from France, she'd only be able to speak French until she was fed a different can). The phenomenon could not be repeated with another dog. She was based on a dog owned by Susan Meddaugh, which in turn could be named after the dog in subject of the Paul McCartney song Martha My Dear. Martha can understand most animal languages except for a few exotic animals such as monkeys and giraffes. These languages are simple, as slight elongation or slightly higher pitch will mean something entirely altered. In the episode "Itchy Martha", Martha teaches T.D.'s father to speak a word in dog, coaching him to say it exactly right. Almost all animals are able to understand some sort of human language but are unable to speak it. In a newer episode, it is stated that Martha understands a wide range of animal languages, possibly because they have the same grammar system. She has had three superhero alter egos.