Why Can All the Dogs in PAW Patrol Talk?

So PAW Patrol theories are bandied around with some frequency in our household. I was thinking of writing a blog post about my wife's theory about the pup replaced by Rubble, but then some YouTuber did a video on it with more evidence than either of us had. So I decided to discuss my somewhat more far-fetched theory: what is up with the world of PAW Patrol? Specifically, why can all the dogs talk?

also legal: anti-dog apartheid

If you poke around, some people think that Ryder somehow enhances the dogs to be intelligent, but this cannot be case:

• In multiple instances, we are shown that various PAW Patrol pups can speak before they join the group (e.g., Rubble, Everest, Tracker).
• On top of this, the movie makes it clear that all the dogs in Adventure City can talk.* (In the show's first six seasons, we never see any dogs who aren't (eventually) PAW Patrol members.)†
• And, indeed, no one ever reacts with surprise at the existence of talking dogs; they are clearly a normal part of life. A truck driver in the movie reacts with surprise only at the fact that pups are being used as rescue personnel.
  

So whatever's going on in the PAW Patrol world, talking dogs are a normal part of it. On the other hand, other animals do not speak. Cats seem pretty intelligent, but the only talking cat in the first six seasons, the Copycat, gains his ability to speak (among other superpowers) from the Meteor.‡ 

just another day walking to the South Pole

There are, however, many strange things about the world of PAW Patrol. Geography is a key one:

• Adventure Bay is an oceanside town.
• It is, however, also within easy travel distance of the South Pole and a jungle and snow-covered mountains.
  
• It seems to be across the ocean from a London-analogue called "Barkingburg," but some episodes also make it clear that you can reach the jungle and the Antarctic by ground from Barkinburg.§
  
• Circumstantial evidence from the film would lead me to believe it's located in the United States. (A driver of a maple syrup tanker calls his cargo "pure Canadian maple syrup," which feels like a weird thing to do if you are in Canada.)

the visages of absolute power

Another weird thing about the PAW Patrol universe is the way politics work.

• Humdinger is the mayor of a town near Adventure Bay called Foggy Bottom. However, most evidence suggests this "town" is just a cave where Humdinger lives with his nephew Harold.‖ 
• Humdinger, additionally, commits all sorts of crimes but there appears to be no mechanism to arrest him or otherwise hold him accountable.
  
• Mayors, apparently, have absolute executive power that cannot be countermanded. There's an episode where Humdinger functions as substitute mayor in Adventure Bay while its actual mayor, Goodway, is away. Humdinger orders a restaurant owner to sell spinach yoghurt, and when he doesn't comply, tickets him. Similarly, he forces people to wear the same hat and mustache as him. No one disputes the legality of a mayor issuing orders like this; the only issue is that Goodway didn't actually appoint Humdinger substitute.
• Even aside from Humdinger, Goodway rarely seems to make good decisions for their constituents. When a massive cache of gold is discovered in Adventure Bay, Goodway uses it to build a statue of her pet chicken.
  
• This isn't just Adventure Bay; when Humdinger becomes mayor of Adventure City in the movie, he can force through massive construction projects seemingly overnight without being gainsayed.
  

Another thing to note is that ten-year-olds have an unusual degree of autonomy in this world. Ryder, of course, has a gigantic high-tech facility from which he manages a massive rescue operation, but it's not just him. Katie, who seems to be about the same age, owns her own pet-grooming business. The recurring characters also include Carlos, a ten-year-old exploring the jungle on his own (he's possibly an archaeologist); Ace Sorensen, a teenage professional stunt pilot; "Daring" Danny X, a ten-year-old daredevil; and Sid Swashbuckle, a teenage pirate captain. None of these characters have parents that we ever see or even hear about. It seems to be perfectly legal for ten-year-old humans (and puppies) to drive motor vehicles.

Lastly, there's the thing that strikes any parent forced to watch PAW Patrol: adults are stupid.

truly an epic cake

Really stupid. Adults are stymied by the simplest of problems... that can only be solved a ten-year-old boy and his array of pups. One of my favorite episodes is "Pups Save Jake's Cake"; two adults prepare a birthday cake for their friend Jake. They accidentally make the cake so large it doesn't fit into the delivery van. By like several feet. Whoops. But on top of that, their back-up plan is to carry this gigantic cake up a mountain by hand, just the two of them. It turns out, surprise, that it's too heavy. How could anyone be this stupid? But here, adults turn over their entire public safety department to a ten-year-old boy and his six puppies.

(We're not even going to get into other oddities of the PAW Patrol world, like magic pearls in "Pup-lantis," aliens who visit the Earth regularly, ancient monkey civilizations, and the fact that if you cut through the ground on a peninsula, it will float away.)

So, this isn't going to be one of fan theories where I carefully assemble evidence until I build up to some kind of logical conclusion. No, this is going to be one of those fan theories where I just give you my theory and insist it explains all the evidence.

The World of PAW Patrol Is Set after the Apocalypse

Think about it. This explains:

• The weird geography. Clearly a nuclear exchange shifted the Earth's axis and altered its climate. The South Pole is now close to the United States; different climatic zones are found in close proximity.
• The weird governments. Clearly centralized authority has collapsed. Individual communities are ruled by self-appointed dictators who call themselves "mayors." If you claim a cave and call it "Foggy Bottom" and say you're mayor, who can oppose you? If as mayor, you give an order, it is to be obeyed: this is a return to the absolute power of the feudal era.
  
• The talking animals. Anyone who has seen Planet of the Apes or read Kamandi knows that after the apocalypse, animals will arise to sapience, whether it be through mutation induced by nuclear radiation or some kind of virus. (Actually, this one would explain the monkey civilization.)
  
• The stupid adults. If it is a virus that makes animals smart enough to talk, perhaps it is also a virus that makes adults stupid. (Shades of the original Star Trek episode "Miri" here, where a virus lets kids live for centuries, but die as soon as they hit puberty.) Thus kids, especially intelligent ones, take on an unusual degree of autonomy.
  

This adds some pathos to the series. Only Ryder can save Adventure Bay from the stupidity of its adults... but with each passing year, he knows the time is coming where he too will succumb, and end up as stupid as Cap'n Turbot. Who will save Adventure Bay then? 

"My day, too, shall come..."

* The weird part of this is that we also learn Adventure City has obedience schools for dogs, which seems very disturbing if dogs are sapient.

† There is one single exception in nine seasons: a sheep-herding dog with a brief, non-speaking cameo. But surely there are other dogs in Adventure Bay: who is Katie's clientele at the Pet Parlor? who goes to the dog park?

‡ I am aware that a talking cat appears in season seven, but I haven't seen that one yet, since seasons seven-plus haven't debuted on Paramount+ yet.

§ Let's not even get into the existence of a Lost Worldesque hidden realm of dinosaurs, apparently accessible via a tunnel under a mountain near Adventure Bay. 

‖ The episode "Pups Save a Basketball Game" has Foggy Bottom fielding a kids' basketball team, but these are literally the only Foggy Bottom residents other than the Humdingers we see in six seasons.