Panel 1: The plot, such as it is, gets kickstarted into motion when Elly gets frustrated and angry when BRUSH-BRUSH-BRUSHing Farley because there's debris in his fur.
Panel 2: She yells for Mike so as to ask him if he let Farley out into the ravine where he eventually dies again. Mike says that he did and asks what the problem with his brainless negligence is.
Panel 3: Elly tries to explain what the problem is by forcing him to look at the end result while pointing out that it'll take hours to brush the dirt and burrs out of his coat.
Panel 4: Elly is gobsmacked when she shouldn't be again when Mike says that this amazes him because dirt and burrs just plain fall offa his coat. This is because she should have pieced together the fact that her children are dimwits who are too stupid to know why they're driving her nuts years ago.
Summary: As one could expect, it's the blank-eyed stupidity of her children that causes the problem and it's the altar on which her need to show off and be praised is sacrificed on. Elly's constant mistake is assuming that her children are smart enough to understand what they're doing to drive her wacko-jacko.