Santa's Little Helper greyhound's lack of intelligence. In an article that compared "The Simpsons" to the animated series "Family Guy", Todd Camp of the "Fort Worth Star-Telegram" noted that "though Santa's Little Helper may be the only Simpson who's dumber than Homer, the Griffins' pooch <nowiki>[</nowiki>Brian Griffin<nowiki>]</nowiki> is the brainiest member of the household". In 1991, Copley News Service's Alison Ashton described Santa's Little Helper as a "sweet and stupid dog". Tom Coombe of "The Morning Call" wrote in 2002 that "fans of "The Simpsons" will tell you that the cartoon family's dog [...] is often dumb, disobedient and skittish. Fans of the
Brother's Little Helper of IGN posted a "flashback review" of "Brother's Little Helper". Canning, calling the episode "funny" and "a standout episode in this later season", was particularly fond of the episode's opening. However, he was less impressed with the third act of the episode, calling it "lackluster". He felt that the part involving Mark McGwire was "a silly cop out" and that it wasn't as funny as what was leading up to it. He also stated that he was put off by the writers wanting to come across a message. "It's not that I necessarily disagreed with this sentiment", Canning wrote, "but