Santa's Little Helper and is the center of the plots of several episodes. During the course of the show, he has fathered litters of puppies, passed obedience school, had surgery for bloat, replaced Duffman as the mascot for Duff Beer, and been trained as a police dog at Springfield's Animal Police Academy. Some of the episodes that focus on Santa's Little Helper have been inspired by popular culture or real experiences that staff members of the show have gone through. Although cartoon animals are often anthropomorphized, Santa's Little Helper generally exhibits canine behavior. Cast member Dan Castellaneta currently provides the dog's sounds on
Brother's Little Helper which Homer and Marge go to see. Homer says that, since taking Focusyn, Bart has gone "from Goofus to Gallant", a reference to the characters Goofus and Gallant from the children's magazine "Highlights". When Lou sketches Bart based on Homer and Marge's description he ends up drawing Dennis from the comic strip "Dennis the Menace". A shirt at the military base Fort Fragg reads "I Went to the Persian Gulf and All I Got Was This Lousy Syndrome", a reference to Gulf War syndrome. In its original American broadcast on October 3, 1999, "Brother's Little Helper" finished at no. 51