Santa's Little Helper realistic dilemma faced by many families who own dogs. Other episode ideas come from popular culture. For example, Santa's Little Helper fathering 25 puppies in "Two Dozen and One Greyhounds" is a parody of the Disney film "One Hundred and One Dalmatians", and Mr. Burns' technique of brainwashing him into an attack dog in "Dog of Death" parodies "A Clockwork Orange". Susan McHugh, who teaches theories of animals, literature, and culture at the University of New England, wrote in her 2004 book "Dog" that, "remaining loyal to his unlikely saviours, the boy Bart and his father Homer, this greyhound has
Bart's Dog Gets an "F" shorts, the characters spun off into their own half-hour prime-time show on the Fox network named "The Simpsons". Matt Groening, the series' creator, wanted Ullman to make a guest appearance in one of the shorts, but was told that she was too busy with the rest of "The Tracey Ullman Show". When her show was canceled in 1990, Ullman agreed to do a guest appearance on "The Simpsons" after being asked by Groening once again. The animal noises for the episode, including those by Santa's Little Helper, were performed by Frank Welker. It was the first "The Simpsons" episode Welker