Santa's Little Helper reason he stopped performing as Santa's Little Helper was because "The producers thought... 'Hmmm, Dan barks pretty good, and we are already paying him and he seems to like doing the dog thing... why do we need to pay Welker who comes in here, spends less than an hour, eats all the doughnuts, refuses to come to rehearsals... let's just give the damn dog to Dan!'" Santa's Little Helper has become a well-known dog because of his appearances in the series. A writer for "The Grand Rapids Press" wrote in 2002 that "we all know who Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa
Santa's Little Helper (film) Santa’s Little Helper, but Eleanor, using an obscure North Pole law, challenges him to the position with the winner being decided through a rigorous obstacle course. Dax loses and Eleanor is named Santa’s Little Helper. Dax returns home, having stolen a magic bell that can make wishes come true and plans to use it to save the Youth Center. Santa intercedes and halts his attempts at using magic, so Dax gives a rousing speech to rally the community and save the Youth Center from a wrecking ball and capture the director who really stole the money from it. Santa places