Santa's Little Helper the dog was a "sympathetic" character. Welker has been praised by staff members for his performances on the show. David Mirkin has noted that "he can do anything, and it fits perfectly. You forget you're listening to a guy, and he's a pleasure to work with." Groening has commented that he was "unbelievably good" at doing animal noises. After 1995, Castellaneta voiced Santa's Little Helper on his own while Welker performed other animal noises until his full departure in 2002, when he was denied a pay raise. In the "questions and answers" section on his website, Welker revealed that the
Dogtown (The Simpsons) Dogtown (The Simpsons) "Dogtown" is the twenty-second episode and season finale of the twenty-eighth season of the animated television series "The Simpsons", and the 618th episode of the series overall. It aired in the United States on Fox on May 21, 2017. This was the last of "The Simpsons" to be scored by composer Alf Clausen, who had scored the show since 1990 before being fired in August 2017. Homer is driving in his usual manner and style (ineptly and recklessly) when he carelessly drives into an alleyway, with no room to maneuver and faulty brakes, where Santa's Little Helper