Santa's Little Helper prompted satires of contemporary dog culture, from Barbara Woodhouse's authoritarian training methods [in "Bart's Dog Gets an F"] to Lassie's flawless service to the status quo [in "The Canine Mutiny"]." Although cast member Dan Castellaneta occasionally voiced Santa's Little Helper for bit parts, American voice artist Frank Welker most often provided the sounds of the dog and other animals on the show from "Bart's Dog Gets an F", which aired on March 7, 1991, to "Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily", which aired on October 1, 1995. He said on his official website in 2007 that he liked portraying Santa's Little Helper because
Brother's Little Helper Meyer and directed by director Mark Kirkland. It was first broadcast on the Fox network in the United States on October 3, 1999. After the season 5 episode "Bart's Inner Child", Meyer got "a little burned out on writing scripts", so he wrote "Brother's Little Helper" in order to "try [his] hand again". While writing the episode, Meyer was going through "some psychological problems" and found the episode very difficult to write. He was initially so dissatisfied with the first draft that he turned it in with a pseudonym; Vance Jericho. Co-producer Tim Long jokingly commented that the script was