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 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