TV's The Simpsons family own a greyhound named Santa's Little Helper.

Santa's Little Helper is a recurring character in the American animated television series The Simpsons.

Santa's Little Helper has since appeared frequently on The Simpsons and the plots of many episodes center around him.

Some of the episodes that focus on Santa's Little Helper have been inspired by popular culture or real experiences that staff members of the show have gone through.

Although animals in cartoons often have human traits, Santa's Little Helper generally acts like a real life dog.

Santa's Little Helper has become a popular character following his appearances on The Simpsons.

Santa's Little Helper is a fictional greyhound that appears on the animated television series The Simpsons and is the pet dog of the Simpson family.

Although Homer has inside information on which dog is the most likely to win, he instead bets on a last-minute entry, Santa's Little Helper, believing the dog's Christmas-inspired name to be a sign.

When Bart and Homer return home, Santa's Little Helper is assumed by the rest of the family to be a Christmas present.

In various episodes, Santa's Little Helper can be seen chewing on newspapers and other objects in the Simpsons ' household, destroying furniture, and digging holes in the backyard.

Santa's Little Helper does not do well there as Bart is unwilling to use a choke chain suggested by the instructor.

The night before the final exam, Bart and Santa's Little Helper play, thinking it will be their last few hours together.

Santa's Little Helper has fathered several puppies.

Santa's Little Helper sires another litter of puppies with Dr. Hibbert's poodle in the episode " Today I Am a Clown " ( season 15, 2003 ).

Santa's Little Helper ends up in the possession of Mr. Burns, who trains him to become a vicious attack dog.

Several days later, Bart stumbles upon the trained Santa's Little Helper and is attacked, but the greyhound eventually recognizes his old friend and stops.

Laddie learns many tricks that Santa's Little Helper is completely unable to perform, and the Simpson family nearly forgets about their old pet.

Bart eventually gives Santa's Little Helper away instead of Laddie when repo men take back everything he fraudulently purchased.

Feeling guilty about this disloyalty and bored with his too perfect new dog, Bart tries to get Santa's Little Helper back.

When he finally finds him, Santa's Little Helper is serving as a seeing-eye dog for a blind man, but eventually decides to return to the family.

In " Stop or My Dog Will Shoot " ( season 18, 2007 ), Santa's Little Helper becomes a local hero after finding a lost Homer, and the Simpsons decide to enroll him in the Animal Police Academy.

" ( season 22, 2010 ), after Santa's Little Helper devours a pigeon with a broken leg that Bart was nursing, Bart gets mad at the dog and is unable to forgive him.

The Simpsons therefore give Santa's Little Helper away to an ostrich farm.

After remembering that he was told that it is wrong to kill birds, Santa's Little Helper ceases to aid Bart in the fight, confused at his own loyalty ( for Bart's sake or his orders ) leaving Bart to strangle the ostrich to death.

Bart then realizes that Santa's Little Helper could not help killing the pigeon and apologizes.

However, this prompts Santa's Little Helper's original sleazy owner and racing trainer to visit the Simpsons and prove that he is the owner of the dog.

* Santa's Little Helper's profile at TheSimpsons. com

A badger takes up residence in Santa's Little Helper's doghouse.

However, this prompts Santa's Little Helper's original sleazy owner and racing trainer ( from " Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire ") to visit the Simpsons and prove that he owns the dog by showing the interview footage of Homer disowning Santa's Little Helper.

He tries to sleep in Santa's Little Helper's kennel, but ends up getting its doorway stuck to his head and spends the rest of the night trying to get it off.

Noticing that Santa's Little Helper is gone, the family begins to bond with Laddie, except for Bart, who fears for Santa's Little Helper's fate.

Homer and the kids go on a quest to find Marge and they stop and stay with their " country cousins " ( their dog is Santa's Little Helper's brother ).

Since his first appearance on The Simpsons, Santa's Little Helper has appeared in merchandise relating to the show.

When Goku was asked what Composite Santa's powers were, he said he did not know but its appearance freaked him out.

" The name " Santa's Little Helper " was chosen because, according to writer Al Jean in the same TV Guide article, " we needed a name that would inspire Homer to bet on him, an omen, a Christmas name since he was betting on Christmas Eve.

" He also said in 2003 that the staff enjoyed the first episodes that centered on Santa's Little Helper, particularly " Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire ", which is the reason that more episodes about him were written.

As a result, Santa's Little Helper is depicted in this way on the show.

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 the dog was a " sympathetic " character.

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 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 also appeared in issues of Simpsons Comics, in the 2007 film The Simpsons Movie, and in video games based on The Simpsons such as Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror and The Simpsons Game.

Santa's Little Helper has made an impact on real life in that an espresso-based drink has been named after him at the award-winning restaurant and bar Bambara in Salt Lake City's Hotel Monaco.

Santa's Candy Castle was the first building of the original Santa Claus Town to be re-opened to the public, when its doors opened on July 1, 2006.