Dog of Death

"Dog of Death" is the 19th episode of The Simpsons 3rd season. It was first broadcast on the Fox network on March 12, 1992. In the episode, Santa's Little Helper gets ill. The Simpson family must find ways to pay for an operation for Santa's Little Helper.
The episode was written by John Swartzwelder. Jim Reardon is the director of the episode. The episode was made because writers of The Simpsons liked making stories with Santa's Little Helper. The episode got a Nielsen rating of 14.2. It had the best ratings on Fox for the week it was broadcast.
Story
People in the town of Springfield are very excited for the lottery. The Simpson family is so excited that they do not see that Santa's Little Helper is ill. Kent Brockman wins the lottery and gets $130 million. The family finds Santa's Little Helper and takes him to a hospital. They learn that he has a twisted stomach (GDV) and needs an operation for $750. Homer tells Bart and Lisa that they do not have enough money for the operation. However, he sees that Santa's Little Helper is loved, so he thinks of a way to get money for the operation.
To get money, The Simpson family must give up many things they like to do. Homer has to stop getting beer. Bart has to get hair cuts from a barber for free. Marge has to use food that is less quality and must stop getting lottery tickets. Lisa must stop getting parts of the book series she likes. Maggie has to have her old clothes fixed and not get new ones. After this, they get enough money for the operation.
The operation goes well and the Simpson family is happy to have Santa's Little Helper healthy. However, they start to get mad at him because of what they had to give up. Santa's Little Helper feels sad and runs away from their house. He is put in an animal shelter and adopted by Mr. Burns. Mr. Burns trains him to be an attack dog. Santa's Little Helper is brainwashed and is made an angry attack dog.
The Simpson family can not find Santa's Little Helper and starts to feel sad. Bart looks for him in many houses. He goes to Mr. Burns' mansion and sees him. Santa's Little Helper starts attacking Bart. However, Santa's Little Helper starts to think of happy times he had with Bart. He is then happy to see Bart and keeps him safe from Burns' other attack dogs. He goes back to the Simpson family and is shown love.
Production
The episode was written by John Swartzwelder. Jim Reardon is the director of the episode. Producers wanted to make another episode about Santa's Little Helper. They liked the ones they made before, for example, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". Reardon says that one of the hardest parts of making the episode is that Santa's Little Helper has to act like a real dog. Producers wanted to show animals act as how they do in real life and not show human features. The story of the episode is similar to an event with Swartzwelder's dog. The Gold Coast Bulletin said that the Simpson family's problem with the price of the operation is a "very real" problem. They said that many families do not help with simple health for their dogs.
Reception
The episode was first shown on the Fox network in the United States on March 12, 1992. It got better ratings than The Cosby Show. The Simpsons and The Cosby Show have been in a competition that started in the 2nd season. The episode got a Nielsen rating of 14.2. It had the best ratings on Fox for the week it was broadcast.
Mr. Burns brainwashing Santa's Little Helper references a part of the movie A Clockwork Orange. Nathan Ditum from Total Film thought that it is one of The Simpsons best references to movies. Colin Jacobson from DVD Movie Guide said it is "possibly the funniest Clockwork Orange parody I've ever seen". Nate Meyers from Digitally Obsessed thought that the reference is "brilliant".
Tom Adair from The Scotsman thought of it as a classic episode. Nate Meyers thought that fans would not like the episode as much as others. However, he said "there are enough laughs to keep the audience entertained." Colin Jacobson said the episode is a "terrific program" and talks about how the story makes the episode humorous. Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood (authors of I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide) loved many parts of the episode. They talked about Homer's dream of winning the lottery, the reference to A Clockwork Orange, and a parody of the phrase "No Animals Were Harmed".
Bill Gibron from DVD Verdict talked about many parts of the story and how they make the best events of The Simpsons. Nathan Rabin from The A.V. Club said that the part with Santa's Little Helper seeing Bart again was not as good as it could have been. He thinks that Santa's Little Helper is not made as good of a character as others.