Leonard Helperman

Leonard Amadeus Helperman is Spot's bashful human owner and best friend and the deuteragonist of the series Teacher's Pet and the 2004 film. He isn't very popular at school because his mother is the teacher, and is often ridiculed and taunted for embarrassment. He knows of Spot's charade and, while wishes he would remain his dog at home, he allows him to continue his alias as his school friend.
==Background==
===Personality===
Leonard is known to be very insecure of himself because his mother is the teacher, resulting in him being unsuccessful and mocked. Leonard is normally kind, warm-hearted, moralistic, and caring but can also be negative all the time because of Spot's amazing plans often getting him in trouble, though Spot always manages to save him from the consequences by the end of the episode. He gets really annoyed by Spot's actions, despite being best friends, but they always reconcile in the end when they get mad at each other.
Leonard is shown to be very intelligent in his own right, but unlike Spot, does not flaunt it very often, mostly due to his mother. When he is given the opportunity to do this, Leonard is seen as a well-accomplished student. Ironically, this causes the other students to dislike him as they prefer Leonard being just a non-descriptive kid. However, Leonard is very accepting towards this and resumes just being another face in the crowd.
===Physical appearance===
Leonard is a youthful, chubby, well-meaning young boy of 10 years, with short red hair and has a very pale/white skin color. His cheeks and his hot dog-like nose are both brushed blue, while the "whites" of his eyes are also blue, but with black line pupils. His outfit is a dark blue sweater with red stripes, khaki shorts and blue shoes.
Whenever he is with the scouts, Leonard wears dark brown shorts and shoes, along with a green uniform and purple sash, accompanied by an orange cone had with moose antlers on them.
==History==
===Teacher's Pet===
Leonard gets picked on because his mother is the teacher, since the kids believe it gives him an unfair advantage. On his first day of 4th grade, he meets the new kid in class, Scott Leadready and is jealous when he becomes popular. Leonard finds out that the new kid is actually his pet dog, Spot in disguise. After Spot begs him to do so, Leonard decides to have Spot continue his double life as his classmate and closest friend.
===Movie===
At the end of the school year, Leonard's mother has been nominated for the teacher of the year and has to compete in the final round in Florida. Principal Strickler lends the Helpermans his RV, as long as they do never let any dogs in it, which means that the pets can't come with them. Spot feels terrible that he can't go on vacation with Leonard, but Leonard assures him they'll hang out all summer long when he comes back. Miles away from home, Leonard sees that Spot has followed them. While happy to see Spot, Leonard remembers what Strickler explained about no dogs in the RV.
Luckily, Spot dresses up as Scott Leadready and convinces Leonard's mother to take him to Florida with them (while also dressed as Scott's "relatives"). When they arrive in Florida, Spot reveals that he only came to Florida to see a scientist named, Dr. Krank who claims he can turn animals into human beings. Spot begs Leonard to help him find Krank, hoping that this is his chance to become a human boy. Leonard and Spot arrive at Dr. Krank's lab, who is trying to destroy his transformation machine after another failed experiment. Spot tells the scientist that the subject he needs to change into a human is a mammal.
Using Spot as his newest subject, Krank transforms Spot into a human, much to Leonard's dismay. Spot is changed into a human, but he isn't changed into a boy as expected, since he's long past his doghood, he's changed into a full-grown man (his age in dog years). Wanting to use Spot as proof of his "genius", Krank traps Leonard and Spot in his lab. Luckily, his nephew, Ian manages to save them in exchange for a gooey chew toy. The boys get hungry and realize that Spot needs new clothes that fit his new man body. They manage to find a lost dog and her puppies, with the owners rewarding them with five hundred dollars.
Spot buys a new suit and rents a fancy car. When they meet Mrs. Helperman back at the RV park (with Spot passing himself off as another teacher), she begins to fall for Scott which makes Leonard furious because he does never want Spot to become his stepfather and tells Spot to leave. Saddened that Leonard would kick him out, Spot sadly walks away and leaves. The next day, Leonard meets his other pets when they arrive and decides to have Krank turn him into a dog to be with Spot again. But, when he gets there, he realizes he has been tricked and he is going to be used as a bait to lure Spot and then Krank will have the man and the dog.
Leonard's pets arrive just in time to stop Krank from harming their master. When Spot causes the machine to go haywire, he stands in front of the machine to change back into a dog. The machine zaps him, but changes him into a pile of blue dust. Angered and certain that his best friends is dead, Leonard kicks the machine and it reactivates, changing Spot back into a dog. Declaring himself to be proud of being a dog, Spot and Leonard both reconcile. Leonard and the pets go to the awards ceremony to congratulate Leonard's mother, who has won.
The pets are wondering how they're supposed to get home without Mrs. Helperman seeing them, but luckily, Spot has a plan. Disguising himself as Scott Leadready again, he convinces the Helpermans to drive him home, while Pretty Boy and Jolly hang onto the RV's ladder as they drive back home.
==Relationships==
===Spot Helperman===
Spot is Leonard's best friend and "bunkmate" at home. The two of them have been tight since they were much younger and it is shown that Leonard deeply cares for him. However, following the revelation that Spot can talk and wants to go to school, Leonard begins to see him in a different light. While still friends, Leonard's relationship with him becomes awkward and unusual with Spot trying to get Leonard out of his comfort zone all the time. This causes Leonard to get angry or combative with him and leads to conflict. However, Leonard does appreciate Spot's efforts to help him and he tends to forgive him when he sets things right. At times, Leonard becomes envious of Spot's far superior intellect and abilities, which makes him all the more gleeful when he accomplishes something to Spot's detriment. However, Leonard will return the favor to Spot and goes out of his way to help him when he has conflict of his own.
===Pretty Boy and Mr. Jolly===
Leonard loves his cat and bird just as much as he loves his dog. He always turns to them for help when he needs them the most. He doesn't appreciate it when they are in danger such as Tallulah trying to harm them and eat Pretty Boy or when Jolly is in a stone funk. In the movie, when Leonard missed having Spot and was holding a grudge at him, Jolly and Pretty Boy arrived on the scene and Leonard was like "oh it's you". Pretty Boy was mad about this and they decided to leave but Leonard quickly apologized and was glad that they were in Florida and he never needed anyone more. Overall, Leonard has a great friendship with his three pets.
===Mary Lou Helperman===
Like most children and their relationship with a parent, Leonard is always embarrassed by his mother, not just for her constant show of affection, but also because she is the teacher of his fourth grade class and is always giving him attention when he does not want any. While he is always embarrassed by her, he does love her and at times seems to be protective of her due to him not having a father. He always sees her as a happy-go-lucky person, but in "A Dog for All Seasons", he begins to appreciate and respect her more when he sees her getting frustrated and angry for the first time, calling her "human".
===Leslie Dunkling===
Leonard has a huge crush on Leslie, his next door neighbor. While it is not known how long he has harbored feelings for her, they have known each other long enough for Leslie to acknowledge him, though she seems more fascinated with his dog Spot. The two of them are mostly on good terms, though sometimes Leonard finds himself getting vilified by her whenever he is caught in a bad situation. Luckily, by the end of the episode, Spot will have salvaged Leonard's reputation with Leslie apologizing for not believing him earlier. For a long time, it seemed that Leonard's crush on Leslie was one-sided, however in "Double Dog Dare", Leonard is relieved to discover that Leslie is well-aware that he has a crush on her, though she seems more amused by it. Nevertheless, this gave Leonard hope that Leslie has reciprocated his feelings.
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*Leonard and Spot are the only characters to be in every episode.
*Despite the show's premise of Leonard being seen as a teacher's pet because his mother is the teacher, this barely factors into the show, with it only being directly mentioned in the first two episodes. After that, Leonard's only concern is to simply fade into the back.
*The name Helperman is Jewish, so it can be assumed that Leonard is Jewish. However, this has not been confirmed. He is most likely Jewish on his disappeared father's side. But in the show, he celebrates Christmas instead of Hanukkah. However, some Jews (due to their partial faith) celebrate both holidays so he might celebrate Hanukkah.
==External links==
*Leonard Helperman on the Teacher's Pet Wiki
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