Homer becomes very fond and appreciative of Snowball II and very cold towards Santa's Little Helper, whom he labels a coward for leaving him for dead.
This gets the attention of Duff Beer, who announce that Duffman will be replaced with Santa's Little Helper, as their new mascot, Suds McDuff.
However, this prompts Santa's Little Helper's original sleazy owner and racing trainer (from the first episode) to visit the Simpsons and prove that he owns the dog by showing the interview footage of Homer disowning him.
The family manage to find Duffman, figuring that if they can get him to replace Suds as the Duff mascot, they can get their dog back.
[3] Colin Jacobson of DVD Movie Guide liked the jokes and the return of the original owner of Santa's Little Helper.
However, he thought the references to Spuds McKenzie were dated since the advertising character had not appeared in over a decade by the time the episode aired.
[2] On Four Finger Discount, Brendan Dando liked the episode and called Homer's anger at the dog to be justified while Guy Davis thought it was "okay in the middle" and was neither good nor bad.