The Doofenshmirtz family lived in Gimmelshtump, and when they came across lean times, their beloved lawn gnome was repossessed. Since it was necessary to protect the zatzenfruit garden against "witches’ spells and wood trolls", his father dressed Heinz up as a gnome and forced him to stand watch for hours at a time during the day and night. Any time Heinz tried to move, such as when friends came by to play "Kick the Schtumpel", to eat Doonkleberries or to wave at his neighbor Kenny, his father was right there, yelling at him "Bewegen Sie nicht!" ("Don't move!").
At Heinz's birth, neither of his parents were present for the birth of their son. At five years old, Heinz threw his own birthday party at Gunther Goat Cheese's. His "closest friends" were there - the restaurant's animatronics: Count Wolfgang, Betty the She-Boar, Rat-Putin, and the Lice Twins, Olga and Chicago Joe. A restaurant employee in a Gunther Goat Cheese mascot costume arrives at Heinz's table, but, stunned at Heinz being the only one there, nonchalantly placed Heinz's Doonkelberry birthday cake on the table and left. He then shouted out to Heinz "Hey kid, lock up when you're done, 'kay!". At night, Heinz ran home with the cake in hands, and was attacked by a swarm of Doonkelberry bats, who naturally eat Doonkelberries.
When Heinz was younger, he performed magic tricks for the local kids. Heinz performed the pull-the-rabbit-out-of-the-hat trick, and instead of pulling out his rabbit companion, Bobo, he pulled out a skunk, which sprayed him. Next, he performed a card trick. A girl volunteered to pick one of Heinz's cards, while he blindfolded himself. When Heinz uncovered his blindfold, he appeared to be holding the same skunk, who sprayed him again. Yet again, another trick went wrong, and while Heinz shouted for someone to help him get out of some chains, the skunk came along and sprayed him once more.
Heinz watched his father come home with a brand new puppy that he won him in a game of "Poke the Goozim With a Stick". The puppy was named "Only Son", because it was like the son that Heinz's father never had. Only Son became a famous dog, which brought fame and fortune to the Doofenshmirtz family. After this, Heinz was still forced to be the lawn gnome.