Who Is Dougie in ‘Bluey’?

Bluey, the global hit kids’ show about an adorable blue heeler and her family, doesn’t just have a great cast of main characters. It also has a huge cast of bit characters. Like Dougie the cavapoo!

Dougie makes his debut in the season 3 episode “Turtleboy.” Here’s a rundown on Dougie’s deal, and why he’s such an important character.

Dougie in “Turtleboy”

In “Turtleboy,” Bluey’s little sister Bingo goes to the park with her dad, Bandit. Once there, Bingo spots an unbelievable treasure: a turtle plushy. Bingo happily plays with Turtleboy, but Bandit doesn’t let her take him home.

As soon as they leave, another kid shows up with his mom. Dougie discovers Turtleboy, too, and has just as much fun playing with him as Bingo does. The two take turns playing with Turtleboy for the rest of the episode, each having no idea that the other kid exists. Bingo and Dougie even hide Turtleboy from each other, fearful that the toy’s owner will eventually come back to the park and take him home.

There’s something distinctive about Dougie: he communicates by signing. His mother talks out loud to him, but also signs back. Dougie is Bluey’s first Deaf character, and speaks a language called Auslan, short for Australian Sign Language.

Bluey producer Sam Moor talked to Australian news network News.com.au about how the episode was made. “We worked extensively with Deaf Connect who introduced us to interpreters and kids from the deaf community to help us understand their language,” Moor said. “The designers and animators worked with deaf Auslan users to help get the correct hand shapes and signs to make the episode as accurate as possible. Because the characters only have four fingers, this made it a little tricky for some of the signs to be completely accurate.”

Has Dougie appeared in any other Bluey episodes?

To date, Dougie’s only appearance is in “Turtleboy.” However, the makers of Bluey have assured audiences around the world that there’s more Bluey to come now that season 3 has concluded, so maybe Dougie will return!

(featured image: Disney+)