The Australian cartoon sensation Bluey first hit TV screens in 2018. After going viral in Oz on its release and subsequently being picked up by the BBC and Disney+, Bluey has attracted a devoted global audience in only a handful of years, and it’s certainly not hard to figure out why! This show packs clever Aussie humour with heart-melting family values and sentiments that teaches kids just as much as it entertains them.

However, some curious viewers have been left wondering: what type of dog breed is the show’s lead star, Bluey? We’ve picked apart the clues to bring you the answer, once and for all!

Bluey’s Breed

Bluey doesn’t exactly hide her true dog breed from her global audience. Her full name, Bluey Heeler, reveals quite cleverly that she’s a Blue Heeler, otherwise known as an Australian Cattle Dog. No wonder its US and UK audiences might not have seen a dog like Bluey in the wild!

Just like the real life dog breed, Bluey and her family come in a variety of shades and speckles. Bluey and her dad Bandit are, now quite obviously, Blue Heelers, while Bluey’s mum, Chilli, and sister, Bingo, are Red Heelers.

Heelers are known to come in a spectrum of colours, including red, brown, blue, black and grey. They can be solid, mottled or speckled (just like Bluey) and often have a patch over one eye (just like Bluey’s mum, Chilli!). However, all Heeler puppies are born white, before gaining their unique colour and patterns with age. Often, they have few white hairs scattering their coat, just like Bluey’s dad, Bandit does.

As an artful easter-egg, the show even references the breed’s alternate ‘Australian Cattle Dog’ name in some of Bluey’s family names, including her grandad, who is called Mort Cattle.

How does Bluey’s Personality Compare to Real Blue Heelers?

Real life Blue Heelers are super-energetic and playful dogs which require tons of exercise and playtime. From one look at the Bluey show, Bluey shares these traits to a T; always playing make-believe with her friends and family and constantly seeking the next thrill or adventure.

Real heelers are also curious dogs with a high level of intelligence. They’re smart and always alert to their surroundings (just look at their constantly alert, pointed ears), making them great protection dogs as well as the perfect family pet. Bluey is exactly the same - note her ears and awesome ability to pull off human feats like playing pass the parcel, or chatting on the phone with friends!

Blue Heelers are ultimately loyal and loving, despite being an absolute handful sometimes. Bluey ticks all of these boxes, adoring spending time with her family and friends, despite often having energy levels too eccentric for her parents to handle.

Bred to herd cattle and chase after bulls, these dogs are also wonderfully courageous, bold, tough and tenacious. Bluey shows off these traits in a few episodes (especially her bold, happy-go-lucky personality) but considering she’s still a childish, six year old pup, she might take some years to grow into some of the heavy-duty quirks of her breed.

Bluey is happy, helpful and fun-loving, just like her real life counterparts. She’s also a social butterfly with a big heart for her family, matching a real Blue Heeler’s temperment perfectly. Her enthusiasm for fun adventures and problem-solving skills are spot-on with true Blue Heelers, but her wisdom and crystal-clear imagination is more likely cartoon than realistic.

Why Kids and Parents Can’t Get Enough of Bluey

Despite being a kids’ show, many parents have found themselves enchanted by Bluey’s unique sense of humour, especially after realising the amount of cheeky adult jokes stuffed into every episode.

Tons of parents commend this show for its strong, female lead star; especially considering the show’s lead role was originally meant to be filled by a male pup, yet the creators decided to bring this hit cartoon straight into the 21st century with Bluey, a female dog, and her little sister, Bingo.

The show also packs valuable life lessons into every episode through countless playful situations, meaning it’s not just useless brain-rot; Bluey is educational as well as completely entertaining. And unlike some other cartoons, Bluey is ultra-modern, with plotlines about smartphones and modern tech interwoven with those about classic, old-school party games like pass the parcel and imagination-driven games.

But stealing the show for most adult viewers are the hilarious yet low-key parental jokes surrounding the hassle of raising such vibrant kids. Sometimes, raising energetic, fun-loving children doesn’t feel too dissimilar to raising a pack of restless puppies, after all!

Almost every parent can find themself relating to the hilarious Aussie humour in this show, such as Bluey’s dad Bandit, who struggles to use his smartphone while Bluey and Bingo can perform a full FaceTime chat with their dog pals, with no problems at all.

Why Choose a Blue Heeler to be the Star of the Show?

As well as blue heelers being a natural Australian icon, imbued with a pinch of national pride, the choice of using Blue Heelers to front the show comes with a heart-warming back story:

The show’s creator, Joe Brumm was working in children’s television in the UK, when the international success of Peppa Pig made him realise an Australian take would go down a treat, driving him to the drawing board to create a new Australian hero.

Joe told The Independent: “I really like Peppa Pig, and it was the top of the heap of those shows” in the UK, he says. “I really liked how it just told very simple, relatable stories about kids that had a real sense of being from the UK – so I wanted to do something that had a real sense of being from Oz.”

Alongside Blue Heelers being an Australian icon perfect for starring in an Australian cartoon, Joe in fact designed and named Bluey after his own childhood dog, who was a Blue Heeler. He’d originally drawn up an Australian Kelpie pup, based on the final dog he’d owned as a teen in his family home, but quickly decided that its colours paled in comparison to the exciting shades of Blue and Red Heelers, which spoke to the childish imagination far more than any other breed. And thus, Bluey was born.

This show may be intended for pre-schoolers, but with so much sentimental family value embedded in each episode, it’s no wonder Bluey has become a global hit! Even more heart-warmingly, this show is helping bring the Blue Heeler dog breed into the spotlight for perhaps the first time in the breed’s history, inspiring families across the world to adopt a Bluey of their own.