I’m delighted to announce that Tim Austin and I have secured permission to create a brand new show based on the Caldecott Medal winning book “Officer Buckle and Gloria” by Peggy Rathmann.

I have been chomping at the bit to get the permission from the publishers so that I could start work on the show, which will premier during Child Safety Week.  It’s a brand new commission from the Bradford Safeguarding Children Board and our very first show adapted from a contemporary book.

Now we have the permission, I have to get cracking at a rapid pace on the central puppet character of “Gloria” the Police dog.  The big challenge is to make Gloria convincing as a normal, realistic dog while allowing her to stand upright and perform very undog-like gestures.

With this in mind, I thought the flexibility of foam rubber was the way to go both for the head and the body.  She will also need to be very light as there is a lot of jumping about involved.

I have seen very good puppet dogs and wolves made by other people that are similar to what I’m aiming for.  However, these have been operated by more than one puppeteer and this one needs to be operated by one puppeteer only.

I have a good idea of where I’m going with it, but it is a developing process.  I am making decisions about how to do things and what materials to use as I’m going along.

I shall be posting more photos of the making process for the show as it develops.

Click HERE for details of the performances

OFFICER BUCKLE AND GLORIA ©1995 by Peggy Rathmann.

First published in the United States by G. P. Putnam’s Sons. All rights

reserved. Used with permission