Barkley

Barkley is a full-bodied Muppet dog who appears on Sesame Street. Originally called Woof Woof when he made his debut in Episode 1177, he was named Barkley by the residents of Sesame Street in the premiere episode of the show's 10th season.
Barkley is energetic and playful, but is not anthropomorphized in the way that Rowlf and other characters are. While he may exhibit human-like emotions, he communicates only through barks, yelps, and physical contact.
Barkley was initially a stray dog, frequenting Sesame Street from time to time, and, as noted in Episode 2156, even had another name on a different street block: Dudley. As such, his care typically fell to many of the neighborhood residents (David declares in Episode 1596, "Barkley is as much my dog as anybody's dog, right?").
Eventually, he became Linda's pet (in Episode 2259) and understood the American Sign Language signs for "sit" and "stay." However, Barkley also had a close relationship with Big Bird. Indeed, in the 1993 book Imagine... Big Bird Meets Santa Claus, the large bird refers to Barkley as his dog. The book A Bird's Best Friend shows that Granny Bird brought Barkley as a puppy for a present for Big Bird. Although Linda has since moved on from Sesame Street, Barkley has remained, presumably becoming a ward of the community as a whole once again.
Barkley's appearances in television specials include the 1978 A Special Sesame Street Christmas and the 1979 A Walking Tour of Sesame Street. More prominently, he accompanied Big Bird on his trips to China in 1982 and Japan in 1988. He also appeared with the Muppets en masse on Night of 100 Stars. Additionally, from Season 12 (1980) through Season 23 (1992), the Sesame Street closing credits featured Barkley running through a park with the Kids.
After Season 33, Barkley ceased to be a regular character, but was still occasionally seen in new material. His most recent appearances on the show include cameos in "Riding My Tricycle," Elmo's World: Cats, and Episode 4214, with more prominent appearances in the premiere episode of season 40, and in Episode 4310. He has since been seen in animated form, including a "Monster Meditation" video . According to writer Jennifer Capra, Barkley had not been seen on the show for some years because the puppet is in need of refurbishment.@genxistentialcrisis on TikTok July 1, 2021 In 2024, Barkley made his first appearance in over a decade in a social media video with Maxine the Fluffy Corgi.
==Behind the Scenes==
The creation of Barkley traces to the early months of 1978,Falk, Karen. Imagination Illustrated. p. 114; Jim Henson's journal notes "Jan/Feb: Barkley - the Dog is being developed for Sesame Street - with Toby Towson" when Jim Henson and Michael K. Frith were tasked with developing ideas for new Muppet characters to reinvigorate Sesame Street for its upcoming tenth season.Fraggle Rock: Complete Third Season bonus feature "How the Trash Heap Came to Be" One of Frith's rejected character pitches, a living pile of trash that acted as a font of knowledge, would later become Marjory the Trash Heap for Fraggle Rock. Original performer Toby Towson claimed, in a 2003 Wikipedia edit, that the full-bodied puppet character was initially conceived as an acrobatic ape, but was ultimately revised to a large furry dog. Barkley's (née Woof-Woof's) debut appearances occurred at the tail end of season 9, in episodes 1177 and 1184; taped in early March 1978 and airing two months later.
According to Sesame Street: A Celebration - 40 Years of Life on the Street, the writers had created the character as a pretty savvy canine who knew how to count and had an almost human intelligence, but performer Brian Muehl thought that he should be portrayed like a regular dog.Gikow, Louise Sesame Street: A Celebration - 40 Years of Life on the Street pages 92-93 Muehl took over performing Barkley about half-way through season 10 (beginning in Episode 1247) and was his favorite character to perform, along with Telly Monster. In Muehl's words, the large canine "was the apogee of my mime roots and was pure visual puppetry."Personal communication with Brian Muehl, c. 2013. 
While inside Barkley, the performer wears stilts on both arms. In order to make his mouth move, the performer must pull a trigger on one of its stilts to close the mouth, and tilt his head to make it open.
==Notes==
*According to episodes 1250, 1659, and 3444, Barkley's breed is a sheepdog.
*In Episode 2395, Elmo has a new pet fish that he names Barkley.
*Beginning in season 21, Bryant Young would alternate with Fred Garbo in performing Barkley.season 22 spreadsheet
*Barkley is depicted on the emblem of Grover's dog walker hat and outfit in Episode 4919.
==Filmography==
*A Special Sesame Street Christmas
*A Walking Tour of Sesame Street
*1982 Daytime Emmy Awards
*Big Bird in China
*Follow That Bird
*The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years
*Sesame Street, Special
*Big Bird in Japan
*Sesame Street: 20 and Still Counting
*Sesame Street Jam: A Musical Celebration
*Get Up and Dance
===Episodic appearances===
*Season 9: 1177, 1184
*Season 10: 1186, 1187, 1189, 1192, 1193, 1195, 1202, 1209, 1211, 1212, 1213, 1220, 1225, 1228, 1230, 1247, 1250, 1251, 1257, 1260, 1265, 1276, 1279, 1281, 1283, 1291, 1294, 1296, 1304, 1309, 1311
*Season 11: 1322, 1323, 1325, 1326, 1327, 1329, 1330, 1331, 1333, 1335, 1336, 1337, 1338, 1341, 1343, 1345, 1357, 1361, 1365, 1367, 1398, 1406, 1407, 1409, 1413, 1414, 1416, 1420, 1421, 1422, 1423, 1424, 1430, 1433, 1437, 1445
*Season 12: 1447, 1448, 1449, 1460, 1462, 1466, 1468, 1469, 1481, 1487, 1488, 1493, 1498, 1503, 1531, 1532, 1536, 1543, 1551, 1553, 1554, 1555, 1556, 1569
*Season 13: 1587, 1596, 1602, 1608, 1621, 1654, 1659, 1676, 1679, 1690, 1692, 1693, 1698, 1705
*Season 14: 1711, 1719, 1720, 1771, 1772, 1775, 1781, 1786, 1796, 1797, 1799, 1805, 1807, 1815, 1818, 1820, 1827, 1829
*Season 15: 1839, 1842, 1845, 1846, 1849, 1860, 1861, 1862, 1870, 1873, 1902, 1910, 1948, 1956, 1958
*Season 16: 2015, 2017, 2019, 2034, 2079, 2095
*Season 17: 2123, 2127, 2128, 2131, 2139, 2142, 2146, 2150, 2156, 2157, 2181, 2193, 2210, 2214, 2224
*Season 18: 2226, 2255, 2256, 2259, 2288, 2289, 2293, 2295, 2299, 2300, 2302, 2306, 2311, 2312, 2324, 2325, 2343
*Season 19: 2392, 2398, 2412, 2429, 2436, 2440, 2441, 2446, 2455, 2464, 2474
*Season 20: 2489, 2493, 2495, 2523, 2524, 2527, 2531, 2539, 2542, 2554, 2568, 2577, 2583, 2599
*Season 21: 2616, 2617, 2619, 2620, 2622, 2659, 2716, 2728, 2735, 2741, 2742
*Season 22: 2805, 2813, 2828, 2833, 2851, 2857, 2862, 2873
*Season 23: 2877, 2924, 2930, 2931, 2939, 2940, 2945, 2959, 2961, 2968, 2969, 2978, 2989, 3003
*Season 24: 3013, 3053, 3082, 3111, 3130
*Season 25: 3152, 3157, 3209, 3232, 3238, 3241, 3245, 3247, 3265
*Season 26: 3266, 3322, 3371
*Season 27: 3396, 3426, 3444, 3474, 3495, 3505, 3515
*Season 28: 3588, 3590, 3593
*Season 29: 3656, 3687, 3664, 3711, 3716, 3734, 3746, 3767, 3779
*Season 30: 3798, 3816, 3822, 3826, 3831, 3848
*Season 31: 3852, 3855, 3857, 3865, 3879
*Season 32: 3918, 3922, 3942, 3951
*Season 33: 4017, 4018
*Season 40: 4187
*Season 41: 4214
*Season 43: 4310
==Book appearances==
* Going Up! (1980)
* I Like School (1980)
* The Sesame Street Storybook Alphabet (1980)
* Frazzle's Fantastic Day (1980)
* I Can Do It Myself (1980)
* The Sesame Street Dictionary (1980)
* The Tool Box Book (1980)
* What Did You Bring? (1980)
* A Day in the Life of Oscar the Grouch (1981)
* I Have a Friend (1981)
* Put & Play Magic Show (1981)
* The Sesame Street Circus of Opposites (1981)
* What Do You Do? (1981)
* Which One Doesn't Belong? (1981)
* Big and Little Stories (1982)
* City (1982)
* More Who's Who on Sesame Street (1982)
* Seasons of the Year (1982)
* Sesame Street Finding Out Encyclopedia 4: The D Book (1982)
* Sesame Street Finding Out Encyclopedia 10: The PQ Book (1982)
* Sesame Street Finding Out Encyclopedia 13: The T Book (1982)
* Bert's Big Band Paint-with-Water Book (1983 reprint)
* Big Bird in China (1983)
* Puppy Love (1983)
* Big Bird's Copycat Day (1984)
* I Think That It Is Wonderful (1984)
* Big Bird Says... A Game to Read and Play (1985)
* Grover's Book of Cute Little Words (1985)
* Look What I Can Do (1985)
* ABC (1986)
* A My Name Is Annabel (1986)
* A Bird's Best Friend (1986)
* Baby Animals on the Farm (1986)
* Sesame Street ABC (1986)
* Through the Year (1986)
* Big Bird's Busy Day (1987)
* A Birthday Surprise (1987)
* Shape Up! (1987)
* Big Bird's Square Meal (1988)
* Mine! (1988)
* The Sesame Street ABC Book of Words (1988)
* A My Name Is Alice (1989)
* Alice's First Words (1989)
* Great Monsterpieces (1989)
* New Words (1989)
* Things That Go (1989)
* Grover's Bad Dream (1990)
* Museum of Monster Art (1990)
* Sesame Street 123 (1991)
* Feeling Fit: Postcards to Color and Send (1992)
* I Want to Be a Veterinarian (1992)
* Mini-Boxes to Color & Share (1992)
* The Sesame Street Book of Poetry (1992)
* We're Different, We're the Same (1992)
* Sesame Street's Mother Goose Rhymes (1993)
* Big Bird's Animal Game (1993)
* Imagine... Big Bird Meets Santa Claus (1993)
* Elmo's Christmas (1993)
* Around the Corner on Sesame Street (1994)
* Elmo's Big Lift-and-Look Book (1994)
* Rosita's Calico Cat (1994)
* Elmo's Lift-and-Peek Around the Corner Book (1996)
* K Is for Kisses! (1996)
* Rise and Shine! (1996; reworked as Up, Up, Up! in 2011)
* Zoe and the Runaway Ball (1996)
* Sesame Street Lift-and-Peek Party! (1998)
* Where Is Elmo's Blanket? (1999)
* Spooky Sleep-out (2001)
* Clap Your Hands! (2002)
* Look and Find Elmo (2002)
* Elmo Pops In! (2003)
* Elmo's Music (2004)
* Animal Alphabet (2005)
* Be Polite (2006)
* Let's Share (2006)
* My First Book About Dogs (2006)
* Abby Cadabby's Rhyme Time (2007)
* Rosita's Easter on Sesame Street (2007)
* I Can Do It! (2008)
* Storybook ABCs (2008)
* Count to 10 (2009)
* Love, Elmo (2009)
* What's Different? (2009)
* Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood? (2009)
* Elmo Doodle Dandy (2011)
* Sesame Street 2024 comic book
** Issue 1: Grover Lends a Hand
==Sources==
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Category:Sesame Street Muppet Characters
Category:Sesame Street Characters
Category:Muppet Characters
Category:Full-Bodied Muppets
Category:Pets