Clifford's Puppy Days

***Clifford's Puppy Days*** is an American animated children's television series that originally aired on both PBS and PBS Kids from September 1, 2003 to February 25, 2006. A prequel to the original *Clifford the Big Red Dog*, it features the adventures of Clifford during his puppy days before he became a big red dog and before moving to Birdwell Island.

The series was cancelled in February 2006 following low ratings, with very few PBS stations re-running it afterwards. Since then, occasional reruns continue to air.

In the United Kingdom, the series aired on CBeebies from 2004 to early 2011 and like the original series, the prequel was dubbed with British voice actors, replacing the original American soundtrack.

Like its spin-off, it is closed captioned by the National Captioning Institute when seen on PBS Kids in the United States and on Kids CBC in Canada. But its major change is having proper titles of popular culture such as songs and movies being normal and surrounded by parenthesis instead of being italized like in VITAC's close captioning which is a first for a show that is close captioned by the National Captioning Institute and this change or rule is later used in future National Captioning Institute close captioned TV shows such as Sesame Street, WordGirl and Bug Bites.

## Setting

Set two years before the events of *Clifford the Big Red Dog*, the series focuses on when Clifford is a tiny red puppy, the runt of the litter in a litter of puppies given birth to by the pet dog of Emily Elizabeth's neighbor, Mr. Bradley (who appeared in an episode of the first cartoon series, "Little Clifford") and after he had been adopted by Emily Elizabeth and before he grew up into a giant red adult dog, forcing the Howards to move to Birdwell Island so Clifford would have plenty of room, the series shows Clifford and Emily Elizabeth's life and friends before they moved from the city to Birdwell Island and all of their adventures.

## Format

The series followed the same format as its predecessor, *Clifford the Big Red Dog*.

* The opening theme is followed by the first central story, which is about the dogs, and a problem they face.
* Storytime with Speckle – Between the first and second story, Emily Elizabeth reads Clifford the Speckle Story, a small 60-second (approximately) time filler about a fictional dog (Speckle) and his animal friends.
* This is followed by another central story about Emily Elizabeth and her friends.
* Clifford's Idea to Grow On – Before the credits, another 30-second short takes place called Clifford's Idea to Grow On. The short is basically an animation of an etiquette, a proverb, or basic truth such as "Play Fair", "Help Others", etc., with narration by Emily Elizabeth. This short was called Clifford's Big Idea in the previous series.

## Characters

### Humans

* Emily Elizabeth Howard (voiced by Grey DeLisle; Joanna Ruiz in the British version) – 8-year-old owner of Clifford and Daffodil.
* Nina Flores (voiced by Masiela Lusha) – owner of Jorge.
* Evan Thomas Taylor (voiced by Orlando Brown) – A boy who looks a few years older than Emily Elizabeth.
* Shun (voiced by Lauren Tom; Ben Small in the British version) – A young Japanese-American boy.
* Mr. Solomon (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer) – A wheelchair-bound writer. Flo and Zo are his two pet kittens. In the episodes "The Big, Big Present/Hanukkah Plunder Blunder," it is revealed that he, Flo, and Zo are Jewish.
* Mrs. Z (also voiced by Taylor) – An elderly Italian woman who was once in the circus, and Trixie's owner.
* Jenny (voiced by Dionne Quan) – A blind girl and Bebe's owner.

### Animals

* Clifford (voiced by Lara Jill Miller; Lizzie Waterworth in the British version as a puppy) – Dog owned by Emily Elizabeth.
* Daffodil (voiced by Kath Soucie) – A Holland Lop. In the first half of the series she was originally pink but her fur was changed to white in the second half.
* Flo and Zo (voiced by LaTonya Holmes and Ogie Banks, respectively) – Kittens who are brother and sister, They are owned by Mr. Solomon. In the episodes "The Big, Big Present/Hanukkah Plunder Blunder," it is revealed that they and Mr. Solomon are Jewish.
* The Sidarskis – A family of mice who live in the laundromat. They have five children, Lucy, Lewis, Sophie, Sid, and a new baby.
* Jorge/George (UK) (voiced by Jess Harnell; Benjamin Small in the British version) – A brown dachshund whoes owner is Nina.
* Bebe (voiced by Jill Talley) – A Golden Retriever Seeing-eye dog, She belongs to a blind girl named Jenny.
* Tricksie (voiced by Russi Taylor) – An elderly dog who once performed in the circus with her owner, Mrs. Z.
* Norville (voiced by Henry Winkler; Tom Eastwood in the British version) – A bird.
* Jack (voiced by Tara Strong) - A competitive puppy in a sandcastle contest, as he competes against Clifford and Jorge.

## Series overview

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## Episodes

### Specials (2004–2005)

 —
 One-hour Valentine's Special that includes two stories from *Clifford the Big Red Dog* ("T-Bone, Dog About Town" and "Mimi's Back in Town") and from *Clifford's Puppy Days* ("Valentines Schmalentines" and "Sweetheart's Dance").

## Broadcast

The series was first premiered on PBS Kids and Wii Kids (formerly known as WSRT (Wii Sports Resort Television)) on September 1, 2003. After the series' cancellation in 2006, the show aired reruns on very few PBS stations. However, it airs occasionally for particular events, such as Valentine's Day and Hanukkah, on the PBS Kids network, which is carried on many PBS member stations.

## Opening theme

The opening theme, "Love Makes Little Things Grow", was composed by Jared Faber and Emily Kapnek and performed by Freedom Bremner.