One of the most celebrated dads in the recent years is Bandit Heeler, the animated Australian cattle dog more commonly known as Bluey’s dad. His presence, albeit on screen, made an indisputable impact among parents all around the world, thanks to Bluey creator Joe Brumm and voice actor Dave McCormack.

In an exclusive interview with Familist.ph, Dave shares how he and Bandit are different and alike in parenting, fatherhood, and beyond.

Would you believe Bandit is the first character Dave has ever voiced? He was quite hesitant to get the project at first as he has no voice acting background – only music and tv shows – but as they say, what’s meant for you will always find its way! Who better voice Bandit than a dad who walks in his shoes, as he also has two daughters about the age of Bluey and Bingo at the time the pilot episode came out!

Whenever he gets the scripts, Dave shares that he gets to see a slice of his reality with his daughters. The best part of the job he came to love is that he didn’t “have to change too much” to be Bandit.

Among the 150+ episodes of Bluey, one of Dave’s favorites is the episode when Bingo and Bluey ask Bandit to play a game, and Bandit agrees to a game where he doesn’t have to move any part of his body. Dave laughs and says that is absolutely him.

Bandit’s kind of parenting has been put on a pedestal to a point that it’s become polarizing: on one hand, it validates parents’ feelings and choices, but it also makes other parents see their weaknesses under a microscope, making them feel they’re not good enough.

But instead of telling himself that he’s not parenting as good as Bandit, Dave grounds himself to the fact that Bandit exists in a world of 7-minute episodes, whereas he gets to parent 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In other words, there is no pause or stop button to relieve him of parenting duties that go on for life.

Although Bluey beautifully and realistically captures parenting in its episodes, there are no scripts in real life. Remember the Bluey episode called Takeaway, where a few minutes of waiting for food turned into a string of little disasters with Bingo and Bluey?

When asked where Bandit would take the family on a holiday in the Philippines, Dave said he’d love to bring Bluey and Bingo to Boracay. He imagined Bandit trying to relax on the beach while the kids bury him in the sand or insist on making an epic sandcastle. “It would be a proper adventure, for sure,” he says, laughing.

Dave got more personal in sharing an instance when one of his girls tripped from running around the pool and had a cut under her chin. It wasn’t such a bad cut, and Dave did feel bad about it despite constantly reminding his girls to stop running. But he acknowledges that there will always be times when you don’t quite do the right thing—and that’s okay.

Dave’s young girls naturally flexed him in their classes when the first few episodes of Bluey aired. “My Dad does the voice of Bandit!” they’d say. Who wouldn’t be proud of hearing their dad’s voice on a kid’s show? Word got around and a few years later, Dave has all sorts of anecdotes about people approaching him to share how a Bluey episode or two spoke directly to them.

It’s true that Bluey has made its way to the hearts of kids and parents alike all around the world, but as much as parents can identify with the Heeler family, there’s no way two family situations are completely identical. As much as Bluey is a universal phenomenon and its episodes are fun and relatable, Dave speaks this truth as a dad:

If there’s anything that Bandit inspires him to be, it’s “to be more involved with my kids, be more present with them, play with them, and do more fun things.” Then, he goes on to be a dad of his own.

There’s a timeless Bluey episode called Baby Race, where Chilli feels all the pressure for Bluey to reach her milestones. It’s a must-watch for first-time parents to remind them to relax and take things easy. Dave recalls that he also felt the same pressure but as his girls are growing, things happen differently. He learned to accept that things really have their own pace.

Dads don’t always have it easy, as both Bandit and Dave’s lives affirm. There are days when things are effortless and there are days when things will suddenly go haywire, but Dave reminds parents to be present in the moment, let go of control, and to “stay cool and be groovy.”