“Wishbone” Actors Recall Working with the 'Amazing' Real-Life Dog: 'Like Charlie Chaplin in a Little White and Brown Dog's Body'

Angela AndaloroSat, May 30, 2026 at 1:58 PM UTC

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Wishbone shooting on set
Credit: Novel Tails -

Wishbone was a PBS series that told stories from classic literature using a Jack Russell Terrier to appeal to young viewers from 1995 to 1997

What's the Story, Wishbone? features cast, writers and creators sharing the story behind the ambitious production

At the heart of the show was a Jack Russell Terrier named Soccer, whose training at the hands of Jackie Kaptan made him a valuable piece of the production

At the heart of Wishbone was a dog named Soccer.

In the new documentary about the beloved PBS series, What's the Story, Wishbone?, the cast and crew recall working with the Jack Russell Terrier who played the titular character.

Creator Rick Duffield said he auditioned a handful of dogs of all sizes, but he "didn't feel anything" until he came across Soccer.

"He was so amazing and charming when he did his little flip, and everybody was like, 'Oh my God, that dog did that flip,' and I said, 'That's cool,'" Duffield recalled. "And then his face, there was something about that dog. When it looked at you, you felt like it was thinking about you. There was an intelligence in the face of that dog. And so that was it for me. And so now I needed someone to talk for the dog, to be the voice."

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Larry Brantley, who was cast as the voice actor for Wishbone, was told he was auditioning for the pilot of a kids' television show that starred a dog.

“Having had dogs for a while, I always observed dogs, and I would imagine what they're thinking. I really did," Brantley shared. "What is going on inside that head? And I would actually, in my head, I'd like do dialogue for the dog just to, as a playful way of enjoying the animal. I guess I had a feeling it had to be playful, but I didn't know."

For Duffield, putting a young actor at the helm felt more natural than some of the experienced voice-over actors they had auditioned prior. But it all really clicked when Brantley, who was in his late 20s at the time, met Soccer and got to watch him play and get a feel for his personality.

“Jackie [Kaptan] said, 'Hey guys, Soccer needs a break.' And I thought that meant he needed to go outside, but what happened was she reached into a pouch on her hip and she pulled out a rubber soccer ball, and she pitched it to him, and he lost his mind," Brantley recalled. "I had never seen anything like it."

"He was bouncing around the study playing a game of catch with himself. And quite without thinking about it, I just began to vocalize what I thought must be going through the dog's head in that moment.”

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Soccer as Wishbone
Credit: Novel Tails

The chemistry between Brantley and Soccer secured the part for them both. Shortly after, the other actors came to love and respect Soccer for being just as dedicated to the craft as they were, with one actor noting the dog could "hit three marks, easily."

Duffield also credited Soccer's trainer, Kaptan, for being "an extraordinary trainer — open-minded, but clear."

Actor Matthew Tompkins shared, “He wasn't just a trained dog. I mean, he was a trained actor. He had this amazing range emotionally in all of his expressions, and physically, he could do anything — whether he would shade his eyes or fly around from one place to the next or cock his head and look at you like, 'Did you just say the right line?' "

"He was Charlie Chaplin in a little white and brown dog's body. And I have to say, there were lots of times, whatever character I was playing over the course of those seasons, where you, you bought into it enough that I was really reading, whether real or imagined, expressions on Soccer's face," Tompkins continued.

Jeanne Simpson, another actress on the show, added, “One thing I loved about Wishbone is that all the actors treated the dog like it, like he was Laurence Olivier. And then Larry did such an amazing job of voicing the dog that you felt like the dog was talking to you and was present in that moment.”

While the actors handled scenes with Soccer, the costume department created adorable, customized pieces to meet the moment. However, the "challenge" was "sizing down human clothes and making them actually fit."

Brian Turin, another on-set trainer, noted, "Soccer, at the beginning, wearing the hats, to get him not to shake his head in the middle of the scene, it took a while. He would shake his head, and they'd fall off, or we were always trying to find a better way to, to make it stay on to where you don't see it as well. So that was, that was a challenge.”

Soccer lived with Kaptan on the Princeton, Texas, ranch where the Wishbone series was filmed. The beloved pooch died at the age of 13 in 2001 and was buried at the ranch.

What's the Story, Wishbone?, presented by Novel Tails, in association with Loud Pictures, debuted on public television stations May 27 through June 9, 2026. The film will be available on TVOD/Digital across all platforms where you can rent or buy movies in North America on June 10, 2026, directly following broadcast.

Find the film in your market or your preferred platform at www.whatsthestorywishbone.com and follow the film on Instagram: @thewishbonedocumentary.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”