Bandit & Chilli's Jobs Make A Lot Of Sense When You Remember They're Dogs

Bluey is a show that is beloved by children and their parents, and with good reason. The show captures not just the magic of childhood, but the joy and hard work of being a parent. And speaking of work, what is it, exactly, that Bluey’s parents do for work? They have a pretty nice house... and they seem to have a lot of time to play with their kids. How do they afford it?

This may sound like a silly question but, honestly, Bluey is a show that’s written so thoughtfully and with so much heart that fans put that back into their assessment of it. Plenty of fans (of all ages) have wanted to know what Bandit does for a living and what line of work Chilli is in. Fortunately, because it’s such a meticulously constructed show, we have the answers, though you might have missed them if you weren’t paying careful attention. Here’s what we know about the Heelers’ professions...

Bluey’s dad Bandit is an archaeologist.

Bandit works as an archaeologist, because he loves digging for bones. (Get it? Because he’s a dog?) We haven’t actually seen his actual workplace yet, but we have seen him head off to work... or try to. Often, as in “Rug Island” and “Trampoline,” he can get distracted by Bluey and Bingo’s games.

We also know he works from home sometimes and, more than that, we have seen his completely beautiful home office in the episode “Yoga Ball,” which holds some artifacts he’s collected from his travels (and the titular yoga ball, which he claims he sits on because he wrecked his back changing his kids’ diapers).

Not gonna lie? 10/10, would love a work space like that.

Bandit is often home with the kids, but he has had to make some long work trips. In “Curry Quest,” he breaks it to his children that he has to be gone for six weeks out in the field, though he regularly communicates with them via video chat.

The clearest look into Bandit’s job we’ve seen actually comes from a 90-second short called “Archaeology,” where he presents a remarkable finding to (what sounds like) a full lecture hall. Not only do we learn that he has a doctorate (as he is introduced as Doctor Bandit Heeler), but that he’s actually made a big discovery: the only known fossil of the first dog to walk upright. He declares the significance of this rare bone indicates that dogs descended from quadrupedal ancestors to thunderous applause... before nervously eyeing and then gnawing on the bone.

Because, at the end of the day, he’s a dog.

Bluey’s mom Chilli works in airport security.

We know less about Chilli’s job, but thanks to some hints in the show and the official Bluey website, we know what she does. Apparently, Mrs. Heeler took some time off after having kids, but has recently gone back to work part-time in airport security. Like Bandit’s job digging bones, Chilli’s job is also a cheeky play on dog behavior, since dogs are actually used in airport security to sniff out contraband. Just the kind of clever detail we love about this show. Some fans have suggested the “police lady” hat and badge she wears in “The Sleepover” are items from her job.

Chilli doesn’t talk much about work, but we do know that she dreams of taking away the kids’ “magic xylophone,” which has the “power” to freeze people mid-action, on her boss.

Fans have some pretty wild theories about Chilli and Bandit’s jobs...

In 2021, a viral TikTok from @zach_mander suggested that Bandit and Bluey might not be on the up and up. After all, he says, the average income for their jobs is $67,000 a year (Bandit) and $22 an hour (Chilli) respectively. And yet given the fact that their house appears to be in the expensive Paddington neighborhood of Brisbane, Australia, where a home like theirs could easily go for over a million dollars (to say nothing of the fact that their kids appear to attend an incredible, bougie Montessori school) one must wonder how they could possibly afford it. Where does the money come from? Zach has a theory.

“We have a couple where one of them has intimate knowledge on how to bypass airport security and the other is regularly digging up rare and expensive items,” he posits before concluding “Bluey’s parents could be up to some nefarious activities.”

It’s a funny thought but, just as Bandit, at the end of a day being a well-respected archaeologist, is still ultimately a dog, at the end of the day Bluey is a children’s cartoon about a family of friendly dogs. So we’re not going to slander the hard-working Heeler’s good names just yet...