I need help designing a puppet

[Dodo]

I've only made one puppet before, a fraggle puppet. I made my own patterns for it, which was relatively easy because fraggles are such a simple shape. But now my sister has commissioned me for something that may be a bit hard for me to figure out on my own
So if the more experienced people on here would be so kind as to give me some advice, I'd be very grateful.

Spoiler: Reference pictures

This is the character she wants me to make, her dog fursona. I asked her if she was looking for something very muppet, or something very accurate, and she said she wanted very muppet. So I don't have to worry too much about staying true to the character shape-wise, but I still think she'd be a bit disappointed if it was just shaped like a generic whatnot. Any advice for how I could strike a balance between muppet-ness and accuracy? Alternatively, are there any good dog muppet patterns out there?