What’s one way to to raise awareness of the many canines and felines in our country that are in need a good home? The answer: Combine the Super Bowl with puppies and kittens!

Each year on Super Bowl Sunday, Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl airs. This game is a furtastic football game between Team Ruff and Team Fluff. These two teams are comprised of shelter puppies. Each of these dogs is available for adoption from different shelter organizations across the United States and the Caribbean. Each dog has information about its location and breed on Animal Planet’s website, along with pictures of each “athlete”.

The game works just like a normal football game; there are two teams: Team Ruff(orange) and Team Fluff (blue). These two teams face off against each other for the “Lombarky” trophy. The rules are that the pups will roam around a mini-football field decked out with toys, the objective being to get the ball into one of two end zones. The “ruff-eree ” was Dan Schachner, and Dan has held this position for twelve years. Field goals and touchdowns are considered the same thing so that there is less to keep track of as a spectator. During halftime, adoptable cats get to make their appearance and perform their own halftime show.

Although these dogs make the cutest entertainment, the point of the production is to help these puppies find forever homes. Since the show launched, it has helped over five hundred dogs find forever homes. Amazingly, the Puppy Bowl has successfully found one hundred percent of the dogs and cats on the show forever homes. This year, 122 puppies from sixty-seven shelter locations were found homes.  This year also marked the first year to have Native American animal rescue centers represented at The Puppy Bowl. And if that wasn’t enough to tug on your heartstrings, the game also featured eleven dogs with special needs.

This year at Puppy Bowl XIX, spectators will treated to the first overtime in Puppy Bowl history. A pup named Vivian scored the final touchdown to lead Team Fluff to victory with a score of eighty-seven compared to Team Ruff’s score of eighty-three. A big game such as this one is not completed without the post-game ceremonies. One of the awards given that night included Josh Allenhound, a Golden Retriever Mix, being crowned Most Pupular, and another award was given to a Pomeranian named Pickles, being crowned MVP.

Each year, millions tune in to watch the Puppy Bowl, creating a mass spread of awareness about rescue pets and abandoned animals. So, while fans of the Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs will always have a Lombardi Trophy to display at their team complex, these animals will now always know the love and support of a forever home because of the support provided by The Puppy Bowl.