INTERNATIONAL: The cuteness that is the 'Puppy Bowl' is returning for its 18th year on Super Bowl Sunday,February 13.
Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart will return to host the 18th annual Puppy Bowl on Sunday. The event will feature over 100 puppies from 67 shelters across 33 states. The puppies will be competing on either Team Ruff or Team Fluff for the “Lombarky Trophy”. The three-hour event encourages viewers to adopt the adorable participants.
The Puppy Bowl is an annual television program on Animal Planet that mimics an American football game similar to the Super Bowl, using puppies.
Shown each year on Super Bowl Sunday, the show consists of footage of a batch of puppies at play inside a model stadium, with commentary on their actions. The first Puppy Bowl was shown on February 6, 2004. The puppies featured in the Puppy Bowl are from shelters. The entire program is designed to raise awareness about adopting pets from shelters and rescuing abandoned animals.
A veterinarian is on site during the production of Puppy Bowl to ensure animal safety and well-being, and to administer any veterinary medical care which might be needed. Representatives from American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, as well as the shelters which lend their animals to the production, are also on-site as observers to ensure animal welfare standards are maintained. In 2012, an American Humane Association representative was always on-site to ensure that puppies did not become too aggressive and injure one another.
According to its associate producer, about 53 hours of videoing are needed to produce a single Puppy Bowl.
Each year, a Most Valuable Puppy (or MVP) is chosen at the end of the show for the puppy considered to be the stand-out performer of the event. Beginning with Puppy Bowl XI, viewers were allowed to vote for the MVP. MVP voting was permitted for the program’s airing.
While producers aim to entertain, the main goal is to raise awareness about pet adoption.
At the end of each break, puppies currently available for adoption will be shown during the program.
The three hour special will be streamed on discovery+ and on air on the U.S. network Animal Planet.
