The most important sporting event of the year is nearly here, and we’re not talking about the Super Bowl.
On Sunday 12 February, Puppy Bowl XIX will return to Animal Planet with two teams full of adoptable puppies.
The annual Puppy Bowl is a sports competition dedicated to raising awareness of shelters across the nation and helping adoptable dogs find their forever home.
This year’s three-hour face-off, which will air on Animal Planet and Discovery+, will be focused on the same goal, with the 2023 Puppy Bowl expected to highlight 122 puppies, 67 shelters and rescues across 34 states as the dogs compete to win the Lombarky trophy.
In addition to the 122 new adoptable puppies, Puppy Bowl XIX will also feature a Native American animal organisation and a puppy player from Dominica, West Indies for the first time ever.
But, how can you adopt members of Team Ruff and Team Fluff? This is everything you need to know about adopting the Puppy Bowl puppies.
Who is competing in this year’s Puppy Bowl?
This year, 122 puppies have been divided up into either Team Ruff or Team Fluff, which includes standouts such as Inya, a Chihuahua/miniature Pinscher mix rescued by the Phoenix-based NAGI Foundation, which Animal Planet notes is “working to restore the sacredness of the Native American community by uniting people and animals,” and Cooper, a Boston terrier/boxer mix from Seattle Humane, who travelled to the Seattle Seahawks’ training camp to be taught by defensive end Shelby Harris.
Similarly to years past, the Puppy Bowl will also star a few adoptable kittens during its annual Arm & Hammer Slide Kitty Halftime Show, while this year’s face-off will also feature 11 special needs dogs looking for their forever homes.
How do you adopt the animals?
The Puppy Bowl will include valuable information about the breeds of this year’s players, while more information about each puppy, such as their shelter, can be found on Animal Planet’s website. For example, Bleu, an American Staffordshire Terrier/American Foxhound mix, who will be competing on Team Ruff, is available to adopt from the Furever I Love Atlanta shelter in Atlanta, Georgia, while Jimmy Kibble, a Pomeranian/Husky mix also competing on Team Ruff, comes from the Florida Little Dog rescue group in St Cloud, Florida.
To inquire about adopting any of the animals featured in the Puppy Bowl, interested viewers will be able to visit AnimalPlanet.com or Discovery.com, where they can find all of the shelter information about this year’s players.
Currently, shelter information is available for the 16 dogs in Puppy Bowl XIX’s starting line-up. However, more information about the dogs starring in this year’s Puppy Bowl will be released as the big game gets closer.
What can viewers expect from this year’s Puppy Bowl, and how can you watch?
For the 12th year running, referee Dan Schachner will be in charge of keeping the playful pups in order, while sportscasters Steve Levy and Taylor Rooks also return to provide commentary. During the Puppy Bowl, you can also vote for the Most Valuable Puppy, which last year went to Kirby the labrador retriever on Team Fluff.
In addition, viewers can expect some of their favourite moments to return, such as the Puppy Cheer Squad, and the water-bowl cam, while Animal Planet reveals that this year’s adoption event will also include an all-new backstage look at the puppy players arriving on the red-carpet ahead of the game.
Puppy Bowl XIX will air on 12 February 2023 at 2pm ET on Animal Planet.
