The Puppy Bowl is the Super Bowl of dog shows. The game has consistently grown over the past few years and in the 2012 game 10 million people tuned in to watch. The game last year also broke web records for Animal Planet, as the main page was looked at 5.5 million times and 1.4 million videos were streamed.
63 different puppies will compete in Animal Planet's GEICO Stadium and only one of the dogs will take home the MVP award. The game will also have the Bissell Kitty Half-Time Show with a number of felines giving the dogs more entertainment than Beyonce will. All the cats have already been adopted by loving families.
All the dogs, 63 in all of all types of breeds, come from rescue shelters and other pet organizations around the country. Last year featured 59 pups and all the participants can be adopted through Petfinder.com. Sadly for everyone watching though, as reported by Brian Williams on Friday night, all the dogs have already been adopted.
What are the keys to the big game and how does it all get kept in order?
10 of the 63 puppy's participate at the same time and run around a small field that is three years wide by six yards long. There are a number of chew toys and two end zones. Pups can score touchdowns by bringing the chew toys into the endzone. There is a water bowl on the field for the pups to stay hydrates and a referee calls penalties and timeouts for bad behavior.
Last season the Most Valuable Puppy was a dog named Fumble. Just in case the safety of the dogs is in question, there is a veterinarian on site at all times.
The big game was filmed back in November, but was delayed for a small amount of time due to Hurricane Sandy. According to Forbes, "A staff of 69, plus 13 volunteers, a veterinarian and two assistants were on hand during the taping of the show. About 90 hours of footage were captured from cameras in multiple locations in the studio, including inside of the Ice Breakers Mints blimp (piloted by hamsters) and inside of the water bowls."
The game is decked out with all the proper football equivalents, including a tailgate, a half time show featuring kittens and nine baby hedgehog cheerleaders on the sidelines. The puppy's are free to relieve themselves on the field, but there are staff members ready and willing to clean it up right away. The MVP is the pup that distinguishes themselves as the top puppy in the game.
All the dogs have moved on to good homes and next year the Puppy Bowl should get even bigger.
