It's official: Team Fluff and Team Ruff will go head-to-head this weekend when these frolicking pups are unleashed for the 2024 Puppy Bowl in a battle for the Lombarky Trophy — and all the dogs are up for adoption.
Dan Schachner has gone from foster dad to a permanent status as he adopted a new pup, giving People the scoop. Schachner has fostered 40 large, small, special needs, and senior dogs. Puppy Bowl XIV airs this Sunday, and fans of the gridiron squeals and yips of joy can enjoy the fun despite a few puppy penalties, thanks to their 100% adoption rate.
The fun will be "ruffereed" again by Schachner, who mitigates the fur-flying situations between Team Ruff and Team Fluff. This Puppy Bowl is Schachner's 13th year, and his new puppy assistant coach, Whistle, who helps him call the plays and fumbles, is also Dan's newly adopted pet.
It takes a village to put on the biggest pet adoption event on television, thanks to a massive crew of folks at Animal Planet and beyond, including dedicated sponsors like Bissell. Animal Planet's publicist Karin Failla shared with Idaho Today some fantastic factoids about Puppy Bowl:
- A puppy from Nevada SPCA is named Lady Luck, which is timely since the Super Bowl is in Vegas this year.
- Two puppies, Frankie and NIner, from the Humane Society Silicon Valley, did a cute training camp with four 49er players. They were adopted by families who live across the street from each other in Portland, Oregon.
- Seven staff members adopted puppies from the taping!
- There are eleven dogs named after food!
Puppy Bowl 2024
In a past interview at the Television Critics Association in Pasadena, California, Dan told me his path to becoming a "referee" was partly good timing. "It was the start of Puppy Bowl VIII, where they were looking for a ref. The guy who had done it before me, Andrew Schecter, was an employee of Animal Planet. He'd been a producer for them for years, so they just had a producer calling the calls and realized that it was a bigger job than a producer could do. You needed somebody who had broadcast experience, and they'd known me for many years. I had hosted a couple of shows for them...They knew me as that guy."
According to the network, this family-friendly fun watch is a three-hour television matchup with 131 puppies, 73 shelters and rescues across 36 states and territories – including the all-time smallest pup, Sweetpea, at 1.7 lbs, and the biggest, Levi the Great Dane, at 72 lbs. The stories always get you as Inspiring people at rescues and shelters share their dedication and incredible work with these lucky puppies from Team Ruff and Team Fluff.
The teams take to the Puppy Bowl XX stadium gridiron to win the WAYFAIR "Lombarky" trophy and find their forever homes. Four previous Puppy Bowl players will be inducted into the all-new Puppy Bowl Hall of Fame to celebrate 20 years of Puppy Bowl.
The game starts when the PEDIGREE Starting Lineup players take to the field. Dash, a Pomeranian/pug, and Maggie, a chow/American Staffordshire terrier representing the US Virgin Islands for the first time, will compete for Team Fluff.
Tater, an Australian cattle dog/German shepherd, and Peanut Pretzel, a pug from Los Angeles, will try to bring Team Ruff to victory. As the game progresses, the puppy player with what it takes will be named the MVP (Most Valuable Puppy) or win the SUBARU OF AMERICA, INC. Underdog Award.
The special needs pups get love, too: Six special needs puppy players will also be introduced, including Riddle, a pug terrier with a neurological condition cerebellar hypoplasia; Mr. Bean, a papillon who only has two hind legs; and four deaf pups.
Animal Planet says that the puppies take over the show's production for the first time by operating the cameras and lighting, directing from the control room, stage managing on the studio floor, and even coaching Team Ruff and Team Fluff.
Puppy Bowl referee With new camera angles, including a ref GoPro camera and wide-angle shot from the goal posts, viewers will experience getting nose-to-nose with the puppies. Fan-favorite elements, including the slo-mo cam, NEXGARD Brand Products blimp, the coveted water-bowl cam, and the TEMPTATIONS Skybox kittens, will return alongside sportscasters Steve Levy and Taylor Rooks providing play-by-play commentary between Team Ruff and Team Fluff.
Tune in: Puppy Bowl, the original and longest-running call-to-adoption television event, returns for a 20th year on Sunday, February 11, 2024, at 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT and will be simulcast across Animal Planet, Discovery, TBS, truTV, Max and discovery+.