Puppy Bowl 2019: 5 oh-so-adorable fun facts about the other big game
The action on the field Sunday is going to be intense, and we’re not talking about Super Bowl LIII. Just as the humans will in Atlanta, players will fiercely rep their teams in uniform and fight their way across the field at the annual Puppy Bowl, over on Animal Planet.
Referee Dan Schachner sat down with Yahoo Entertainment to reveal the behind-the-scenes secrets of the hands down most adorable event of the year, which airs the same day as the big game. (We’ll have to check out all the fun commercials later.)
In the meantime, here are five things that we learned about Puppy Bowl XV:
1. The puppies are not the only stars involved.
In the past, all of the puppies — more than 1,000 in all — have gone home with new owners after being featured in the event. In 2019, This Is Us actor Chris Sullivan adopted one of the pups in the days before the show.
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A post shared by Chris Sullivan (@sullivangrams) on Jan 24, 2019 at 12:10pm PST
Not only that, but a little cutie named Violet, who was rescued by the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star and animal advocate Lisa Vanderpump, will be included too.
2. Puppy Bowl organizers are dog tired after filming.
“What a lot of people don’t realize about Puppy Bowl is that it is a two-hour event when it airs, but it takes almost a week to put together,” Schachner says.
Besides wrangling nearly 100 dogs, the Puppy Bowl team must also organize the cuties into teams, according to their size, because each quarter of the game features a certain size category, beginning with small breeds.
And, yes, with so many dogs — 93 in all — things get ruff … um, make that rough.
3. A lot gets cut.
The things that don’t tend to make it on air are the dogs sleeping, relieving themselves and sniffing the ground, as dogs have been known to do.
4. The dogs are watched closely. Very closely.
More than a hundred people supervise the dogs, including veterinarians, representatives from the Humane Society and volunteers. “So I think they are the most closely watched group of dogs ever,” Schachner says.
5. Ref Dan Schachner auditioned with a unique tape.
Schachner, who previously hosted sports and trivia shows, said he invented his own football games for dogs to land what’s turned out to be his dream job.
“There’s nothing in the contract that says it’s for life, but I’m hoping it is,” he says. “At the very least, they’re gonna to have to drag me from this kicking and screaming.”
Plenty of dogs will likely be barking too.
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