Puppy Bowl celebrates 20th anniversary

Евгений Шемякин / stock.adobe.com

The 20th annual Puppy Bowl will premiere Sunday, February 11, 2024. According to the Discovery Channel, this year will be the biggest yet, featuring 131 puppies, 73 shelters, and rescues across 36 states and territories.¹ This year will also include a new feature: the Puppy Bowl Hall of Fame, which will have 4 previous puppy players return to the game.²

“What we’ve done this year to flip the whole script is because it’s sort of a celebration of the fact that it’s the 20th year,” says “Puppy Bowl” referee Dan Schachner said in The Associated Press article. “We’ve decided to go all in on puppy, making it the “most puppiest ‘Puppy Bowl’ ever.”²

The Puppy Bowl offers viewers a fun way to see cute puppies run around and play together, scoring touchdowns whenever they take a toy across the end zone, however the main reason this show is put on every year to help raise awareness for pet adoption. According to the ASPCA, as of data from 2019, approximately 6.3 million companion animals enter US animal shelters nationwide every year, with 3.1 million dogs and 3.2 million cats. Unfortunately, approximately 920,000 shelter animals are euthanized (390,000 dogs and 530,000 cats), each year.³ The Puppy Bowl showcases available puppies and kittens up for adoption and ready for viewers to send in applications. It is also a way to remind viewers to adopt a pet at their local shelter if watching the Puppy Bowl sparks their interest in owning a pet.

“We don’t want dogs that are show dogs, that are sitting there with a trainer. We want to see them in all their puppy glory. Part of that is to show what puppies are in their true state,” said Schachner. “They are playful, they are curious, they’re going to get into trouble, they’re going to do crazy things. And from time to time, they’re going to score touchdowns and really impress you.”²

References

1. Meet the players of Puppy Bowl XX. Discovery Channel. January 11, 2024. Accessed February 9, 2024. https://www.discovery.com/shows/puppy-bowl/see/meet-the-players-of-puppy-bowl-xx
2. Kennedy M. ‘Puppy Bowl’ celebrates a big anniversary this year, one that shelter and rescue pups will cheer. The Associated Press. February 7, 2024. Accessed February 9, 2024. https://apnews.com/article/puppy-bowl-2024-20th-anniversary-fe5ab3507eb72f24e170d1cb23c28b52
3. Pet statistics. ASPCA. 2019. Accessed February 9, 2024. https://www.aspca.org/helping-people-pets/shelter-intake-and-surrender/pet-statistics