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May 26, 2012

Behind the scenes at Puppy Bowl

by Julia Ward, posted Feb 7th 2007 10:03AM

Puppy Bowl IIIThere are so many jobs I'd love to have. I'd love to ghostwrite Melanie Griffith's blog "In 2 Me C." I'd love to join Jackie Chan's stunt team, but mostly, I'd love to produce Puppy Bowl. Sadly, the job has already been taken by Discovery Productions' Molly Hermann. For those of you who turn a blind eye to Super Bowl counter programming, the Puppy Bowl is the annual Animal Planet alternative to the blockbuster sporting event.

Puppy Bowl is the furry equivalent of those Yule Log or Aquarium DVDs that you pop in your player to create party time ambiance. It's like watching a traffic camera trained on one corner for three hours. Puppies come. Puppies go. Puppies drink water from a see-through bowl with a "water cam" attached to its underside. This year, Puppy Bowl included a Puppy Tailgate party and a Kitty Halftime Show to spice things up, but mostly, it really is just puppies running around in front of a handful of still cameras for three hours. It's the most adorable Warhol film ever.

Washington Post readers were lucky enough to chat with Hermann online prior to Puppy Bowl airtime. She provided some behind-the-scenes details to the annual pooch extravaganza. Among the shocking revelations:

- Puppy Bowl is edited to prevent viewers from seeing any "inappropriate touching." There is no puppy ball-licking, puppy butt-sniffing or puppy humping in Puppy Bowl.

- You can adopt Puppy Bowl players after the game by contacting petfinder.com. The entire Puppy Bowl promotes puppy adoption and puppy population control.

- Puppies are chosen based on availability, breed and age. Youth counts here, folks. It's like American Idol for the puppy set... except Puppy Bowl competitors must have had their shots.

- There are no plans to costume the puppies. "That would be funny - but the puppies are so adorable we wouldn't want to cover them up!" Good point. No fear of "wardrobe malfunctions."

- "Fouls" are called to clean up puppy poop. They are an excitable lot.

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Amy

They should REALLY emphasize that those puppies are up for adoption! They should be given names, a little backstory provided, and the petfinder.com website should run constantly at the bottom of the screen.

Sadly, I couldn't watch very much of Puppy Bowl this year. We are fostering a dog who barks whenever she hears a dog bark - even on tv. We can't even watch The Dog Whisperer to learn what to do! After 10 mins. of Puppy Bowl, my house turned into Bark Fest!

February 07 2007 at 4:47 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Chris Muir

My only complaint is that they don't introduce all the puppies. I think that if they're on the field of play, we should know about them :-)

February 07 2007 at 1:36 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Lance

Who Won????

February 07 2007 at 12:33 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
rvkey

Taping it is a great idea! Tanks!

February 07 2007 at 12:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Kelly

I watched a little bit of the Puppy Bowl for the first time. I had heard of it, but never had a chance to watch it (since I lived with my dad - a HUGE football fan and umpire - TVs on Super Bowl Sunday are required to all be trained on Super Bowl). That was the most adorable thing ever!! I loved it. I even had my husband watching it! And our little pit bull puppy that stays inside, she was watching it, too! I think she wanted to be there playing with them :)
I wondered where they got the puppies from. I'm glad to know that there's a way to adopt them. I don't remember hearing that announced on there whenever I had the TV turned to it, although I'm sure they said something about the adoptability of them on the show. I wish I could take them all!

Much more entertaining than the Super Bowl, to me :)

February 07 2007 at 12:02 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Tammy

We are huge Puppy Bowl fans. We watched it off and on prior to the Super Bowl last Sunday. I thought this years production was a big improvement over past years because of the added commentary and the tailgating pups. :) I do have a friend who loves this so much that she tapes it to watch whenever she needs a pick me up while cleaning the house!

February 07 2007 at 11:00 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
rvkey

I am SO glad you wrote a review on this yearly event. I've been a faithful viewer for all three years and have told a lot of my family and friends about it and gotten them hooked as well. This year I found myself switching from the Super Bowl to the Puppy Bowl not during commercials (I CAN'T miss the commercials) but during the game itself! It's just what I need to give me year's worth of "cute".

February 07 2007 at 10:56 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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