Puppy Bowl 2023 Participants Include Seattle Shelter Dog

SEATTLE — If Super Bowl LVII on Sunday, Feb. 12, isn’t your thing — or even if it is — Animal Planet aims to tug TV viewers away with Puppy Bowl XIX, which features more than 100 adoptable shelter dogs.

The puppies are divided into two teams — naturally, Team Ruff and Team Fluff — and they’ll compete for what’s called the “Lombarky trophy” in the puppy version of football, played inside a model stadium with color commentary from Animal Planet announcers.

The payoff for the puppies is the equivalent of a lifetime contract for love. The Puppy Bowl was created to increase adoption rates at shelters across the country. So far, it’s 18-0 when it comes to adoption rates.

At least one Puget Sound pup, Cooper, will be competing in this adorable showdown. The boxer-Boston terrier mix is representing Team Fluff. Before the big game, residents can cast their vote to help Cooper win the "Pupularity Playoffs."

Fans are also invited to join the official watch party at Seattle Humane on Eastgate Way in Bellevue and order some "Super Cooper" merch.

These pups are among 122 featured from 67 shelters and rescues across 34 states. For the first time this year, the Puppy Bowl features a Native American dog rescue group and a puppy player from Dominica, West Indies.

The Puppy Bowl pregame show starts at 11 a.m. Pacific Time on Super Bowl 57 Sunday, with “kickoff” time an hour later. Like the NFL players, the puppies will try to score a touchdown. Puppy Bowl referees are more forgiving than they are in the NFL, though, because energetic, excited puppies are going to let it play out every chance they get.

Still, they can be benched and replaced with a second-string puppy if they’re called for penalties that can range from “pass inter-fur-ence,” “unnecessary ruffness” and “premature watering of the field.”

The Puppy Cheer Squad will be back, as will fan favorites like footage captured by water bowl, slow motion and end zone pylon cameras. The puppies red-carpet arrivals will also be highlighted.

And while Rihanna headlines the Super Bowl halftime show, the Puppy Bowl will have its own Kitty Halftime Show, when adoptable kittens try to dance their way into viewers’ hearts. MVP and “Underdog” awards will also be handed out.