The Kansas City Chiefs weren't the only winners Sunday evening.
"Team Ruff," along with a sweet rescue pup named "Moosh" were the big winners of Sunday's 20th annual "Puppy Bowl," held Sunday afternoon.
"Team Ruff's Moosh, from Troy, VA, was the official MVP Winner of Puppy Bowl XX after some impressive plays on the field," Discovery Network said in an announcement. Congratulations on this puptastic achievement!"
Animal Planet posted a similar message to their Facebook page.
Three Chicago pups competed in the cute and cuddly competition, with two of the puppies -- Rose Fay and Guy Fureri -- serving on the winning team.
According to officials, 131 adoptable puppies were featured in this year's Puppy Bowl, coming from 73 shelters across 36 states.
Feeling out of the loop? We'll catch you up on the Chicago news you need to know. Sign up for the weekly Chicago Catch-Up newsletter.
What to know about the Puppy Bowl
The inaugural “Puppy Bowl” was watched by nearly 6 million viewers. Last year, 13.2 million viewers tuned in, the largest reach for the event in five years. In comparison, The Emmy Awards telecast on Fox this year reached just 4.3 million viewers. This year’s show will be simulcast across Animal Planet, Discovery, TBS, truTV, Max and Discovery.
The dogs are split into two teams — Team Fluff and Team Ruff — and each dog is given a nickname — like “Slick Rick” or “J-Paw” — and a specialty, like “Epic end zone dance.”
They are free to frolic, but may face penalties for things like “neutral bone infraction” and “paws interference.” Awards are given to Most Valuable Puppy and, new this year, an Underdog Award for the more introverted pup.
This year’s broadcast was built on the work of dozens of volunteers, as well as 600 pee pads, 200 poop bags, 10 bags of treats, 30 water bowls and 18 cameras. The cat halftime show also returned.
That number has by now more than doubled, with this year’s broadcast featuring 131 puppies.
The three-hour long event takes place at 1 p.m. CST and can be seen on Animal Planet, Discovery, TBS, truTV, Max and discovery+.
History of the Puppy Bowl
The “Puppy Bowl” made its debut as counter-programming to the Super Bowl in 2005. Dogs score touchdowns on a gridiron carpet when they cross the goal line — any goal line — with a toy.
“We always say the same message every year: Adopt, don’t shop,” said Puppy Bowl referee Dan Schachner. “There are responsible breeders out there, but it kind of defies logic that somebody who’s searching for a dog would look beyond their local shelter or rescue.”
According to the ASPCA, approximately 390,000 shelter dogs are euthanized each year and 2 million shelter dogs are adopted. Schachner says the number of animals languishing in shelters is back up after falling during the pandemic. “It’s worse than ever,” he says.
Most of the puppies are usually adopted by airtime, since the show is filmed in the fall. But the point is to show that animals just like the ones on the show can be found at any shelter at any time.
Schachner also has some advice for anyone who falls for a particular pup on the broadcast: “That animal is probably likely part of a litter, right? So there’s probably siblings out there that are still up for adoption or their parents — their mom, their dad — is in the shelter looking for a forever home.”
Schachner started refereeing 13 years ago, when there were 59 dogs invited. “I’ll never forget that because I thought that was a tremendous amount of dogs to be trying to officiate in one place.”
