Are You Ready for Some Football?

All set for the Big Game this Sunday?

No, not that big game. I’m talking about Animal Planet’s annual Puppy Bowl!

I’ve been lucky enough to be a behind-the-scenes coordinator on the show for the past two years. I help with the puppy selection process in the months leading up to the taping, which puts me in the terrible position of having to gauge puppy cuteness. “Puppy Cuteness” is redundant, right? (To be honest it’s more an issue of size, not cuteness. The scaled-down field can only take so many pounds of puppy.)

I think we found an exceptional crop of puppy players this year. Here are just a few of the fuzzy faces you might see on the field:

These two dressed for the occasion:

Unfortunately, I couldn’t photograph all of the players, as game day is jam-packed. In addition to all of the on the field action, each player needs to sit for an official “glamour shot” prior to kick-off:

I stood right next to the photographer trying to get the pups to look at the camera with their “game faces” on. Not as easy as it sounds, folks … these pups were in the game zone and ready to roll, so we had to get pretty creative to get them to sit still for a few seconds. That included holding treats and squeaky toys above the lens, and doing my best “frightened kitten” meow and “big dog” bark. Let’s just say that my animal impersonations are pretty realistic.

Once play commenced I was on the sidelines with a representative from American Humane, watching for “unnecessary ruff-ness.” Some pups took their linebacker position too seriously and had to be pulled from the field, but happily, most of the pups played like pros.

By the end of the day we had some very tired little teammates:

Those little pups were in it to win it! Watch the spectacle of Puppy Bowl IV this Sunday on Animal Planet beginning at 3 PM (ET/PT).