Puppies playing football! Puppy Bowl is back at Cape Coral Animal Shelter, streaming live
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What do you do if you have too many puppies? If you're the Cape Coral Animal Shelter, you put the adorable furballs in football outfits and make'em play the Super Bowl.
Well, not the Super Bowl, exactly.
It's the Puppy Bowl – the Cape Coral version.
Now if only the puppies will cooperate and score some touchdowns. Sometimes they just want to frolick and nibble the fake grass.
"We throw the football and try to have them fight over it and get it to the end zone and score," says Liz McCauley, executive director of the animal shelter. "Sometimes that happens, and sometimes that doesn't happen.
"And sometimes they pick it up and run in the other direction."
Cape Coral's Puppy Bowl II: Now live and in-person
This is the second year of the animal shelter's Puppy Bowl, the Cape's take on the popular Puppy Bowl TV show that airs Super Bowl Sunday on Animal Planet, Discovery, TBS, TruTV and Max. That three-hour event celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.
The Cape show streams live on Facebook at 11 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 11. And this year, people can actually come out and watch the "game" live, too. The show ends at about 12:30 p.m., giving people plenty of time to go home and watch The San Francisco 49ers battle the Kansas City Chiefs in the real Super Bowl.
This year's show will be streamed live ― a response to public demand. After the first Puppy Bowl posted last year, dog lovers went absolutely nuts, McCauley says.
"People were calling the shelter," she says. "We were getting all these calls going, 'Oh my God, we wanna come and watch Puppy Bowl! When can we come?'"
Taylor and Travis appearing at Puppy Bowl. Sort of.
For Puppy Bowl II, the shelter will put six or seven puppies at a time in one of their usual play yards.
Except this enclosure has been outfitted with a green carpet painted with white lines to look like a football field. And instead of romping around naked, these puppies will be wearing tiny football and cheerleader outfits.
The show even has its own doggy version of superstar couple Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, played by shelter dogs Mildura and Pretzel. That'll be Mildura in the blonde wig.
Mildura and Pretzel are a real-life, animal-shelter romance, McCauley says.
Let's call it puppy love.
"They're in love with each other," she says about the furry couple. "They've been kenneled now for a while."
Tom Ellegood, a shelter volunteer, returns this year to put on the silver whistle and striped shirt and umpire the event. He'll also provide the ongoing commentary.
It’s fun to watch the puppies do their thing, Ellegood says. Although sometimes that means they completely ignore the rules of the game.
"We allow them to go out and just entertain and be what puppies are – let them play and entertain themselves," Ellegood says. "It's a blast for me. I have a great time doing it."
Puppy Bowl's message: Adopt shelter dogs (and cats, too)
Just like the national Puppy Bowl, the Cape Coral show has an important message beyond its irresistible cuteness. Both events encourage people to visit animal shelters to adopt dogs and cats.
The Cape Coral Animal Shelter puts the focus squarely on puppies, although they'll also post some cat videos on Super Bowl Sunday, too.
"Unfortunately, we always have too many puppies," McCauley says. "People think all the time, 'There's never puppies in a shelter.' There's ALWAYS puppies in our shelter."
McCauley encourages people to "adopt and not shop" if they're looking for a puppy. And also take a look at older dogs.
The shelter currently has about 25-30 puppies, she says. They'll all be playing in the Puppy Bowl, and they'll all eventually be available for adoption.
Everybody a winner at Cape Coral Animal Shelter
At the real Super Bowl, the winners get money and a giant trophy. But the competition isn't quite so intense at the Cape Coral Animal Shelter.
No actual winner gets declared at Puppy Bowl II.
It’s not about who wins the game, really, Ellegood says. It's how much fun they have playing it.
"They all are winners in our eyes," Ellegood says. "Everybody is a winner with us."
McCauley encourages people to come to the shelter to watch the "big game" on Sunday, Feb. 11. They'll even have benches and chairs set up for the spectators.
The event is free. Donations are always appreciated, McCauley says, but not necessary.
The Cape Coral Animal Shelter is at 325 SW 2nd Avenue, Cape Coral. For more information, call 573-2002 or visit facebook.com/CapeCoralAnimalShelter. The show will be streamed live on that Facebook page, too.
Charles Runnells is an arts and entertainment reporter for The News-Press and the Naples Daily News. To reach him, call 239-335-0368 (for tickets to shows, call the venue) or email him at crunnells@gannett.com. Follow or message him on social media: Facebook (facebook.com/charles.runnells.7), X (formerly Twitter) (@charlesrunnells), Threads (@crunnells1) and Instagram (@crunnells1).
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Super Bowl: How to watch Puppy Bowl at Cape Coral Animal Shelter
