What To Expect At Puppy Bowl VI

The "ruff," tough and utterly adorable players take the field Sunday for Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl VI, and referee Andrew Schechter will be back to keep the canine chaos in check. The Brooklyn native (and associate producer) of Puppy Bowl talks with Paw Nation about the big game for pet fans, including some exiting new additions for this year's match-up.

What will be familiar to viewers on Sunday?
The famous kitten halftime show is back again, as well as what we like to call the most innovative camera shot in sports: The water-bowl shot.

What are some of the new features for Puppy Bowl VI?
We're going to have hamsters piloting a miniature blimp above the field, which will give viewers a bird's eye view of the action. And for the first time ever we're going to have bunny-rabbit cheerleaders on the sidelines.

Was it hard to get the bunnies into the outfits?
Actually, none of the animals on Puppy Bowl wear clothes.

It sounds like that's a deliberate decision.
Absolutely. We like to keep them as natural as possible in a comfortable environment. That's what people tune in to see: Puppies being puppies.

Where do the players come from?
The filming takes place near Silver Spring, Md., just outside of D.C. Most of the puppies come from area shelters. We also have shelter dogs from Louisiana, Georgia, Nebraska and Oklahoma.

Those are big football states.
You got it! The shelters love having their puppies involved. The filming was actually back in October. We're proud to say that all of the Puppy Bowl competitors have been adopted.

How much editing takes place between the filming and the two-hour show?
We have about 12 hours of footage to work with. We take the best of the action.

All the puppies are great, but there are usually a couple of standouts that seem to dominate the action.
Those are the ones in the running for "Most Valuable Puppy." We also have a "Viewers' Choice" title, and fans can vote online for that, as well.

And there are always some puppies that don't play by the rules.
Sometimes I do have to call fouls for unnecessary "ruffruffness" or illegal use of paws.

Didn't a puppy pee on your shoe during Puppy Bowl IV?
Puppy fouls are pretty much the foulest of fouls. It's a dirty job and somebody's got to do it. I keep a clean field in every sense of the word.

The puppy players are known for just conking out mid-game. How do you decide when they need to be replaced with an alternate?
I try to let sleeping dogs lie, even if it's on the 50-yard line. But sometimes I have to call an excessive-cuteness foul. A sleeping puppy is probably the cutest thing in the world.

Puppy Bowl XI will air Sunday, Feb. 7 from 3 to 5 p.m. on Animal Planet, with rebroadcasts throughout the evening.

Tags: Animal Planet, Kitten Halftime Show, Puppies, Puppy Bowl, PuppyBowl