INTERVIEW: ‘Puppy Bowl XXI’ ref Dan Schachner tries to keep 142 dogs in check
Photo: Puppy Bowl XXI will feature Trixie from Michigan’s Little Traverse Bay Humane Society. Photo courtesy of Puppy Bowl / Provided by Discovery with permission.
Puppy Bowl returns this Sunday, Feb. 9, for its 21st edition. Audience members should expect adorable puppies running laps, scoring touchdowns and kicking field goals, in addition to a halftime show featuring nothing but kittens. Perhaps the most enduring and best quality of Puppy Bowl, which kicks off at 2 p.m. EST on Animal Planet, Discovery, TBS, truTV, Max and discovery+, is that each and every animal on the screen is available for adoption. In the past, the network has never had a problem finding a forever home for the dozens of “athletes” on the screen, and this year more than 140 dogs are up for grabs.
At the center of the gridiron shenanigans is referee Dan Schachner, who appears on the TV special each and every year. He’s particularly excited for audience members to enjoy this year’s edition, mostly because there are more dogs than ever, and there’s also a kickoff special at 1 p.m. that will feature the recruits vying for a spot on the final roster.
“I get asked a lot about what does it take to become a Puppy Bowl pup,” Schachner said in a recent Zoom interview. “I get this asked even in the off-season, and I’m proud to say that this year we’re able to answer that question. So, we’re on at 2 p.m. EST on Sunday, but if you tune in one hour before, we have the first-ever Puppy Bowl kickoff special, which is going to showcase our pups doing their best to make it onto the Puppy Bowl.”
This kickoff special will feature a Puppy Bowl combine, with the dogs competing in a variety of skills tests, including running through tire tunnels, into ball pits, over hurdles and along ramps.
“And then in the second part of the kickoff special, we’ll actually draft the final 10 players to make it onto the Puppy Bowl roster,” he said. “You’ll be able to see that one hour before the show. … Believe me even if I weren’t hosting it, I would watch this because this is something I’ve always been fascinated by, and I’m glad to share it with our fans for the first time.”
Schachner said that the TV special continues to grow each and every year, and that means Puppy Bowl’s mission continues to grow as well. The team, which films most of the special in the month of October, works on the programming for months, and they try to top themselves with each new edition.
“Certainly there are new ideas, but it’s more about, how big can we get?” the referee said. “The mission here is if you’re trying to get 100 dogs adopted, well, wouldn’t it be better if next year you can have 110 dogs on the show, the following year 120? So this year we’ve got 142 dogs, all up for adoption, and that’s the most we’ve ever had. So our mission every year is to top ourselves in terms of roster size, in terms of stadium features. We have the most amount of camera angles ever, the most amount of special-needs dogs ever, the biggest kitty halftime show you’ve ever seen, all adoptable kittens, so it’s about growing in that way. So far we’ve been able to do it. We’re going to get so big though that we’ll see what happens next. I’m taking it year by year now.”
Schachner said he has a special place in his heart for special-needs dogs, who are prominently featured on the TV special. He understands that sometimes these pets are sadly forgotten about, but he wants Puppy Bowl viewers to see that that these doggies are looking for forever homes and bring the same amount of love as any other pet.
“If you talk to pet parents of special-needs dogs, they say after a few months of acclimation, they’re just like any other dog,” Schachner said. “And Puppy Bowl shows you that right on your television screen. You’re going to see dogs in wheelchairs playing football, dogs with three legs playing football, sight- and hearing-impaired dogs playing football, dogs that have sadly deformed front paws playing football. … And that’s the message we’re trying to put out there is that at the end of the day they’re just puppies, and they want what any other puppy wants. … There’s nothing like a grateful rescue dog. I have one myself, and there’s no feeling like it in the world.”
Schachner said the appeal of Puppy Bowl, which is as much an American institution as that other big game on Sunday, is due to its unifying quality of watching these puppies compete for the ultimate prize. Everyone in the family, no matter what team they want to win the big game, can enjoy Puppy Bowl XXI.
“Sometimes people tune in because it’s one of those games that we can all get beyond no matter what age you are,” he said. “Grandma can watch it. Your kids can watch it. The neighbors can watch it. We have sometimes an increasingly polarized society, not just with politics, but with sports sometimes, too. So it’s nice in the world of puppies. We can all root for both sides, both teams. Everybody is a winner, so to speak, but it really does bond people together. I know and hear of a lot of Puppy Bowl parties that occur every Sunday when we air, and it’s awesome to watch.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Puppy Bowl XXI, featuring Dan Schachner, airs at 2 p.m. EST on Sunday, Feb. 9, on Animal Planet, Discovery, TBS, truTV, Max and discovery+. A kickoff special begins at 1 p.m. EST. Click here for more information.
