While he didn’t exactly dominate on the gridiron, 6-month-old Boppity crushed it in the publicity round of Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl XIV, which airs at 2 p.m. (central) on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 4.
“He made it onto the screen,” said Emily Klehm, CEO of South Suburban Humane Society in Chicago Heights. Boppity has been living in foster care arranged through the shelter since late last summer.
“Not all the competitors get screen time. But he does. He played in the group of small pups. We got to watch him on the field. He was a little intimidated by the puppies that were bigger than him,” Klehm said.
But he did so well in the demanding series of photo shoots, she added, that the cable network is using a stock photo of the chihuahua mix in its Puppy Bowl coffee promo.
Boppity joins 90 adoptable puppies from 48 shelters and rescues across the country as “Team Ruff” squares off against “Team Fluff” during the annual canine event, in which participants vie for the Most Valuable Puppy title as well as forever homes.
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Boppity may not have won that honor but, come game day, “He is sure to win a lot of hearts,” Klehm said.
In late summer, the shelter, like many other rescues in big markets across the country, was invited to choose a resident puppy and apply for its participation in the annual puppy contest, Klehm said.
Staff chose Boppity because of his age, personality, charm and interesting backstory, Klehm said.
His mom Carol had given birth to Boppity and his sister Bippity at a partner shelter in Mississippi, Klehm said. Because of overcrowding, that shelter asked SSHS to take all three animals.
So the family made the trek north to Chicago Heights, arriving the week Klehm got the email about casting for the Puppy Bowl.
“From the minute we first saw Boppity we thought he was super adorable — with those floppy ears,” she said.
The application process called for prospects to be photographed in different environments, she said. And so a series of head and body shots was arranged.
“We found out in August he was cast,” she said. In October, Klehm, Boppity and other staffers traveled to New York City for filming.
Game day starts early with players being examined by veterinarians. That’s followed by four photo shoots. Then it’s time to play. After that, she said, there are even more publicity activities.
Needless to say, she added, “We had a very, very tired puppy at the end of the day.”
But the exposure is good not only for Boppity and other shelter animals, but for the humane society as well, she said.
Both Boppity and the shelter will be mentioned on TV and on Animal Planet’s website, which will include a biography of the puppy, a head shot and a link to SSHS’s website, she said.
This was not SSHS’s first puppy rodeo. Last year, Domino was accepted into the canine contest.
“But he did not do well. He was terrified of the other rough and tumble pups and kept trying to run off the stage. He didn’t get a second of play time and didn’t get a mention on their website or TV,” Klehm said.
“So this level of publicity is definitely a first for us,” she said.
In addition to providing entertainment on Super Bowl Sunday, Klehm said, the Puppy Bowl showcases the variety of rescue dogs that are available at local shelters.
“It promotes choosing adoption first,” she said.
“For us, in Chicago Heights, where we don’t get a lot of attention and publicity and media, this is a huge way to be able to tell the story of our shelter and what we’re doing on a daily basis,” she said.
Perhaps the biggest winner, though, is Boppity, who not only goes up for adoption at a pivotal time in his life, but comes with his own portfolio.
Klehm said the shelter plans to host pre-game events, including “pawtigraph” sessions and a game-day viewing party.
For more information on rescue dogs and Puppy Bowl events, go to www.southsuburbanhumane.org or the South Suburban Humane Society’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/SouthSuburbanHumane/.
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