How Pet Bowl ‘rufferee’ took on the occasion’s greatest yr but

For the final 11 years, Dan Schachner has been doing what he considers to be one of many biggest jobs on this planet.

Refereeing — or ruffereeing — the Pet Bowl.

“After I first began I assumed it was a smallish form of job,” Schachner stated forward of Sunday’s 18th annual Pet Bowl. “I didn’t notice how huge it was by way of scope and attain.”

And this yr was the Pet Bowl’s greatest but, he says.

Staff Fluff defeated Staff Ruff on this yr’s competitors, taking house the Chewy “Lombarky” trophy.

Schachner, a former NFL referee, was the one human to take the sphere on the sport Sunday, which featured 118 adoptable canines.

The canines who participated within the Pet Bowl hailed from 67 shelters and rescues from 33 states. Annually, the canines who take part within the Pet Bowl have a one hundred pc adoption fee, Schachner stated.

“Extra vital than that, even — the shelters and rescues the place the canines come from report an uptick in adoptions,” he stated. “In order that’s what’s so cool about it — the spirit of the Pet Bowl continues even when it’s over.”

How the competitors went down

The foundations of the Pet Bowl are easy: If a pup takes a toy into the opposing staff’s finish zone, it scores a landing. The staff with essentially the most factors on the finish wins.

Staff Ruff was led by French bulldog Moby, and Staff Fluff was led by Dinozzo, a basset hound/Shih Tzu combine breed.

However the sport had extra than simply puppies vying to make names for themselves to get adopted — just a few celeb doggos joined in on the enjoyable.

“We’ve got canines related to celebrities like Ariana Grande, guys from the Houston Texans, NFL gamers and, in fact, Martha Stewart’s new canines, not simply as hosts however because the coaches of groups Ruff and Fluff,” Schachner stated.

On the prime of the Pet Bowl, Stewart, who helped coached Staff Ruff, and rapper Snoop Dogg, who helped coached staff Fluff, launched the present.

Stewart talked about that Snoop Dogg could be performing on the Tremendous Bowl halftime present, however first, he would cheer on his staff on the Pet Bowl.

“It’s a dream come true, similar to it’s a dream to seek out these puppies a house, too,” Snoop Dogg stated of performing on the halftime present.

Earlier than kickoff, “Sesame Avenue’s” Elmo and his rescue canine, Tango, flipped a coin to see which staff would get the ball first. Staff Ruff received the coin toss.

Some on social media referred to Elmo’s feud with Rocco the rock from earlier this yr, saying he was most likely on the Pet Bowl to make sure individuals adopted canines, not pet rocks.

Sportscasters Steve Levy and Taylor Rooks gave the play-by-play commentary on the sport.

The pups even received a presidential shout-out from first woman Jill Biden.

“What’s so great about having pets is they bring about us unconditional love, pleasure and luxury,” Biden stated as she watched the video games with new White Home pup Commander. The second marked the TV debut for Commander, a German shepherd.

All through the sport, a recurring phase referred to as “Adoptables” aired. Every featured rescue groups behind the canines taking part in within the video games.

Schachner stated a number of canines have been noteworthy as a result of they’d overcome disabilities to play within the video games. Amongst them, he talked about Irwin, a three-legged canine from the Sato Mission, which rescues canines from Puerto Rico, and Benny, a wheelchair-using canine from Bosley’s Place in Georgia.

Whereas the video games are an lovable approach to assist puppies discover their strategy to new houses, Schachner stated the “Adoptables” segments are amongst his favourite elements of the occasion.

The phase takes viewers behind the scenes and reveals them their actual heroes placing within the work to make the Pet Bowl a hit.

Being concerned with the Pet Bowl has impressed Schachner to assist canines on the lookout for their future house owners, as effectively. During the last decade, the rufferee has fostered greater than 35 canines.

Nothing beats hanging out with dozens of puppies, he stated.

“It’s made fairly an affect on my life. … It’s a ton of enjoyable.”