The Super Bowl isn’t the only sporting event taking place this Sunday—a new team of pups is hitting the field for Animal Planet’s annual Puppy Bowl, featuring Virginia dogs Rosie, Twiggy, Poppy, and Ozzy from Alexandria-based dog and cat rescue organization Operation Paws for Homes (OPH).
OPH coordinates with overcrowded shelters across the South to help place dogs in foster homes as far south as Richmond and as far north as New Jersey. The organization focuses not only on helping animals find adoptive homes but also on supporting the communities from which the pets came.
“We get the dogs settled, make sure their health is good, and get to know them before we put them up for adoption,” says Irene Skricki, OPH volunteer. “We also do try to help the shelters down South, which are typically under-resourced and struggling, to try to send supplies and spay and neuter the dogs when we can. We will always take the mother—we always say, ‘We don’t leave family behind.’”
It’s a system that’s rewarding for the puppies and kittens as well as the people who take them in.
“By fostering, you get to do something good but also have new dogs come in and get to know them and see them go from being scared and often underweight or unwell and then become happy and confident and loved and then go on to a wonderful home,” Skricki says. “You can’t beat that.”
Though Skricki loves helping dogs find loving, lasting homes, her favorite part of volunteering with OPH is helping out with puppy events like the Puppy Bowl.
“We look over what puppies we have that meet the competition criteria in terms of birth date, and then we submit good photos and a brief temperament description,” Skricki says. “But with a two-month-old puppy, you’re not really trying to determine if they’ll be a good Puppy Bowl contender; it’s more of an art than a science.”
Events like Puppy Bowl provide opportunities for OPH and other animal welfare organizations to increase public awareness and knowledge about pet adoption.
“Puppy Bowl is a wonderful opportunity to promote the value of rescue. It lets people know that there are rescue dogs out there and you can get all kinds of amazing dogs at rescues,” Skricki says. “And this outreach means people will see it, so they might want to learn more, volunteer, foster, or donate, and that’s all wonderful.”
During Irene’s eight years of volunteering with OPH, she’s helped matchmake hundreds of pups with adoptive families, including Emily Holbrook, who has adopted Rosie, one of the Team Ruff competitors in this year’s Puppy Bowl, in the months since the game’s taping.
“We have had rescue puppies in the past, and they’ve always been amazing dogs. Rosie is no exception,” Holbrook says. “One of the things I really liked about OPH was that I really got to know the dog and her personality and bond with her before I signed on the dotted line, and that’s the best way to find your forever friend.”
For the Holbrook family, Rosie was the paw-fect match.
“She’s just so sweet and so social too; she just loves to be a friendly girl,” Holbrook says. “She just fit right into the family with our young kids, and we were glad to welcome her fun, warm, and happy energy into our lives so our kids could also experience having a dog in the house.”
Holbrook’s daughter agreed, sharing her own opinions of Rosie as a new member of the Holbrook family.
“I think she’s really cute and she’s very fluffy, and she’s helpful,” Holbrook’s daughter says.
Puppy Bowl XXI will stream this Sunday at 2 p.m. on Animal Planet and live TV streaming services like Hulu + Live TV, Philo, and YouTube TV. And in this showdown, no matter which team takes the trophy, every puppy and every pet-lover at home comes out a winner.
OPH will also be hosting watch parties for Puppy Bowl at these Virginia locations (where you can expect more adoptable four-legged attendees):
Three Leg Run
4418 W Hundred Rd., Chester
Ornery Beer Company Taproom
8088 Flannery Ct., Manassas
This article is a Virginia Living digital exclusive.
