It’s the big game within the big game, and Pittsburgh is going to be represented.
Team Ruff faces Team Fluff in this year’s Puppy Bowl — and four Pittsburgh puppies are competing for the infamous “Lombarky” Trophy.
Three puppies from Paws Across Pittsburgh —Franco, Sully and Mercury — and Centaur from Animal Friends are set to represent the Steel City on the national stage during the Puppy Bowl. While the dogs taking the field are already in loving homes, the Puppy Bowl itself shines a bright light on adopting and rescuing.
“When people see like, oh, there’s a Great Pyrenees in rescue, or there’s a Pomeranian in rescue, like it, it puts that out there that you really can get any type of dog,” said Jackie Armour, of Paws Across Pittsburgh. “You can adopt them. You don’t have to go to a breeder or a puppy mill and purchase a dog. All those dogs are in a rescue somewhere.”
The event also provides great visibility for Paws Across Pittsburgh, Animal Friends and other shelters across the country.
“It helps us reach a little bit of a wider audience that we might not reach with just who we get in Allegheny County, so we get more people who are looking at our vision and our vision, and of course, coming in to hopefully adopt some puppies or some older dogs from us,” said Maddie Aicher, with Animal Friends.
“It helps with donations. It helps with adoptions. It helps with awareness,” Armour said.
That awareness means everything as shelters are rescues are doing all they can do to find every dog their forever home.
“It’s extremely important. I know that a lot of shelters are really overcrowded right now. We’re no exception,” Aicher said. “We have a lot of dogs right now, some of them who have been here for a very long time, who are looking for their new homes. So it’s really important to get that exposure to get the word out about adopting.”
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