Sunday, February 5, 2006

Instead of Steelers and Seahawks with grim game faces, this bowl game features soft, cuddly players with wet noses and floppy ears.

Twenty-one puppies, most from animal shelters, will fumble and frolic for three hours in a football stadium especially designed for canine competition.

"There's nothing more fun than a roomful of puppies," said David Doyle, Animal Planet's vice president for programming. "We gave it the football theme, and it caught fire for us." More than 2 million viewers tuned in for last year's inaugural Puppy Bowl, and Doyle knew it was here to stay.

New this year: More than a dozen kittens, most from the Washington Animal Rescue League, romp on a halftime stage.

Last year's event drew a flurry of suggestions for added attractions, but "we'll do it simply, add one new thing a year that will be a staple," Doyle said.

Viewers can vote for the day's MVP -- Most Valuable Puppy -- at the Animal Planet Web site (www.animalplanet.com), which offers information about adopting a pet from a local shelter. Three of the pups on the show were displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

"The hope is that people will go to a shelter and go home with their own rescued animal," Doyle said. "That is the underscoring message of the event: Get out and give the animals a home."

-- Kathy Blumenstock

PUPPY BOWL II

Sunday

3 p.m.

Animal Planet