As Bad Bunny played over speakers, puppies in jerseys sprinted across a turf stage, predicting the Super Bowl winner. Between watching the races and sampling from food vendors, kids and adults played games for pet-themed prizes and volunteers kept adoptions running.
Held Saturday, Feb. 7, the Austin Humane Society’s Puppy Bowl blended Super Bowl traditions with pet adoption. Presented by Heritage Ranch, H-E-B’s brand, the free event brought in 800 attendees, 22 adoptable puppies and a $189,000 donation from H-E-B, separate from additional fundraising by AHS.
“Personally, I don’t care too much for the Super Bowl,” Maia Weeman, volunteer and design sophomore, said. “I care more about the Puppy Bowl.”
Sarah Hammel, AHS Director of Communications, said the event began almost 20 years ago in the shelter lobby with a crowd of about 10 people. Since then, it’s grown into a large-scale celebration, featuring 25 partners, 24 sponsors and eight competitors in the tailgate food competition, each with its own station or tent.
“The heart of the event is about having people come out, see our shelter, see what we do, cuddle puppies (and) have a great time,” Hammel said. “As the years have gone by and it’s gotten to be such a popular event, we’ve realized — yes, it’s great, we’re going to bring in some money from this event, but that’s not the primary motivation anymore.”
Throughout the event, volunteers managed puppies, cleaned pens and helped facilitate adoptions. Weeman, who served as a “puppy coach,” said volunteering with AHS proved especially meaningful, missing her dog back home in Dubai. After a competitive application process, this year marked Weeman’s first Puppy Bowl.
“Everyone’s working towards their common goal,” Weeman said. “Even though it can be three hours for you, for those dogs and those puppies, it means a lot.”
The first puppy race opened with warm-ups and an MVP sprint, easing the dogs into action. During the second race, the puppies raced toward bowls for each team, drawing cheers when they predicted the Seahawks to win the Super Bowl. For attendee and kinesiology freshman Addison Newman, the event stood out for more than just the puppies.
“Obviously, it was nice to see the dogs,” Newman said. “But I was surprised to see all the sponsors that were partnered with the Humane Society. I thought that was really awesome.”
In three hours, the shelter placed 11 puppies, one adult dog and one cat into homes.
“Even though it (the event) was a few hours, that’s a lot of dogs get adopted in a short amount of time,” Newman said. “They did a good job putting together an event that people came to, but also where dogs actually got adopted. It was definitely successful.”
What began as a small event has grown into a recurring Austin tradition. One that continues to bring people through the shelter’s doors.
“I would definitely recommend the Puppy Bowl as well as any other AHS event or AHS volunteering (opportunity), or any shelter event ever,” Weeman said. “You go for the puppies and then stay for all the other fun stuff.”
