Puppy Bowl’s Dan Schachner meets tons of adorable dogs every year in his role as the event’s official referee, but so far only one pooch has fully stolen his heart.
The Animal Planet host fell in love with his dog, Whistle, while officiating 2024’s Puppy Bowl XX.
“She’s sleeping at my feet right now,” Schachner exclusively told Us Weekly ahead of Puppy Bowl XXII, which airs Sunday, February 8. “Two and a half years ago, we had one dog that had bad knees and didn’t pass the physical.”
It might sound funny to imagine puppy athletes undergoing physicals before tossing toys around their mini football field, but the organizers always want to ensure the animals are healthy so there’s no chance of injury.
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“They all go through a big vet check, of course, to make sure they can play, and she couldn’t play because she had bad knees,” Schachner explained. “They said it was, like, dislocated kneecaps, and it’ll probably pass, but she can’t play in Puppy Bowl.”
Though she couldn’t hit the field, Whistle still participated in the show, wearing a little referee shirt and acting as Schachner’s assistant.
“Everyone loved her,” he gushed. “After a week of working with her, I was like, ‘I think this dog is pretty perfect,’ and she was just chill and sweet. And my family loved her, because I had her home with us for a little while too. My kids loved her, and it was just inevitable. So I said, ‘Let’s just do it.’”
Whistle is now a regular presence on Schachner’s Instagram account, but don’t expect to see any additional dogs pop up — at least not his own. While he faces plenty of temptation at work while surrounded by all those adorable pups, he thinks his family won’t get a second dog until both his kids have grown up and moved out. (“Right now, with two teenage boys, I feel like I have three animals in my house,” he quipped.)
This year, Puppy Bowl is trying something new — or rather old — by introducing a segment starring senior dogs. In the Pro-Dog Halftime Showdown, Team Oldies will take on Team Goldies in a “special exhibition game” to spotlight dogs who aren’t quite as spry as their puppy counterparts but still have plenty of love to give.
“The puppies that get adopted on Puppy Bowl, it’s not a big surprise — adorable dog on national TV, they’re going to find a forever home. Their parents, however, often don’t,” Schachner told Us. “A lot of these dogs come from a litter, so when they are surrendered to shelters or found as strays, they’re found with the mom. It’s almost always the mom and the litter, right? So that mom is usually hanging around in a shelter for a long time and has a much harder time being adopted.”
Viewers might notice that the dogs of Team Goldies and Team Oldies aren’t quite as energetic as those on Team Ruff and Team Fluff, but Schachner says that’s the point. (You can see photos of this year’s players here.)
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“Dogs at that age are not as toy-motivated, so they’re not going to be running in as rambunctious as you might see the puppies do,” he explained. “That is on purpose. That’s by design, because it appeals to people who would like a senior dog, a more chill, already house-trained dog. Perhaps they have a busy schedule, [they want] a dog to just nap on your couch all day. That might be the dog for you. So, hopefully, us shedding a little bit of a spotlight at halftime helps that cause.”
This year marks Schachner’s 15th time hosting Puppy Bowl, and he’s still not tired of it, in part because it keeps changing. Puppy Bowl XXII will feature 150 dogs — the most ever — from 72 shelters. Learning all those puppy names can be a challenge, but Schachner loves it. His favorite part of the process, however, is inventing new types of penalties.
“Here’s the thing, there’s two sets of regulations for Puppy Bowl. The one set is the scoring. The scoring is literally one sentence: Bring a chew toy into the end zone,” Schachner told Us. “Doesn’t matter which end zone. Doesn’t matter which chew toy. It’s very free-form. Any puppy at any time can score in any way you would imagine.”
But the penalty list? That’s infinite.
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“There’s an entire subset of penalties that are unique to dogs only,” Schachner explained with a laugh. “Excessive slobber, unsportsmanlike digging, end-zone zoomies. These things happen, you can’t predict them. They’re going to happen, but we have to occasionally call them out, especially if they’re egregious. So, that is what keeps me motivated, because I’ve got to be ready for anything.”
Puppy Bowl XXII airs on Animal Planet Sunday, February 8, at 2 p.m. ET. The Puppy Bowl XXII Kickoff Show will air one hour earlier at 1 p.m. ET.
