Meet The (Adorable) Dog From Illinois Competing In Puppy Bowl 21

ILLINOIS — Meet Boone, one of the 20 rescue pups in the starting lineup in Sunday’s Puppy Bowl XXI.

Boone is the only Illinois dog joining sporty pups from other states who are looking for homes in the 21st annual Puppy Bowl, the longest-running televised call-to-adoption event this Sunday at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT. It will be simulcast across Animal Planet, Discovery, TBS, truTV, Max and discovery+.

Boone is currently at the One Tail at a Time in Chicago and is playing for Team Fluff this weekend.

Team Fluff and their foes, Team Ruff, are made up of dogs from shelters nationwide looking for homes in the Puppy Bowl, the longest-running televised call-to-adoption event airing at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT this Sunday. It will be simulcast across Animal Planet, Discovery, TBS, truTV, Max and Discovery+.

The three-hour television event features a record 142 rescue puppies from 60 shelters across 40 states and two countries. This year’s Puppy Bowl will also bring back adoptables segments “featuring puppies — and a few kittens — that will be available for adoption during the game,” Warner Bros. said.

Julep, the first-ever St. Bernard-mix from Kentucky, and Smoosh from Florida, the only Pekingese to compete in the games, head Team Fluff. Team Ruff co-leaders are Mr. Pickles, a Pug-Chihuahua from Dallas, and Tuani, a Chihuahua-German shepherd who traveled all the way from Nicaragua.

The two teams will go head-to-head on the gridiron in hopes of bringing home the “Lombarky” trophy and see which puppy player has what it takes to be named the MVP (Most Valuable Puppy) and win the Underdog Award.

The dogs include 11 special needs dogs, including Jolene, an American Pit bull terrier-mix from Ohio competing in a wheelchair, and Sprinkle, a blind and hearing-impaired Australian shepherd-mix from Connecticut.

Audiences can vote for their favorite pup to win the “Popularity Playoffs” by visiting PuppyBowl.com.