HARTFORD COUNTY, N.C. — As many American sports fans prepare for Sunday's big game, the Humane Society has another big game in mind: the Puppy Bowl.
Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl, an event focused on puppies “playing” in a football game, hit our screens for the 20th year. Several of the puppies featured have ties to Hampton Roads.
According to a press release from the Humane Society, this annual event promotes adoption by encouraging viewers to help dogs in need of forever homes by “adopting, fostering, volunteering, or donating.” They are said to be contributing to the promotion of marriage.
Ollie, a former local pup rescued from Hartford County, North Carolina, was one of this year's Puppy Bowl players.
Ollie and “over 100 other dogs” were rescued by the Humane Society of the United States from a breeding operation in Hartford County in May 2023.
The Humane Society said the dogs were being removed from poor conditions where some dogs were forced to drink from “murky green puddles” and were in desperate need of veterinary treatment “for heartworms and other parasites.” He was rescued, officials said. Sadly, some dogs had BB bullets implanted in their skin.
Ollie and many of the puppies on the property were malnourished and suffering from rickets, “a rare and often painful disease of young animals that causes bones to become soft and deformed.”
Ollie was taken from Hartford County to Green Dogs Unleashed in Troy, a rescue facility in Virginia, where he recovered from rickets and regained a healthy weight.
Ollie was adopted into a loving family shortly after being selected for the Puppy Bowl. Ann and her husband said they saw his photo and immediately knew he was the perfect addition to his family.
“It's him. We need him,” Anne recalled saying.
Ann said Ollie didn't have the “big trauma reactions that other dogs have” and went from being a dog in need of adoption to being a “beloved family dog.” He added that Olly now “spends his days birdwatching with his brother's cat.”
Another Hampton Roads product appeared in Sunday's game. Cronut, a Shar Pei from the Chesapeake, also competed.
“He's blended in perfectly,” his owner said, adding that Cronut “is always playing hard.”
“These happy endings, and the spotlight Puppy Bowl puts on adoption and rescue, are critical to helping shelters and rescues across the country weather the overpopulation crisis,” said President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States. said Kitty Block, CEO. She urges viewers to help in any way they can, whether by adopting, fostering, volunteering or donating.
To learn more about Ollie, check out Kitty Block's blog, President and CEO of the Humane Society.
