Puppy Bowl 2023: How to watch, start time, TV schedule, live blog, streaming and more

Here’s everything you need to know to enjoy the biggest game of the weekend — the Puppy Bowl.

It’s the biggest event on the American sporting calendar. The matchup we’ve all been waiting for. The best athletes on the planet vying against each other for a place in the history books and a shot at the coveted Lombarky Trophy. It’s the 2023 Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet.

Live blog:

First quarter:

The NBA on TNT crew is split on who’s going to win this one. I think we all win because we get to watch the Puppy Bowl.

Pickle is officially my favorite dog in this competition, but he’s going to be drawing flags all day with this aggressive play.

That’s paying off on offense, though, and Pickle is the first pup to cross the goal line and put points on the board for Team Fluff.

And Pickle gets into the end zone again, despite a red zone fumble. Team Fluff now leads 14-0. Just give Pickle the MVP already. He’s on fire.

Second quarter:

We’ve got another score for Team Fluff, and Team Ruff is facing a two-score deficit and trailing 21-7. Bo just got penalized for illegal bathing in the water dish. This is chaos.

DaVinci got Team Ruff on the board, and then added another touchdown. Little Mighty gets into the end zone, and Team Ruff and Team Fluff are tied at 21-21.

Espresso stripped the ball from Kokobean, and we almost saw another scoop-and-score, but she fumbled. On the next play, though, Espresso sprinted right into the end zone, giving Team Fluff a 28-21 lead.

Kokobean ran the toy the entire length of the field to even things up for Team Ruff. We’re tied at 28-28.

Penelope strips the ball and takes it to the house. Team Fluff takes a 35-28 lead and has yet to trail in this matchup.

Really aggressive defense from Team Ruff here, even though they’re down a man with little Moocow hanging out on the sideline being cuter than anyone could even imagine.

Vivianne manages to beat the Team Ruff triple team, and despite having the toy looped around her leg, gets into the end zone to extend Team Fluff’s led to 42-28.

Third quarter:

Bandit and Rascal are probably gonna get flagged for unsportspuplike conduct if they don’t cool it with the biting. Bandit’s tough defense couldn’t keep Rascal out of the end zone, though, and Team Fluff now leads 49-28.

Kokobean with a meandering score, but she eventually got it into the end zone! Team Ruff narrows its deficit to 49-35.

Cooper, who trained with the Seahawks this offseason, scores the easiest touchdown of the day, taking possession at the 2-yard line and punching it in to expand Team Fluff’s lead to 46-35.

Vivienne scores the first field goal of the day by kicking one of the toys, which then rolled into the end zone. It’s still Team Fluff in the lead, 59-35.

The aptly named Moose, a great Pyrenees mix, punches one in for Team Ruff, narrowing the lead to 59-42.

Vivienne gets back into the end zone despite a dog-collar tackle flag on Moose, and Team Fluff is up 66-42.

Fourth quarter:

Wolfie gets flagged for unnecessary roughness/illegal paws to the face. But that’s all soon forgotten as he scores another seven points for Team Fluff. Team Fluff is up 73-42.

After a rousing game of tug-of-war, Pascal breaks away to take one to the house for Team Ruff, which now trails 73-49. Plenty of time left for Team Ruff to keep Team Fluff from repeating as Puppy Bowl champs.

Josh Allenhound got flagged for doggy paddling in the water bowl. A surprising lack of discipline from the elite quarterback.

And we’ve got another score on the board for Team Ruff! It’s 73-56 now.

Velma the Great Dane had the ball in the red zone, but ultimately kicked it away from the end zone. Julius the Dalmatian, however, punched one for Team Ruff. Team Fluff leads 73-63.

And Pascal scores again for Team Ruff, pulling within 3 of Team Fluff at 73-70. I hope you took the over in this one. That’s 28 unanswered points for Team Ruff.

I am completely obsessed with Joey.

And we’ve got another field goal from Team Ruff’s DaVinci with less than a minute remaining in regulation, and the game is tied 73-73. That’s 31 unanswered points for the underdogs!

Pretty sure Team Ruff and Team Fluff just scored with both teams having possession of the ball — is this a double touchdown? After consulting the rule book, it is, in fact, a double touchdown, and we’re going to overtime with the score tied 80-80.

Overtime

This is the first overtime in Puppy Bowl history! We’ve got ourselves a ballgame, folks.

Team Ruff had a chance to score early, but Bisou from Team Fluff held them to a field goal to take an 83-80 lead. The overtime rules dictate that both teams will get a possession, so we’ll see if Team Fluff can get a toy across the goal line to repeat as Puppy Bowl champions.

Despite a truly inspired defensive effort from Team Ruff, Team Fluff punches in a touchdown to win this thing 87-83. Congrats to all of the puppies in today’s Puppy Bowl. They’re all very good dogs.

This is the largest Puppy Bowl to date, with 122 puppies from 67 different shelters and rescues across the United States making up the rosters for Team Ruff and Team Fluff. Eleven of the pups have special needs, and all of the pups are adoptable. All of the pups are also adorable.

They already had the Opening Night for the Puppy Bowl, and as you can see below, the pups had some really compelling things to say.

Get ready for the game with some astute analysis from yours truly on CBC’s Day 6 program.

Here’s everything you need to know to watch the Puppy Bowl.

TV Schedule

Date: Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023

Time: 2 p.m. ET

Pregame show: 1 p.m. ET

Channel: Animal Planet

Streaming: Discovery+

Referee: Dan Schachner

Commentators: Steve Levy, Taylor Rooks

Team Fluff won last year’s contest with a final score of 73-69. You can check out the starting lineups, featuring superstars like Josh Allenhound, Moocow and Pickle, for Team Ruff and Team Fluff here.