For the fourth year in a row, Smyrna rescue group Bosley’s Place has placed puppies into the annual Animal Planet Puppy Bowl airing on the network at 2 p.m. Sunday and on both Discovery+ and Max.
The three who made the cut for Puppy Bowl XXI are two beagle siblings, Raspberry and Huckleberry, and Josie, a Cavapoo whose real name is Joey. (They changed it for the show because there was already another Joey.)
Jennifer Siegel founded Bosley’s Place in 2015 as a nursery and sanctuary for homeless and orphaned neonatal puppies, providing bottle feeding and 24-hour care until they are ready to be placed in a home. She receives between 200 and 250 puppies a year.
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Credit: CONTRIBUTED
The window to quality for Puppy Bowl is a narrow one. The pups, who grow quickly, had to be born between May 15 and July 1 of last year. Animal Planet will feature the most dogs ever in its two-decade history: 142 dogs from 80 shelters and rescues across 40 states and two countries.
Siegel last fall flew up to Albany, New York, with her foster mom friend Jennifer Kramer and drove an hour north to a 5,000-seat arena in Glen Falls where Puppy Bowl XXI was produced. She said the shooting day took 12 hours. There were catered meals for the humans and a playpen for the dogs when they weren’t out on the field or getting their photos taken like celebrities.
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Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Raspberry, a girl, and Huckleberry, a boy, are part of a litter of eight purebred beagles. “The mother immediately after birth rejected the litter and killed four of them,” Siegel said. “Four of the survivors made it to us.” Unfortunately, they all had bacterial infections and one of the puppies, Blueberry, died.
Siegel ultimately submitted applicants for Raspberry, Huckleberry and Cranberry. But only two of the siblings made the cut because Cranberry resembled another beagle already in the mix.
“Raspberry was the runt of the litter, the sickest when they came in,” Siegel said. “She actually had to have her tail amputated when she was 2 weeks old because of necrosis. She now has a little nub. Fortunately, she thrived.”
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Credit: CONTRIBUTED
The mother of third dog Joey (aka Josie), who came from a breeder, rejected her and wouldn’t feed her. Bosley’s Place tube fed her and she did well.
All three dogs have since been adopted to metro Atlanta families.
The original Bosley (now 10), who inspired Siegel to start her group, “helps me raise the pups. He licks them like a mom. When they are old enough not to get trampled, he plays with them. He loves it. He was born to do this.”
Siegel pays for her own flight and hotel room, but said the investment is worth it. She gets exposure for Bosley’s Place and has built partnerships with The Farmer’s Dog, which provides her free healthy food, and Matt Nelson, founder of the X account “We Rate Dogs,” which has 9 million followers and raises money for her to pay for surgeries for puppies in need.
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
Credit: CONTRIBUTED
If you want to meet Siegel and two of the Puppy Bowl puppies Joey and Raspberry, she is holding a free viewing party of Puppy Bowl XXI on Sunday at Stout Brothers in Smyrna from 1-4 p.m.
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