Cute Canines Competing in Puppy Bowl IX

Football fans know each year's Super Bowl will deliver great action, awesome plays and heart-stopping and heart-breaking moments.

But one thing the Big Game doesn't usually deliver is cuteness. But don't worry, another Sunday event has you covered.

Animal Planet presents Puppy Bowl IX on Sunday beginning at 3pm Eastern time.

The annual canine competition features 63 star players collected from shelters and rescue organizations across the nation.

All of the animals featured in Puppy Bowl IX come from shelters and rescue organizations across the United States and even Puerto Rico. This year’s starting lineup includes puppies from Wayside Waifs Animal Rescue (Missouri), spcaLA (California), Tails of Love Animal Rescue (New York), Pitter Patter Animal Rescue (Wisconsin) and Big Fluffy Dog Rescue (Massachusetts). Viewers who are interested in adopting a pet in their area should visit Petfinder.com, which has helped more than 20 million pets find their fur-ever homes.

The game will feature a winning combination of terrier tackles, canine touchdowns, puppy penalties and fido first downs.

They're all competing for the title of Bissell^® MVP (Most Valuable Puppy).

Returning Referee Dan Schachner isn't going to let the pups run wild though – he wants everyone to play nice.

“The puppy players viewed me more as fresh meat than a ref last year,” says Dan. “It took a few hard-hitting plays for them to realize their overwhelming cuteness and basset hound eyes wouldn’t affect my judgment to fairly officiate this game.”

Animal Planet stars will provide commentary throughout the game.

The Puppy Bowl will also feature the puppy cam, water bowl cam, kiss cam and an aerial view of the field Ice Breakers^® Mints blimp and its hamster pilots.

The cuteness continues with the the Bissell^® Kitty Half-Time Show.

These cuddly calicos will dazzle fans with kitty gymnastics, furry acrobatics and overall kitten mayhem leading up to the grand finale confetti shower, sending all the “Single Kitties” (and viewers) into maximum cuteness overload.

Not enough cuteness? You demand more cuteness? Then I have just two words for you: hedgehog cheerleaders.

This year, the event is going multimedia in a big way. Follow sideline reporter Meep the Bird on Twitter @MeepTheBird for the latest news and behind the scenes moments.

For the first time ever, new Puppy Cam technology will bring viewers closer to the action, with intimate “in your face” camera angles of dog snouts, wagging tails and thumping paws. Additionally, special cameras will slow down every lovable frame of adorable action while substitute players submerge their paws and rest their rumps in a special puppy hot tub, providing never-before-seen views of underwater puppy aquatics.

To learn more about Puppy Bowl IX, fans can visit AnimalPlanet.com for video highlights, behind-the-scenes moments and the new original “Reftrospectives” web series featuring raw commentary from The Ref. On game day, Animal Planet and Subaru will partner to develop a digital iPad simultaneous viewing experience that will serve up fun Puppy Bowl facts, engaging polls and more during the big game.

Puppy Bowl IX official sponsors include Pedigree^® Food for Dogs, Bissell^®, Ice Breakers^® Mints, GEICO, Subaru of America, and Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment’s Despicable Me 2.