Yums stars in Puppy Bowl VI
On the biggest day of television viewership this Sunday, a small Sapulpa doggie is making a big splash on Animal Planet Channel’s Puppy Bowl VI.
Miss Yums is a small, French Bulldog with a big heart inside and on her side (dark color splotch-marking on her ‘port’ side).
The 5-month-old female pup (at the time the Puppy Bowl was pre-recorded in October) is owned by Diana Erwin.
Erwin, with husband Jamie and son Cody, jetted off to Baltimore with miss Yums in tow, rented a car and drove to Maryland where the show was taped. miss Yums was born May 18, 2009. She was not 6-months-old when she entered the television studio for her shot at fame.
“First off, she is a rescue dog and we want people to know that. She was sickly, at 8-weeks-old she should have weighed around eight pounds ” she was only two pounds in weight. Yums was about six pounds underweight for this breed,” Erwin said.
The Yums of today is at a healthier weight though she is still a bit on the small side for her breed.
Erwin takes a great interest in the good care and welfare of dogs with her focus primarily on two breeds, Boston Terriers and French Bulldogs.
She also manages an English Bulldog Rescue organization aptly named Fur Kids R Us.
It was through her affiliations and partnership with Petfinder.com and the Oklahoma Boston Terrier Rescue Society and others that brought Yums to the attention of producers at Animal Planet.
This is year six for Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl television extravaganza. The cable channel is part of the Discovery Channel cable network.
The concept of the show is simple enough: build a tiny astroturfed stadium, paint hash marks on it, add goal posts, sidelines, human referees have camera ready…. and then add to the mix the puppies of differing breeds and sizes.
Ratings for the puppy bowl program have risen each subsequent year.
What was once just a change the channel ‘programming alternative’ to the halftime program of the National Football League’s championship game, has garnered a sizable viewing audience with America.
Animal Planet programming brains, realizing they have a hit program on their hands, have updated and improved the program.
This year’s programming goodies include hamsters piloting a mini-blimp hovering above puppy stadium; bunny rabbit cheerleaders; and halftime festivities of kitty cats at play.
A feature not new to the program and retained this year is the glass bottom water dishes with television cameras affixed underneath. A system guaranteed to capture the dog athletes’ water breaks up close and personal.
It all makes for fascinating television viewing, especially for children, but still interesting enough for adults.
Puppy Bowl VI pulled in eight million viewers in 2008. it was the highest rated program for the network that year.
Yums owner can be contacted by e-mail, jdcerwin@ecewb.com or OBTRS. org