It was early October when I got a message from the woman who rescued Harmon and brought him into my life. I had always wanted a dog my whole life, and I finally had one for the past 2 months. He was now just over 3 months old. I wondered why she called and quickly called her back. She told me that from a pool of over 5000 puppies, Harmon had been selected to be in the “Puppy Bowl.” “What’s that?” I asked her, and when she explained it to me, I knew I had to get him to NYC for the taping. It was the following week so I quickly made arrangements with a friend of mine to stay overnight the night before the taping (we had to be there at 8am) and for the sitter to watch the kids, etc.
The road trip itself was uneventful. Harmon slept next to me riding shotgun and I didn’t have to stop to use a bathroom and leave him (which I was dreading). There was little traffic and we got to NYC in time for dinner and a bath and a nice amount of play time with my friend and her two pups. Harmon was in heaven and I got to visit an old friend.
The next day Dawn (the rescuer) picked me up around 6:00 am nd we headed into the city. We arrived at the Animal Planet Studios and were in a room with dozens of the most adorable puppies you have ever seen. Harmon went into a little pen and greeted all the pups. They all played and sniffed each other as pups are known to do. There were several other “activities” which we could partake in and they gave us a little passport to make sure we hit all the stations. One was a DNA swab of his cheek so we could know his breed for sure. One was a photo shoot (for what? We didn’t know) and a few others where he greeted lot of other pups. He did this for a couple of hours until he was finally called to the set. We walked into another room that was very dark except for the lights shining on the mock football field. They asked me to set him down on the field and leave the room. I was then told to go into another room where I could watch him on a monitor. I watched my loveable sweet puppy who usually warmly greets every fellow pup he sees stand there as if a deer in the headlights. I couldn’t believe it. He didn’t play with any of the toys on the field or any of the pups. He just stood there dazed and confused. His big break into showbiz and he was frozen. Oh well. He still looked adorable especially with the “Team Fluff” bandana they gave him.
After a few minutes they brought him back out to me where he returned to his old self playing and sniffing all the other pups around.
After a little while they called everyone back into the set area and made us stand in line holding our dogs for what seemed like eternity. They called them one by one to walk through this fog machine. They never called Harmon. I learned later that was the “starting line-up.” So I guess Harmon will be sitting on the bench. Oh well. We were asked to hang out a little longer and it was a little boring with nothing much to do. Showbiz is not all it’s cracked up to be. Suddenly a producer-type standing right near me asked loudly to the crowd, “does anyone have a pup who likes to chase balls?” I immediately raised my hand and shouted, “I do.” Anything to have something else to do…He took me and Harmon into another room where I threw balls to him and he chased them but never brought them back to me. At least they got to see his cute little scamper. But again, I felt like a bit of a failure. I assured them he does it at home all the time and chalked it up to stage fright. They got some footage which they may or may not use. The day soon came to an end and I headed home to the family.
Jump ahead to this past Sunday when I got an email from Dawn that Harmon was featured in People magazine. What? I looked at the picture she sent to my phone and cracked up. Who was that dog? He didn’t look anything like the 7 month old puppy we live with now. We didn’t recognize the face he was making and he looked so funny in our eyes. Word quickly spread across the inter webs and it seemed all my friends and family had seen Harmon in the magazine and were calling and texting to ask if it was really him. We all enjoyed a laugh and I have plastered his funny picture all over my walls at home and at my office. Dawn has also sent me links to People Magazine Pets online where he is featured as well as the Animal Planet website where he definitely is on the B team. He is famous in our house. We are proud of him even if he doesn’t make it to the big game and we will be watching and supporting rescue dogs forever more.
Please tune in if you can Sunday, February 5 at 3 pm on Animal Planet. You may see our baby, you may not, but you will see lots of adorable pups whose rescuers travelled far and wide to get to NYC to expose their beautiful rescue pups to the world. Hopefully by now, they have all gone to great forever homes, but it’s a good reminder that sometimes rescuing a puppy is the best way to go. I for one, could not be happier with my sweet Harmon.
