Puppies and Football: The Moth Podcast
episodePreviously titled “Superb Bowls: The Moth Podcast” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 4, 2026
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What unique stories about football are shared in this episode?
Welcome to The Moth. I'm Michelle Jalowski. It's that time of year when it feels like everyone is talking about football. And whether you're a diehard fan or you don't know the difference between a tush-push and a flea flicker, and yes, those are both real football phrases, the stories around the game are often just as fascinating and exciting as the game itself. On this episode, two stories related to football that aren't about the game of football. We're talking halftime shows, big game pageantry, and puppy bowls. First up is Eliana Smith, who told this at a Philadelphia Grand Slam where the theme was making waves. Here's Eliana, live at the Moth.
I started fostering dogs, or convinced my parents that we needed to start fostering dogs, when I was 12 years old. This quickly became my entire personality. And within the first year, I had fostered over 40 different dogs. And it was around then that I was presented with the holy grail of foster dogs. Annabelle was about a year and a half old and she was like a pity mix, very stereotypical, very sweet and like wanted to be all over you. And she was very pregnant as well. So in a few short weeks, I would have five tiny puppies in my house at all times. And I was so excited. I learned everything I could about early puppy development. Even in those first few days, exposing them to the right things will determine what they're afraid of and how emotionally stable they are later in their life.
It's really incredible. So on the 4th of July, Annabelle had not five, but 10 puppies. And again, I'm 12 years old and I get to have 10 puppies in my lap at all times. It's incredible. And the first few weeks, they're not really doing much. They don't really do anything. But then come three weeks, those eyes are open, their ears are open, they're learning to walk, they're learning to play, and they're realizing there's a world around them. And they get really excited about that. And it's around then that I got the best email you could ever receive. Animal Planet. the network, TV network Animal Planet, reached out to my shelter looking for puppies for the 2017 Puppy Bowl. And when you're 12 years old and your entire personality is fostering dogs, this is the Olympics.
How does Elyana Smith prepare a dog for the Puppy Bowl?
And I needed to submit my three best contenders with headshots and personality bios. So they are three weeks old. They are the size of a soda can. And you might think that personality bios would be difficult, but I'd been watching them. I know who was cut out for it. There was one that was really into toys, so I was like, that could be good, and another one, so I was exploring. Then there was a third one, Juniper. She was the first girl who was born. And she always got into so much trouble. She taught all the other puppies, all nine other puppies, to crawl out of their crated area and to escape into the house. She was very interesting. And so we submitted these, and I waited to hear back so anxiously.
And they continued to grow very fast. And I continued to expose them to everything I was supposed to expose them to and made sure they had every milestone. And then I heard back. Juniper was in. She was going to go to the puppy bowl. We were going to the puppy bowl. And this was next level. So time continued to go on. At around eight weeks, all the puppies got adopted. Their mom got adopted. I met all their families. It was wonderful. And Juniper stayed with me because she needed to be four months old before she could go. And so during that time, we went everywhere, we exposed her to every sound and movement, and there was going to be nothing that could break her focus. And by the time she was like three and a half months, she was an incredible dog.
Potty trained, crate trained, slept through the night, we were ready. And then I got my second life-changing email of the summer. Animal Planet had not known that I was 12 years old. And you actually can't go to the Puppy Bowl studio if you're under 18. And obviously I was crushed. This was terrible. But I knew. I knew that the Puppy Bowl was there to promote pet adoption.
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