Puppy Bowl 2012: Where to Watch the Contestants Play Online, Animal Planet

The "Puppy Bowl" is the annual television event sponsored and premiered on Animal Planet that mimics the Super Bowl, but with cute puppies running around as contestants instead of professional athletes. The program is in its seventh year and first premiered on February 6, 2005.

Cute Alert: Bulldog Puppies Learn to Walk

Three-week-old puppies, Sylvester and Shirley, try to take their first steps.

Cute Jake still awaits a loving forever home

While cute puppies found homes for Christmas , no one considered what a wonderful companion they would have with Jake. At less than a year old Jake is still very much a puppy with no surprises about his adult size or temperament.

There's a wag on the play

While the men go galloping across the gridiron with a pigskin in their arms during Super Bowl XLVI Sunday night, there will be another — some say better — game on TV: Puppy Bowl VIII.

Go Ahead, Try and Deny the Puppy Bowl

The Puppy Bowl, which began as a joke between network executives, has blossomed into a counter-programming success garnering more 9.2 million viewers for Animal Planet last year despite going up against the Super Bowl. It's a relatively simple feel-good success right? Cute puppies playing around on a set have captured American hearts their Nielsen ratings?