Meet RuPaw, Atlanta’s 2026 Puppy Bowl rep
Last June, a litter of six Boston terriers was found abandoned in a box behind a dumpster in Clayton County.
The county’s animal control contacted Jennifer Siegel, who runs Smyrna-based Bosley’s Place, which specializes in neonatal care for young puppies. Siegel was on vacation in Italy but found a volunteer in Nashville to bottle feed them until she returned two weeks later.
Five of the pups survived, each whimsically named for a drag queen as a tribute to Pride Month. The runt of the litter was a girl dubbed RuPaw.
Siegel has gotten puppies into the Puppy Bowl each of the past five years including three last year. For the 2026 version, she submitted all five Boston terriers, but the network selected RuPaw as its lone Georgia representative.
“She was the cutest,” Siegel surmised. “She had the smushiest face.”
Puppy Bowl XXII was taped last October and airs at 2 p.m. Sunday before the Super Bowl. It will be on not just Animal Planet but also TBS, truTV and Discovery, plusHBO Max and Discovery+ streaming services.
The window for selection is narrow: All pups must be born between May 15 and July 1, so most are four to five months old when they perform on the Puppy Bowl. Siegel picks small breeds so she can carry them on the plane to Albany, New York. The competition is taped at an arena in Glens Falls, New York, 45 miles north of Albany.
Siegel said RuPaw was “the perfect travel companion,” making friends with passengers, flight attendants and pilots on their Delta Air Lines flights. In the hotel room, Siegel prepped RuPaul for the big game by playing fetch.
Unfortunately, on the day of the shoot, RuPaw refused to go on the football field and engage with the other dogs. “She sat there and stared at everyone,” Siegel said.
RuPaw much preferred the humans, including the ref and the camera folks. “They probably got a lot of close-ups of her face,” she said.
Siegel had no problem placing RuPaw in a forever home. Two months before Puppy Bowl, RuPaw moved in with Woodstock couple Olivia Cervi and her boyfriend, Stephen Yokoi, who had his own mutt, Oreo.
“They’re an adorable, young, active, loving couple with an amazing dog,” Siegel said. “We wanted to grow their family.”
When Cervi was signing the contract in August, she found out that she would have to briefly relinquish RuPaw for a trip to the Puppy Bowl two months later. She had no qualms: “Of course I was thrilled. I grew up watching the Puppy Bowl!”
Once adopted, RuPaw was renamed Beanie because Cervi loved Beanie Babies when she was younger. (We’ll keep calling her RuPaw to avoid confusion.)
She is now seven months old and thriving. “She’s the most spoiled thing,” said Cervi, 29, a Kennesaw Mountain High School and University of North Georgia graduate now working in marketing. “We love her so much.”
When given a choice, RuPaw still opts for humans over other dogs but gets along fine with Oreo. While in the house, she lords over a massive trove of toys packed into a large wicker basket.
“It’s kind of embarrassing to be honest,” Cervi said. “She takes naps on top of the toys inside the basket. It’s ridiculous. We go a little overboard.”
RuPaw is in Zoom Room puppy classes and knows how to roll over and spin. She has joined a puppy play group to get more comfortable with dog scrums and will be at Stout Brothers in Smyrna for a public Bosley’s Place Puppy Bowl watch party Sunday.
Though RuPaw will probably not get a lot of airtime Sunday, Animal Planet picked her as one of 16 pups among the 150 to compete in an annual “Pupularity” contest online.
Much to Cervi’s joyful surprise, RuPaw has won three contests and is now in the finals against a Bassett Hound from Indiana named Rhett.
You can vote through Feb. 5 for RuPaw or Rhett. So far, Rhett has built a sizable lead, and Cervi isn’t sure how hard she should keep lobbying to get RuPaw to victory at this point. (There is no prize for winning beyond the title of “Most Pupular.”)
“I’m really proud that she made it this far,” said Cervi. “She has people messaging us on her Instagram, and it’s so fun.” At the same time, she added, “I’m a super competitive person, so that part of me is dying to rally the troops and make a comeback!”
Bosley’s Place rescued about 150 puppies last year, all of whom were placed for adoption. Siegel said she could have rescued more but lacked enough foster parents. “It wasn’t money,” she said. “It was resources. We provide fosters with all the equipment and food, but shelters across the country are struggling to find fosters.”
Siegel said the Puppy Bowl connection helped her land a sponsorship with The Farmer’s Dog, a subscription service that delivers fresh, human-grade dog food to owners. They provide her all the food she needs for her dogs at no cost.
“They’ve come and filmed me and built up awareness of me nationally,” she said. “It’s truly incredible.”
If you watch
“Puppy Bowl XXII,” 2 p.m. Sunday on Animal Planet, Discovery, TBS, truTV, HBO Max and Discovery+
If you go
“Puppy Bowl watch party,” 2 p.m. Sunday, Stout Brothers, 265 W Spring St, Smyrna. You can meet RuPaw in person.
About the Author
Rodney Ho writes about entertainment for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution including TV, radio, film, comedy and all things in between. A native New Yorker, he has covered education at The Virginian-Pilot, small business for The Wall Street Journal and a host of beats at the AJC over 20-plus years. He loves tennis, pop culture & seeing live events.
