CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Fluvanna County-based Green Dogs Unleashed has sent dogs to Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl for the 11th year in a row.

In addition, Green Dogs Unleashed Director Erika Proctor told Cville Right Now that of the five dogs who were picked, three have special needs, including vision and hearing impairments. This is in line with Green Dogs’ mission as a special needs animal rescue.

“We primarily focus on special needs animals, so animals who are deaf, blind, or both, or might have some other medical or behavior challenges,” she told Cville Right Now. “We bring them into the program and get them fully vetted and start training with them and then find amazing families for them.”

Proctor said they’ve been a nonprofit since 2013 but moved into the area in 2011 and started the organization then. She herself has been an animal behavior specialist for 27 years.

Animal Planet initially reached out to the Green Dogs 11 years ago, and they agreed to send dogs because they saw it as an opportunity to high specific puppies while bringing attention to the organization and giving the Puppy Bowl an opportunity to embrace special needs dogs.

But in the first few years, the show didn’t mentioned anything about the dogs’ special needs, so Green Dogs began pushing the producer to do so.

“The year they did highlight the special needs, it created this amazing feedback across the country of how incredible these dogs are,” she said. “They highlighted a deaf and blind puppy of ours and also a dog who has three legs — her name is Sophie — and it was an absolutely amazing experience.”

Soon, people around the country were contacting Green Dogs, including both people who already owned special needs dogs and didn’t know there were any organizations that could provide help as well as people who wanted to adopt a special needs dog.

“It kind of snowballed from there to where Animal Planet has really focused on some of these and highlighted some of these special needs and expanded.” Proctor said. “This year they have a little guy in a wheelchair, and they’ve got more vision-impaired and not just from our organization but from national organizations.”

She said people see these animals playing and romping and being completely normal.

“They have challenges, they have differences, but they’re no different than their hearing, and seeing, and walking counterparts.”

The Green Dogs Unleashed participants this year are Fairy, a Yorkie mix who Proctor said came from a hoarding case, and is “just a tiny little thing. Maybe she was four pounds.”

There’s also Dottie, a deaf Dalmatian pup, who Proctor describes as “a sporty little feisty thing”.

Winnie is a tiny, very prim and proper Dachshund who Proctor said wants to spend a lot of time snuggling and being held.

Knick Knack is a deaf and vision-impaired Aussie mix who she describes as “go, go go and super friendly and social with everyone”.

Then there’s Brulee, a Frenchie Boston mix who is deaf.

“He’s just one of those dogs that just brings joy,” Proctor said. “You cannot meet Brulee and not have a smile on your face. He’s on the field catching the ball, running with it, playing, tussling, and he’s just Mr. Social himself. I have a feeling we’re going to see Brulee quite a bit on Sunday, and I think he’s going to steal the show.”

People in the area will have a chance to see Brulee and others steal the show at a watch party at Patch Brewing in Gordonsville. The Puppy Bowl itself will air on Animal Planet, Discovery and a number of other Discovery networks, starting at 2 p.m.

Proctor said those who are looking to get involved with Green Dogs Unleashed itself can do so in a number of way, as the organization is always looking for volunteers.

“If people are looking to get involved, whether they want to get involved at home where we have opportunities to volunteer virtually, or if they want to be involved physically with helping with events or fostering or transporting dogs to vet appointments, there’s all kinds of opportunities,” she said. “Even if they just want to come and walk dogs or sit and spend time with some of the dogs on campus, there’s lots of opportunities for that.”