Six months ago she was fighting for her life, and now she’ll be playing in the biggest game of the year. Felicity hasn’t had an easy journey, but she thrives on overcoming obstacles.
Felicity, a Doberman Pinscher from the Desert Harbor Doberman Rescue of Arizona in Phoenix, will participate Sunday as part of Team Fluff in the 2025 Puppy Bowl, Animal Planet’s popular alternative to the Super Bowl. Felicity is six months old, 45 pounds and full of energy.
“Dobermans are a very athletic, muscular breed. We tried to do everything to make her a receiver and not a linebacker, but she is going to be quite a bit larger than some of the other dogs out there,” said Lisa Cuto, associate director of Desert Harbor Doberman Rescue.
“Gentleness training was definitely in the picture. We tried to socialize her with all sizes of puppies so that she wouldn’t bull anybody over, but don’t count on that. It might happen,” Cuto joked.
Felicity is one of four dogs who will represent Arizona shelters and rescues in the Puppy Bowl. Delulu and Jake, both Shih Tzu and Maltese mixes, will represent the National Humane Society on Team Ruff. Akimel, a Chow Chow and American Pit Bull Terrier mix representing the NAGI Foundation, will be on Team Fluff alongside Felicity.
Felicity’s foster mom, Pamela Garcia-Filion, her daughter, and Cuto have been hard at work getting the puppy ready for her big day. She has been practicing short obstacle courses in the backyard by running through a tunnel to work on her agility.
Garcia-Filion’s daughter helped Felicity learn to fetch by starting with small objects like a tennis ball and growing to larger objects. When Puppy Bowl Sunday rolls around, Felicity will be ready to attack the football on both sides of the ball.
“Dobermans are a working breed, so they want a job. So once you assign them a task, they learn easily. Doberman’s a very smart breed,” Cuto said. “We taught that little girl how to chase a ball from an early age.”
Another aspect of Felicity’s training was familiarizing her with other dogs. Felicity took trips to the farmer’s market each week along with many walks around the community to help acclimate and socialize with other people and dogs.
“She will be with teammates on Team Fluff that she doesn’t know very well. So to get her to be happy, relaxed and to chase the football is going to be our goal,” Cuto said.
Felicity is ready to show off her football skills on Team Fluff in the 2025 Puppy Bowl, airing Sunday, Feb. 9.
Felicity will be the first Puppy Bowl participant from Desert Harbor Doberman Rescue. Cuto explained that about 70 dogs applied for the Puppy Bowl, and Felicity was one of about 40 dogs selected.
Sunday marks Puppy Bowl’s 21st anniversary, and there will be a record 142 puppy players from 80 shelters and rescues across 40 states, and two countries. Tuani, a special pup, will represent Nicaragua. In addition, the Puppy Bowl will feature 11 extraordinary special needs athletes. Team Fluff and Team Ruff will compete against each other for the “Lombarky Trophy.”
The 2024 Puppy Bowl commanded 12.6 million viewers, and was the No. 1 non-sports cable telecast of the day in all key demographics. One year earlier, the event reached a five-year high of 13.2 million viewers.
“We’re a small local rescue. When we heard back that Felicity was one of the finalists, we couldn’t have been more ecstatic, on a national level to be able to represent what a wonderful breed Dobermans are,” Futo said. “They made the decision. I’m not sure how, probably because she’s adorable.”
Futo grew up with big dogs and fell in love with Dobermans. She joined the Desert Harbor Doberman Rescue of Arizona to help however she could. While the rescue does not have a physical shelter, it has about 150 volunteers who take in dogs to foster while they prepare for adoption.
Desert Harbor’s services for the dogs include helping with medical problems, spays or neuters and getting them well, mentally or physically, to find their forever home.
“The rescue does such excellent work with this breed, and to showcase that this is a breed that can really succeed, and the rescue is so dedicated to this breed,” Garcia-Filion said.
Most of the rescue’s work occurs at foster homes helping the dogs, but on occasion it also takes in dogs whose owners can’t take care of them anymore.
Felicity has been at Desert Harbor Doberman Rescue since birth, and has made her impact on the rescue felt.
“She was the happiest of the bunch, which is how she got the name Felicity. She was always looking for cuddles, and just a happy-go-lucky puppy,” Cuto said. “There was a couple of females that would group together, but Felicity was always the happiest of the bunch.”
Felicity grew up with her many siblings and had to fight for what she wanted as a young puppy. Futo and Garcia-Filion believe that will prepare her for a big performance on Puppy Bowl Sunday.
Despite her remarkable comeback, Felicity’s first few weeks were far from easy. She was faced with multiple challenges she had to overcome to get to this point.
“She was part of a really large litter, and she had been exposed to some adversity during pregnancy, which made her first two weeks of life touch and go,” Garcia-Filion said. “It required round-the-clock, 24-hour care. I slept next to the litter for 24 hours every night, and checked on them every 15 minutes, just to make sure we could keep them alive.”
Desert Harbor Doberman Rescue staff and volunteers compared Felicity to Arizona Cardinals’ running back James Conner. During Conner’s junior season at Pittsburgh University in 2015, he tore his MCL. During his surgery process, he was diagnosed with stage 2 Hodgkin lymphoma. Six months later, through rigorous treatments, Connor was announced cancer free. He went on to play in 2016 and was drafted in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft by his hometown team, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
When doctors found Connor’s cancer, they told him he would have had about a week to live at the rate it was growing if he didn’t get it treated.
Connor is now entering his ninth season in the NFL after signing a two-year, $19 million contract extension with the Cardinals. His perseverance and determination are one of the most heralded stories in sports.
Similarly, Felicity persevered through the first two weeks of her life and has only grown stronger.
Pamela Garcia-Filion, Felicity’s adoptive mother, is overcome with emotion as she recalls the challenges Felicity faced during her birth.
“She’s come from what’s called a miracle litter, and so they’re just little miracles. It was very challenging, but I mean, they’re perfectly healthy. They’re full of life. You would never know that they ever encountered any challenge in their first couple of weeks of life,” Garcia-Filion said. “I think that makes us so proud that, you know, even the most challenging puppies, whatever they’re exposed to, with just a lot of love and care, can really overcome anything and thrive as very healthy dogs.”
Felicity’s foster family will be adopting her, and it will become her forever home. She will have a brother named Kingston, who is 14 months old and also a Doberman. Felicity’s name will be changed to Dutches in honor of her mom.
“Her mother’s name was Dutches, and it was important to me and my teenage daughter who raised her that we honor her mom, who also showed a great deal of bravery, and so we named her after her mother,” Garcia-Filion said.
The NAGI Foundation, which is sponsoring Akimel on Team Fluff, offers services, resources and support for both people and their pets on tribal land. Their focus in past years has been on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian community, but they’re reaching out to other local tribes as well.
This will be the second puppy the NAGI Foundation sends to the Puppy Bowl, after sending a puppy a couple years ago, according to Sheila Iyengar, founder and CEO of the NAGI Foundation.
“I think (Akimel) is such a great representation of amazing dogs that can be found on our tribal lands. She is very, very social with people, like she loves children, she loves people, she gets along with other dogs,” Iyengar said.
Iyengar, a dog trainer and behaviorist with over 30 years of experience, believes Akimel was attacked by other dogs before landing at the NAGI Foundation, based on scars. However, Akimel has grown to be comfortable with other dogs.
Akimel and Felicity have met and played together to get acclimated and ready for their trip to the Puppy Bowl together.
Iyengar believes Akimel will be adopted by her foster family as well. The family is very close with the NAGI Foundation and has fostered numerous dogs.
“I think there’s something about when you get this tiny, like, little 10-pound puppy that’s been beat up by other dogs and not feeling well, and she sleeps in your bed, and you nurse her back to health, and now she’s like six months old and she’s probably weighing in at like 40 pounds,” Iyengar said.
The three rescue organizations will be representing Arizona at the national level, but they are also intertwined with each other through what Iyengar calls a “ very symbiotic relationship.” Iyengar is one of Desert Harbor’s head trainers, members from Desert Harbor volunteer with the NAGI Foundation, and the National Humane Society is one of the NAGI Foundation’s lead veterinary partners.
All four puppies are excited to represent Arizona at the Puppy Bowl on Super Bowl Sunday. Look out for Felicity, a linebacker hoping to be a receiver, doing her best to get into the end zone alongside her teammate Akimel for Team Fluff, while Delulu and Jake vie and play on Team Ruff.
There might even be a touchdown dance.
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