Finding Love in All the Wrong Places? Animal Planet’s “Petfinder” Gives Unconditional Affection to Families in Fiesty New Series
Based on the Popular Website Petfinder.com, Animal Experts Match the Shelter Animals with Families Duking It Out Over the Perfect Pet
(Silver Spring, Maryland) — In this corner…weighing in at a cool 120 pounds… is Mom, hell-bent on a teacup yorkie. And in this corner is Dad, a svelte 160-pounder who is vying for a chocolate lab and new best friend. Each won’t give in to the another! It’s a battle to the bitter end as both are looking for a little love outside of their marriage.
Who’s gonna win it? Only Animal Planet’s PETFINDER knows!!! And only PETFINDER knows that there’s nothing like the right pet to open their hearts so that everybody wins. This all-new series creates the peace by finding just the right pet fit and premieres on Saturday, February 9, at 9 PM (ET/PT). And before each episode is over, the fur will fly, and the poop will hit the fan as a new pet is chosen!
Tasked with finding the perfect pet for this battling couple are Animal Planet’s offbeat animal experts and co-hosts, Jarod Miller and Dina Zaphiris. If it’s a pig, pug or python, Jarod and Dina have the chops to understand the essential elements in the co-mingling of animals and humans, and they know what it takes to pet proof a home in order to keep animals safe and integrate the two species with ease. Joining Jarod and Dina in the matchmaking business are the cast of “Teachers’ Pets.” These lovable, sometimes unusual, and always already adopted characters range from the Great Dane who loves to snuggle to Cleopatra the Sphinx, the cat who doesn’t shed a hair.
These pooches, cats, rabbits, ferrets and more help adoptive families figure out which new addition will be right for them — and which won’t. After all, millions of pets in shelters are there because things didn’t work out once. It’s PETFINDER’s job to be sure it doesn’t happen to them again.
PETFINDER is based on Animal Planet’s immensely popular Petfinder.com , the pet-related site which facilitates pet adoption. Founded in 1996, it is the largest searchable database of adoptable pets on the web and has helped with more than 11 million adoptions in the last 11 years. Thanks to Petfinder.com, more than 250,000 homeless pets in over 11,000 animal placement organizations across North America have their own homepages. The site also helps educate adopters about pet health, behavior and care through its resource library and discussion forums.
PETFINDER is produced for Animal Planet by 3Ball Entertainment; J.D. Roth and Todd Nelson are executive producers for 3Ball; Erin Wanner is executive producer for Animal Planet. PETFINDER is sponsored by Bissell, Chrysler and Nestlé Purina PetCare Company.
Animal Planet Media (APM), a multimedia business unit of Discovery Communications, LLC, connects humans and animals with rich, deep content via multiple platforms and offers animal lovers and pet owners access to a centralized online, television and mobile community for entertainment, information and enrichment. APM consists of the Animal Planet television network, available in over 91 million homes in the U.S.; online assets www.animalplanet.com, the ultimate online destination for all things animal; the 24/7 broadband channel, Animal Planet Beyond; Petfinder.com, the #1 pet-related Web property globally that facilitates pet adoption; PetsIncredible, a major producer and distributor of pet-training videos that includes the Web service PetVideo.com; and other media platforms, including a robust Video-on-Demand (VOD) service, mobile content, and merchandising extensions.