VOTE HERE: Salem pup featured in Puppy Bowl on Super Bowl Sunday

Vote for Marshall by clicking here.

SALEM, Va. (WDBJ) - Along with Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes, there is another athlete to watch on Super Bowl Sunday. Marshall is a seven month old Boston Terrier puppy.

“He’s very athletic,” said owner Christina Lee.

“He’s very wiggly; He’s very loving,” said owner Chris Lee.

And the eyes--- well, they’ll make just about anyone melt.

It’s no wonder Marshall was chosen to play in the Puppy Bowl shown on Discovery and Animal Planet on Superbowl Sunday. He even made the starting lineup.

“So we’re pretty excited about that,” said Chris Lee.

When you see this Boston Terrier pup you might not realize he’s deaf. His adoptive family? Chris and Christina Lee of Salem, who have worked for years to help deaf dogs through their nonprofit Deaf Dogs Rock. They helped sponsor Marshall into a rescue shelter Green Dog’s Unleashed near Charlottesville.

The Lees weren’t planning on adopting him, but as it turns out, the puppy stars aligned when Christina called the shelter to see how Marshall was doing.

“I was just asking ‘How’s the Boston doing?’” said Christina. It’s then that she found out his adoptive family had backed out.

“I was like ‘oh really, well I wasn’t thinking about it, but what would you think if we adopted him?’

Now the pup full of energy joins another Boston Terrier Bowie and four other deaf dogs at the Lee house.

“Let’s put it this way. Our other dogs have all lost weight since we got him, cause they just play non-stop.” Chris Lee said.

Now Marshall is bringing his energy and charm to the field.

Marshall is one of many special needs dogs in the Puppy Bowl.

“There is even a dog in a cart this year and a two-legged dog and some deaf dogs and other what you would have called less adoptable in the past, but we hope we’re overcoming that,” Chris Lee said.

The goal of the puppy bowl to get these rescue pups into forever homes.

After the ear pulls and tail tugs are over, all of the puppy players end up winners when they find their forever homes.

“So people are really seeing these rescue dogs are great,” Chris Lee said.

Copyright 2021 WDBJ. All rights reserved.