There is so much more to the story. Szynskie and her fiancé Ian Brummel, a Ph.D. candidate in UVA’s School of Engineering, adopted Finn in October from Green Dogs Unleashed, which specializes in dogs with special needs.
When she adopted him, she was told he’d recently gone on a “secret mission.” It turns out that mission was a surreptitious visit to New York for the filming of Puppy Bowl XVIII. Green Dogs Unleashed has a standing relationship with the show’s producers and has sent dogs to participate in previous games. So one week this fall, Finn was flown to New York for two 10-hour days of filming.
A Green Dogs Unleashed staffer who was on site for the visit told Szynskie the set was unusually quiet – except for some barking of course – because only the “ruff-eree” was allowed to speak.
His trip to New York wasn’t the first time Finn flew the friendly skies. He was born to a breeder in Alaska; when it was discovered that Finn could not hear, the breeder had him flown to Virginia, because Green Dogs Unleashed has such a sterling reputation for responsibly homing special needs dogs.