Amazing Pet Experiences
Amazing Pet Experiences®
Our mission is about creating amazing pet experiences which make the world better for people, the pets that love them, and the places where they live, work, and play. These experiences are designed to drive positive change in communities and organizations while also creating lasting memories and healing through the power of the human-animal bond.
Here are a few examples of our work:
A pet-friendly city
A game-changing pet-friendly initiative in one Florida’s largest cities. We had the opportunity to work with the founding members of this city’s first pet friendly program in defining its vision, mission, and purpose based on the outline of the Better Cities for Pets®program. In turn this small team grew into a public private partnership of over 35 businesses, animal shelters, and the city. The initial program included focused projects for businesses, housing, and parks celebrating the power of pets. As the program grew the team mission expanded to solving real problems such as pet inclusive housing and pet equity in underserved communities. We were asked to provide ongoing project management. The city has seen significant positive impact from this program including new residents choosing to move there because of their pet-friendly reputation and being recently named the top Dog-Friendly City in America by Smart Asset, https://www.modernglobe.com/st-pete-takes-number-one-spot-as-most-dog-friendly-city-in-america/. A new administration is now in place, and they are excited to explore even more inclusive ways to promote the human-animal bond in their goals. The momentum created is inspiring and making a difference for all of the city’s residents and visitors both two and four legged.
A domestic abuse shelter
The sobering statistics are that nearly 50% of domestic abuse victims will stay in an abusive situation because they will not leave their pets behind, yet only 15% of domestic abuse shelters nationwide are pet friendly. We had the honor of collaborating with a domestic abuse shelter to incorporate pets into their guests’ healing journey. The work included pet therapy and establishing safe haven options for guests’ pets along with future pet-friendly planning. Through this work we forged partner relationships within the local and nationwide pet care/domestic abuse community for the shelter and created a reference toolkit with best practices, guided steps for moving forward, and a “who to go to for what” directory of contacts for future reference. The excited news is that they are now working towards becoming even more pet friendly by building out their shelter to accommodate guest pets onsite!
An urban community
Pets play such an important role in the health and well-being in the lives of their people and the communities in which they live. Underserved urban communities often experience veterinarian and pet business deserts, however. The closest vet care or pet stores are often miles away. Additionally, the costs of healthy pet food and care can be limiting. We are currently working with inner city community partners and county animal services leaders on a program to address this through pet resource centers placed in community centers. The goal is to create awareness while also providing access to affordable food, vet care, and other needed resources. A vital part of this work is listening to the community and asking what their pet-related needs are. This will ensure that as the pet resource center concept develops it is meeting real needs and making a lasting impact.