Pet Brands That Give Back:
A Roundup from Global Pet Expo

One of the best aspects of our industry is the passion for pets. Many pet brands are committed to giving back in some way, and Global Pet Expo saw the launch of numerous philanthropic initiatives.

We were lucky enough to be included in the press conferences and releases announcing these programs. While we learned of a dozen initiatives, a handful stood out. Here are 5 pet brands that give back and the initiatives announced at GPE 2016.

Lindy & Company

Spoil your pet with gourmet treats that help teach homeless youth valuable job skills. Daybreak, a nonprofit that helps homeless youth, created Lindy & Company so pet parents can buy healthy, delicious treats that are homemade by homeless youth, who get to develop the skills they need to get and keep good jobs. Visit Lindy & Company to read more about this powerful, life-changing partnership. (Confession: The second I heard their story, I joined the Treat of the Month Club for Emmett!)

PetSafe

This year, PetSafe is changing their Bark for Your Park contest to reach more communities. At Global, they announced their Bark for Your Park Grand Program, which will award gifts to 25 communities across the country. In addition to funding projects to build new parks, the program is expanding to include maintaining or updating existing parks. The awards include five $25,000 new park awards, 10 $10,000 park makeovers, and 10 $5,000 park maintenance awards. Learn more before the initiative launches.

Merrick

K9s For Warriors and Merrick Pet Care are once again joining together to demonstrate the effective role service dogs play in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among American military veterans. Merrick will now offer its Hero’s Banquet canned recipe year round and donate a portion of the proceeds to underwrite research on how pairing specially trained rescue dogs with veterans suffering from PTSD and/or traumatic brain injury (TBI), helps veterans readjust to civilian life. The research will be conducted by Purdue University’s Center for the Human-Animal Bond. For more information about the Merrick/K9s For Warriors partnership, watch one warrior-dog team story or visit www.merrickpetcare.com.

Bayer

Bayer is also expanding its partnership with K9s For Warriors to further support the lifelong bond of the organization’s graduate teams: warriors and their service dogs. Throughout 2016, Bayer will connect K9s For Warriors alumni with veterinary clinics and pet retailers across the country that agree to provide free health and wellness goods and services needed to care for each warrior’s service dog. The program, called Operation K9 Care, is completely free to the veterans and ensures that all those who graduate from K9s for Warriors can more easily afford to keep their life-saving service dogs happy and healthy, which in turn, helps these veterans live a fulfilling life. For more information, go to www.bayer.com.

DOG for DOG

At DOG for DOG, when you buy a bag of food or treats, they give an equal amount of food to dogs in need. As part of their outreach to help shelters, founder Rocky Kanaka and renovation specialist Rob North travel across the country to breathe new life into animal shelters and rescues. The ultimate goal of the show, “SAVE our SHELTER,” is creating healthy and happy environments for pets, increasing adoptions, and saving more pets’ lives. Each episode educates audiences about pet-related topics and culminates in a big reveal. Learn more about DOG for DOG or watch a preview of a SAVE our SHELTER episode.

Barkworthies

The natural treat brand launched Chews Rescue by making a $10,000 donation to the local Richmond Animal League, delivering a generous amount of treats for the rescue pups to enjoy, launching a two-month Facebook campaign that invites pet parents to support animal rescue by sharing photos and more of their own pet, and donating an additional $5 to the Richmond Animal League for each Facebook entry successfully received between March 1 and April 30. To learn more—or to like their page—visit them on Facebook.

If your audience is interested in animal welfare and philanthropy—and I suspect they are—how do you integrate coverage of endeavors like these? Do any of these initiatives strike a chord for you or your readers?

Maggie Marton serves as the BlogPaws senior editor. When not hiking with her two pit mixes, Emmett and Cooper, or playing with Newt the Cat, Maggie writes about them (and the pet industry) at ohmydogblog.com and maggiemarton.com. 

Image: Ivan Nakonechnyy/Shutterstock.com