The Puppy Bowl is this weekend!

I have to admit, most of my household thinks the Puppy Bowl is more entertaining than the Super Bowl. My girls and I love this show! If one of the puppies starts barking, it even catches Loco's attention. This will be Rocky's first Puppy Bowl experience so I am looking forward to seeing what he thinks about puppies on TV. This adorable alternative to the big game features dozens of puppies from rescues and shelters playing with toys and against one another in a miniature football stadium. I really hope they have the water bowl cam again this year!



I am excited that BISSELL is once again part of this fun show. Look for the BISSELL SpotBot to be featured and check out the BISSELL Kitty Half Time Show! It's fun for the whole family. Tune in to Animal Planet this Sunday, February 6 at 3 p.m. ET to catch Puppy Bowl VII.

Rocky helps with remodeling project

We are in the final stages of a small remodeling project at home to move the girls’ playroom downstairs and turn the room upstairs back into a dining room. This weekend all we had left to do was to paint and put the rooms back together. First we cleared everything left in the rooms. Without the furniture, I realized that I need to clean my carpet more regularly now that we have two dogs! There was a clear dirt path through the upstairs room and mystery stains in the basement.

I know exactly where the dirt path came from. Our dogs have this habit of running several laps around the house as soon as we let them in from outside. I would love to understand why being outside gives them a crazy energy burst as soon as they come inside?!! The racetrack goes from the back door, across the hardwood floor and through the new dining room. I was so happy that I have the BISSELL ProHeat 2X deep cleaner. It did an amazing job with the dirt path and all the spots. I love having a full-size cleaner at home so it’s there whenever I need it!

After the carpet was clean and dry, we finished the painting. About midway through, Rocky came running up to my husband with a few more white spots than usual. He managed to rub the whole side of his head and shoulder in wet paint. Does anyone know a good, safe way to remove house paint from pets? Good thing he is so cute, we couldn’t even be mad at him. Here he is looking a little guilty about “helping” with the painting; you can still see evidence of his brushwork on his ear…

Loco welcomes visitors to BISSELL with kisses

I think I may have had one of my most embarrassing work moments ever today… Both Loco and Rocky are working with me in the Pet Spot and we had some visitors stop by. These were not just ordinary visitors, but a group that included our company executives as well as executives from one of our top customers. I was asked to tell them a little about the Pet Spot. I often speak about all the different ways we use the area, however today while I was talking, Loco proceeded to jump up and give kisses to one really important person after another. I think she even got our CEO, Mark Bissell.


And did I mention that she has a really long tongue?!!! Needless to say I was mortified… Loco was so excited about having a big group visit that she wouldn’t listen to me at all. I’m really hoping that I was somewhat coherent. Luckily, everyone seemed to be dog people and laughed at her antics. We really are pet people at BISSELL; I hope our visitors enjoyed the up close and personal introduction to my furkids!

After the exciting morning, Loco is all tuckered out now…

The BISSELL MVP Photo Contest is underway

It’s that time of year again! The 2011 BISSELL MVP Photo Contest is underway, giving you the chance to win $10,000 for your favorite pet charity! Enter your pet’s photo each week to win prizes and get a shot at moving onto the finals. Plus you get discounts on cleaning products, just for participating! Enter now through March 29 and encourage your friends and family to vote!

Visit these links for some great tips for taking pictures of your pet from our pet lifestyle expert, Kristen Levine and one of our BISSELL Pack of Pet Lovers members, Kenn Bell of the Dog Files.

This contest brings a lot of fun to the BISSELL office. As employees, we can’t enter, but we do get to check out the new photos each day. I can regularly hear laughs and “awwws” from different cubicles as coworkers see funny and cute pictures. Some of the captions are so creative and others are very touching when rescue stories are shared. I think it’s awesome that during this contest our marketing group starts nearly every day talking about pets!

For those of you who saw my holiday posts, Loco and Rocky did get the squeaky toy that they were hoping for! Here’s a picture of them playing tug with poor Mr. Reindeer who is about to lose his head… This is their new favorite toy as they love all the squeakers!

Santa visited BISSELL to meet our pets!

Santa came to the Pet Spot at BISSELL this week. We invited our employees to bring their furry kids to visit and get their picture taken. We had so much fun getting the dogs to give us their cutest head tilts and smiles. Santa reported that all of our pets are on the good list this year and should all expect surprises and treats in their stockings.


Rocky and Loco were a little nervous of the big jingly guy but they decided it would be ok to sit with their kids next to Santa. I hope they remembered to tell Santa about the squeaky toys they want.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! I am really looking forward to hanging out with my family – including the dogs-- and am hoping the long weekend will allow us to squeeze in some extra walks. With all the food and extra treats around, we all need the exercise even more! Lately, we have been walking every morning and it just keeps getting colder and darker outside. Rocky is still keeping warm thanks to his new coat from Pet Rageous. It’s so cute and really easy to put on him! He seems to really like wearing it and the quality is great. My kids and I are bundling up too and have reflective vests to keep us visible to motorists.



Speaking of safety, check out this article from NBC regarding the dangers of the holidays for pets. I had no idea that some of the high fat traditional Thanksgiving foods could potentially be toxic to pets. Do you plan to make or give your pets a special (and safe!) Thanksgiving treat, so they can partake in the family meal?

Finally, after the turkey and the long walks, check out “Your Pet Wants This, Too”premiering on Animal Planet, Saturday evening at 8pm ET. We are very excited to be part of this new show that showcases the latest and greatest products for your pet. Representatives came to BISSELL® this summer and parts of it were filmed in the Pet Spot!

BlogPaws and Christmas wishes

It has been another incredibly busy stretch, and way too long since I’ve updated. Things starting really rolling with BlogPaws in September. This was an amazing gathering of pet bloggers and enthusiasts, where I had the opportunity to talk to lots of pet people about our products and to share pet cleaning tips. For example, did you know that enzyme products need time and moisture to work? For those really tough stains, you should saturate the area then cover it with a damp cloth and let it sit for 24 to 48 hours. That will give the enzymes time to work at “digesting” the stain. You can get more pet clean up tips on bissell.com or you can even download the BISSELL® Stain Solver iPhone App.

While at BlogPaws, I also had an opportunity to check out the other sponsors’ booths. One of my favorites was HelpJoey.com, an incredibly unique, hilarious campaign to encourage spaying and neutering to stop pet overpopulation. This is a serious subject, and the usual campaigns are emotional and sad. Joey’s approach is quite different.

I also loved the toys from Kyjen. They had an alligator-shaped squeaker mat toy with 16 squeakers! I gave the alligator to Rocky when I got home and he thought it was the best thing ever. The squeaking drove me a little crazy, but he had so much fun with it that I couldn’t bear to take it away from him… This toy lasted a little longer than many of the plush toys that I bring home, and it took him a few weeks to get to every squeaker. Rocky is hoping to get the Invincibles Snake for Christmas to see if the squeakers really keep squeaking after he bites them!

Are your pets asking “Santa Paws” for anything special for Christmas? Tell us about it, and watch for an upcoming post, when BISSELL pets get the chance to sit on Santa’s lap!