Inside the Pack: June 2010

The BISSELL Pet Spot is officially open! The Pet Spot is an area designed for employees to bring their pets to work to inspire more new pet products. It’s a place where real pet messes occur and we use our products to clean up after them. Along with employees working in the area with their pets, we plan to use the area to host brainstorming sessions, adoption events and more. The area features three indoor kennels, each with a pet door to an outdoor area, three workstations, a conference table, a dog bathing station, and lots of cleaning products. In order to participate, employees have to sign up in advance, pass a temperament test, and be able to work beside their four-legged friend throughout most of the day.

The grand opening event was a fun-filled day. The Humane Society of Kent County and Petfinder.com were on-site during the event and BISSELL employees were encouraged to invite their family and friends. My husband and daughters even stopped by in the afternoon to check out the animals. Although we are looking for a second dog, we resisted adopting another one for now! We also had several members of the press stop by and received some great coverage:

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2010/05/bissell_debuts_pet_spot_to_hou.html

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_story.aspx?storyid=122014

During the event, the Humane Society had adoptable dogs, cats and other small animals on-site including rabbits, degu (a small rodent) and even a rat! Several Humane Society representatives and BISSELL employees helped make the event a success by volunteering their time. They walked dogs, helped people in and out of kennels (making sure no dogs escaped), and made sure everyone was replenished with water throughout the day. We did indeed pick a warm day for the event!

The event resulting in eight animals finding new homes, including two cats, two degu, and four dogs. The two cats were adopted by Meghan and one of the dogs, a Chihuahua, was adopted by Mary, both BISSELL employees (pictured below). Another dog was adopted by our event photographer so we turned the camera on him (also below). You can check out his amazing photography at http://www.jimgebbenphoto.com/. For those individuals who weren’t able to adopt during the event, we collected donations for the Humane Society’s Kibble Connection program which helps to feed pets in need. In the future, we’re planning to open adoption events up to employees of other companies in the area to help more pets find homes.