Planet Dog Blog

Celebrating Ten Years of Giving

Join us at Planet Dog as we celebrate 10 years of giving! Planet Dog proudly donates 2% of every sale to our non-profit arm, the Planet Dog Foundation, to fund the training, placement and support of dogs working to help people in need. Over the last decade, we have contributed more than $800,000 in cash grants and in-kind donations to exemplary non-profits throughout the country.

Now through December 12, we are asking you to share with us your Stories of Service. Do you, or someone you love, work with a service or assistance dog? Do you have a certified therapy dog? Do you participate in K-9 search and rescue in your community? Share with us a story of how a dog you know has given back to a person in need, or how a person you know has been helped by a dog, and be entered in a contest to win a year's supply of Planet Dog products!

 

To enter, submit your story on our Facebook page, or email it to us at customerservice@planetdog.com.

We will choose one special story each week, and then invite all of our customers and fans to vote on the winning story in December.

Join Planet Dog's 10 Years of Giving celebration, where every single purchase gives back. Share your stories of service with the world!

Welcome Home, Heroes

Hello, friends. What a crazy week we at Planet Dog have had! There is so much I could write about - our trip to Orlando, FL for the Global Pet Expo, our Best in Show Prize for our new Orbee-Tuff TableTop Display; our wildly popular Happy Birthday Orbee Flash Mob Dance; our I Love My Orbee So Much Contest. . . . but all of that can wait for another post.

Today, I want to welcome home the 6 teams from the Search Dog Foundation who were deployed to Japan following the devastating tsunami. Last week I wrote about Pearl, the shelter dog who was rescued herself and now has a career rescuing others.

While I was in Orlando last week, I realized what a true superstar Pearl really is when my colleagues and I flipped on the TV and saw Pearl and Capt. Horetski chatting away with Pat Sajak and Vanna White on Wheel of Fortune!

Of course, that appearance had been taped earlier. By the time we saw her on TV, Pearl and her handler, Captain Ron Horetski, had joined the other Search Dog Foundation teams, and volunteer teams from all over the world in Japan to help search for survivors.

You can read all about their mission and homecoming here. The Search Dog Foundation motto is Leave No One Behind. While these valiant teams did not find any survivors, they provided tremendous comfort to those in Japan that everything had been done to try and find survivors. 

Global Animal has also posted a beautiful gallery of images of the Search Dog Foundation teams and many others as they risk their own lives and safety to try and recover survivors.

We are extremely grateful to all of the brave men and women and dogs from across the globe that have been working tirelessly to help in so many ways in the aftermath of the earthquake. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by the disaster.

We Did It! 20,000 Sold!

Happy Wednesday, everyone! In a very special edition of Chew On This!, I am thrilled to share the results of the Planet Dog Foundation's Romp-a-Thon Challenge. With the help of hundreds of stores that carry Planet Dog products, we achieved our goal of selling 20,000 Glow for Good balls in 2010. 100% of the proceeds of these bouncy, minty, orbee-tuff balls support the work of the Planet Dog Foundation, and service dogs helping people nationwide.

We awarded our coveted Orbee Bone Trophies to our top three winners in the challenge. Many thanks and congratulations to Texas-based Whole Earth Provisions and Pennsylvania's Elite Dogtique for winning runner up and honorable mention prizes. And a hearty congratulations and thank you to our Grand Prize winner, Moochie and Co., for their enthusiastic participation and thrilling victory. In addition to winning the deluxe bone trophy, they will also receive a supply of custom-printed dog balls from Planet Dog.

The greatest prize of the contest is a special $10,000.00 grant awarded to the canine service organization of Moochie and Co.'s choosing. I am very happy to announce that they chose Ohio's Circle Tail, Inc., a non-profit organization near Cincinnati that provides service dogs and hearing dogs to people with disabilities.

On behalf of all of the dogs working to help people in need everywhere, thanks to everyone who bought a Glow for Good Ball and helped us reach our Romp-a-Thon goal!!

A Slobbery Show-Down at the Planet Dog Company Store

Sloppy, wet kisses were on full display at the Planet Dog Company Store in Portland, ME last week, as it hosted the 7th Annual Canine Kissing Contest, with proceeds benefitting the Planet Dog Foundation.

Last year's winner, Bo, arrived in a homemade champion cape, and began eagerly practicing offstage before the contest began. It was clear to all the dogs there that Bo was the kisser to beat. He had persistence, enthusiasm, great form and the stamina to go the distance.

A few dogs tried their best, but the roar of the crowd proved very distracting for those pups used to performing on their home couch. Then, it was Bo's turn. He didn't match his 2010 winning time of 59 seconds (!), but he logged an impressive 15 seconds before losing his focus and looking away. Was it sabotage? Was the pressure too much?

Enter Miles. Miles' people had been encouraged for years to let him compete - his personal best was 2 minutes and 30 seconds during pre-contest training. Despite his rookie jitters, Miles took the top prize with a full 20 second smooch! Click here to see video coverage of the winning kiss http://www.wmtw.com/video/26871770/detail.html.

Bo was a very graceful runner-up, handing off his champion cape to Miles, and settling in with his mom for some consolation kisses, while Miles soaked in all the glory of taking home the 2011 title of the Best Canine Kisser in the World. Congratulations, Miles! 

As we enter the off-season, questions remain. Will Bo be able to recapture his title? Will Miles let the fame and glory go to his head? Are dogs allowed in Disney World?