PHOENIX & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NBC’s popular morning show, TODAY, teamed up with PetSmart, the leading pet specialty retailer, to offer viewers inspiring reasons to adopt a pet at PetSmart’s first National Adoption Weekend event of 2017, held today through Sunday at more than 1,500 PetSmart stores across North America. The “Adopt a Pet Today” segment, part of PetSmart’s support of TODAY’s Puppy with a Purpose series, aired today during the 8 a.m. hour with pet expert and TV personality Andrea Arden.
Puppy with a Purpose on TODAY is a 16-month special series where a puppy is raised and trained in studio 1A with his progress featured on the daily show. Seven-month-old black Labrador, Charlie, is being trained by America’s VetDogs to become a service dog for a disabled military veteran.
Charlie was joined on the TODAY set by seven adoptable pets from Louie’s Legacy Animal Rescue, an animal welfare organization based in New York and Ohio, and one of PetSmart’s 3,000 adoption partners across the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico for this weekend’s National Adoption Weekend where tens of thousands of adorable pets just like the ones seen on TODAY will find their forever families at PetSmart stores. TODAY has a nearly 100 percent adoption rate when it features adoptable pets on its show. There was great interest in the pets featured in the segment and every pet received an application, which is being reviewed by Louie’s Legacy. PetSmart said it expects about 20,000 pets to be adopted during its national all-store event this weekend.
Arden shared the following top reasons to adopt a pet:
- Adoption saves lives. Each year, upwards of seven million pets enter shelters across North America and about three million of those healthy, adoptable pets are euthanized. By adopting a pet and providing them with a forever home, those who adopt are saving a life.
- Adoption is affordable. Adoption fees often include the cost of spay and neuter surgeries, vaccinations and/or microchipping a pet. Best of all, adoption fees support the shelters that help homeless pets in need in the local community.
- Adoption offers a variety of pets. Whether you’re looking for a small pet, a hypoallergenic pet, or a pet that will be by your side as you work to achieve your New Year fitness resolutions, there are a variety of adoptable pets available to choose from. AllPaws.com is a great tool that can geo-locate and search for the perfect pet based on categories like breed, age, gender, energy level, training stage and temperament.
- Adoption is easy and accessible. Local animal shelters, rescue organizations and animal control centers give you immediate access to adoptable pets in your community. PetSmart makes it easy -- you’ll find lots of pets in every PetSmart store from coast to coast this weekend.
With the help of its more than 3,000 adoption partners, PetSmart has facilitated more 7.2 million adoptions since starting its in-store adoption program in the late 1980s -- more than any other brick-and-mortar organization across North America. As a gift from PetSmart to those who have chosen to give the gift of adoption, the nation’s largest pet specialty retailer offers new pet parents a free Adoption Kit*. The kit is offered to anybody that adopts a pet, no matter where they adopted: a shelter, a community event or another retailer. The kit includes $450 in free products and savings, as well as content to help transition a new four-legged family member into their new home.
Visit www.petsmart.com to find the PetSmart store nearest you. Pet parents everywhere are invited to share their pet adoption story on social media using #iadopted.
*Adoption papers are required.
About PetSmart®
PetSmart, Inc. is the largest specialty pet retailer of services and solutions for the lifetime needs of pets. At PetSmart, we love pets, and we believe pets make us better people. Every day with every connection, PetSmart’s passionate associates help bring pet parents closer to their pets so they can live more fulfilled lives. This vision impacts everything we do for our customers, the way we support our associates and how we give back to our communities. We employ approximately 55,000 associates, operate approximately 1,500 pet stores in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico and 204 in-store PetSmart® PetsHotel® dog and cat boarding facilities. PetSmart provides a broad range of competitively priced pet food and pet products and offers dog training, pet grooming, pet boarding, PetSmart Doggie Day Camp day care services and pet adoption services in-store. Our portfolio of digital resources for pet parents – including PetSmart.com, PetFoodDirect.com, Pet360.com and petMD.com – offers the most comprehensive online pet supplies and pet care information in the U.S. Through our in-store pet adoption partnership with independent nonprofit organizations, PetSmart Charities® and PetSmart Charities™ of Canada, PetSmart helps to save the lives of more than 500,000 homeless pets each year.
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About America’s VetDogs
Since 2003, America’s VetDogs (www.VetDogs.org) has trained and placed guide and service dogs to provide independence, enhanced mobility, and companionship to veterans with disabilities from all eras. In 2015, VetDogs opened its programs to first responders, including fire, police, and emergency medical personnel. America's VetDogs is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization founded by the Guide Dog Foundation that relies on contributions from generous individuals, corporations, service clubs, and foundations to fund its mission to help those who have served our country live with dignity and independence. It costs over $50,000 to breed, raise, train, and place one assistance dog, but America’s VetDogs provides its services completely free of charge to the individual.
America’s VetDogs was the second assistance dog school in the United States to be certified by the International Guide Dog Federation and Assistance Dogs International.
