Meet Your New Furry Family Member at PetSmart Charities™ of Canada's National Adoption Weekend
TORONTO, Sept. 12, 2016 /CNW/ - For many the back-to-school season marks a return to early bedtimes, neatly-packed lunches and regular daily routines. But for some children, heading back to school can be a stressful time as they face natural jitters and questions like: who will my new teacher be? Will my friends be in my class? What if my math homework is really hard this year?
During these times of insecurity and uncertainty, news reports and research studies confirm that pets alleviate stress with their instinctive way of sensing when humans need comfort. In fact, a study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology i found that people who have pets had higher self-esteem and tended to be happier and less stressed than their non-pet parent counterparts. With additional benefits like teaching responsibility and promoting regular exercise in children, adopting a pet this back-to-school season is a very smart move.
"From encouraging an active lifestyle to teaching responsibility, offering unconditional love, and the more recent findings about the comforting and stress-relieving power of pets, there's no shortage of great reasons to adopt a new pet this fall," says John De Franco, President of PetSmart Canada and Chairman of the Board of PetSmart Charities™ of Canada.
This back-to-school season, PetSmart and PetSmart Charities™ of Canada, in partnership with local shelters, rescues and adoption agencies, will host a National Adoption Weekend September 16-18 in every PetSmart store across Canada. From coast-to-coast, the weekend is an A+ opportunity for families to meet hundreds of healthy, happy, adoptable pets available in their local communities.
"No matter which reason you choose to adopt a pet this weekend, you'll be helping to end pet homelessness in Canada by giving a loving pet the forever home they deserve," says David Haworth, DVM, PhD, and President of PetSmart Charities™ of Canada.
Take A Family Field Trip to National Adoption Weekend:
| Where: |
PetSmart Charities of Canada Adoption Centres or designated adoption areas in all PetSmart stores across Canada. To find your nearest PetSmart store visit pets.petsmart.com/adoptions/ or call 1-877-473-8762 |
| When: |
Fri., Sept. 16 and Sat., Sept. 17 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. |
| Sun., Sept. 18 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. |
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| Share: |
Share your adoption pics and stories with the hashtag #iadopted and join the conversation by following @PetSmart and @PetSmartChariTs on Twitter and Instagram or find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/PetSmartCanada/ |
The Gift of Adoption Gives Back:
As a gift to those that give the gift of adoption, PetSmart offers a free Adoption Kit, which provides useful information on how to integrate a pet into the family home in addition to providing real value. The Adoption Kit includes more than $350 in savings for pet parents on pet care essentials including a free veterinarian visit, a training session with an accredited trainer, one Doggie Day Camp session, an overnight boarding stay, a bag of dog or cat food from Simply Nourish™, Authority® or Good Natured™, and half-off pricing on two grooming services. Also included are savings on the key items you'll need to welcome a furry friend into your home: from beds, crates and gates to treats, leashes, toys and even pet-friendly cleaning solutions.
Adoption All-Year Long: The Adopt Spot, Where People Save Pets (and Pets Save People)
Over and above National Adoption Weekends held four times a year, PetSmart is 'The Adopt Spot' and adoption spaces in our stores are open throughout the year to help pets find their forever homes. More than 60 pets are adopted every day that PetSmart stores are open in Canada, and over the September National Adoption Weekend thousands of pets will find their forever homes.
Since its founding in 1987, PetSmart recognized the pet homelessness problem and made the decision to never sell dogs or cats in their stores. In 1994 and 1999, PetSmart Charities and PetSmart Charities™ of Canada were respectively created as nonprofit organizations with a mission to end pet homelessness. Together, they are now leading philanthropic organizations granting more money to directly help pets in need than any group in North America – $285 million to date.
About PetSmart
In Canada, PetSmart is the largest specialty pet retailer of services and solutions for the lifetime needs of pets. At PetSmart, we believe pets make us better people. That's why we create more moments for people to be inspired by pets. This mission impacts everything we do for our customers, the way we support our associates, and how we give back to our communities. We employ more than 3,600 associates and operate 115 pet stores across Canada with seven operating 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 and pet adoption services in-store. Our portfolio of digital resources for pet parents – including PetSmart.ca , Pet360.com and petMD.com – offers the most comprehensive online pet supplies and pet care information in North America. Through its in-store pet adoption partnership with PetSmart Charities of Canada, PetSmart has helped save the lives of more than 200,000 pets since 1999. In addition, PetSmart supports organizations that make communities a better place to call home through our philanthropy program, PetSmart Gives Back™. By giving back to the communities where we live and work, PetSmart® not only celebrates the power of pets to enrich people's lives—we live it. Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PetSmartCanada/ and see PetSmart® on YouTube: www.YouTube.com/PetSmart
About PetSmart Charities ™of Canada
PetSmart Charities™ of Canada is a nonprofit animal welfare organization dedicated to saving the lives of homeless pets in Canada. Each year, more than 20,000 cats and dogs find Canadian homes through our adoption program in nearly all PetSmart stores across Canada and through our sponsored adoption events. A leading funder of animal welfare, PetSmart Charities of Canada has granted more than $9 million to help pets in need with a funding focus on adoption and spay/neuter programs that help communities solve pet overpopulation, and emergency relief for pets and pet parents impacted by natural and man-made disasters. PetSmart Charities™ of Canada is a registered charity, independent from PetSmart.
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| i McConnell A, et al Friends With Benefits: On the Positive Consequences of Pet Ownership Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2011, Vol. 101, No. 6, 1239 –1252, p1241. Accessed August 30, 2016, available at: https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/psp-101-6-1239.pdf |
SOURCE PetSmart Canada
Image with caption: "PetSmart - The Adopt Spot (CNW Group/PetSmart Canada)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160912_C5541_PHOTO_EN_769694.jpg
Image with caption: "PetSmart Canada (CNW Group/PetSmart Canada)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160912_C5541_PHOTO_EN_769696.jpg
Image with caption: "PetSmart Charities(TM) of Canada (CNW Group/PetSmart Canada)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160912_C5541_PHOTO_EN_769698.jpg
or to speak with someone from PetSmart Charities™ of Canada, please contact: Weber Shandwick on behalf of PetSmart® Inc. & PetSmart Charities™ of Canada: Fontane Choi, [email protected], 1-416-642-7925; PetSmart Media Line: 1-623-587-2711
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