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Bow-Ow! Bissell, Kidde Help Ease The Pain Of Pet Separation

As pet owners return to work post-quarantine, Bissell Homecare and Kidde have launched separate initiatives to ease the pain of separation and ensure animal safety.

Bissell has teamed with pet services app Wag on a “More Than Messes” sweepstakes running through July 27. To enter, consumers visit MoreThanMesses.com through July 27 to share via photos and short stories “the moments with their pets that make the messes worthwhile.”

“We're speaking directly to pet parents this year as their schedules return to normal, to help them manage everything from cleaning up pet hair to finding pet care,” explained Theresa Junkunc, Bissell director of marketing, in a press release."We hope we can ease the load so they can spend more quality time with their furry best friends."

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Five grand prize sweepstakes winners will receive a package valued at $4,429 containing five pet-specific Bissell products (deep cleaner, vacuums and air purifier; $2,000, which the ASPCA estimates as the average annual cost of caring for a large dog; and a year of Wag services (defined as a walk a week, equating to a $1,040 gift certificate).

Another 45 winners will receive two Bissell products (deep cleaner, cordless vacuum) and a $30 Wag gift certificate, with a total value $530.

The sweepstakes is administered by ICF Next and Marketing Resources, Inc.

Bissell said Wag, which reported a 100% increase in pets joining the platform over the course of the pandemic, will separately recognize 50 pet caregivers, who will be provided with Bissell products.

“Over 96% of people shared with us that their pets improved their mental health during this time," said Dylan Allread, chief operating officer at Wag.

With National Pet Fire Safety Day today, July 15, Carrier Global’s safety electronic products company Kidde teamed with pet trainer Sara Carson (“America's Got Talent”) to help train pets to respond positively to the sound of smoke alarms. The initiative is being promoted through the social media platforms of both Kidde and Carson.

The main tool is a four-minute video that Sharon Cooksey, Kidde’s fire safety educator, told Marketing Daily “will stay up forever.”

According to a Harris Poll online survey commissioned by Kidde among 1,367 pet owners from June 22-24, 91% said they plan leave their pet home alone more often due to the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, with more a third of those people saying they are nervous about doing so. 

"At Kidde, we're committed to ensuring that pet owners are equipped with the right products, resources, tools and confidence to prepare their entire family members – both two- and four-legged – in the event of an emergency as we all transition to more time out of the home,” Cooksey said.

Among Carson’s tips, as spelled out in the video, are: Familiarize your pet with the sound of the alarm; pair the sound with a command; Identify and name the exit, i.e., 'outside';  and Reward for positive response.

And yes, those are pretty dog-specific, but “we're hoping the tips provide inspiration for cat lovers too,” Cooksey told Marketing Daily.

With that in mind, Kidde also offers suggestions for protecting all pets from the dangers of home fires, including: attaching a non-adhesive decal to a window near your front door to let rescuers know how many animals are inside; including pets in your family’s evacuation plan; and, of course, making sure your smoke detectors work and aren’t more than 10 years old.

The American Veterinary Medical Association says that 500,000 pets suffer from smoke inhalation and 40,000 pets die in home fires each year. In addition, The National Fire Protection Association estimates that nearly 1,000 home fires each year are started by family pets.

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