The Wallis Annenberg PetSpace is an interactive space driven to strengthen the human-animal bond throughout the adoption process. I visited with two of my group members and we sought out to gather research for our 1-on-1 research. We had no idea what to expect other than it being a nice pet adoption space. What we stumbled upon was a highly developed space that was comparable to Disneyland for pet adoption, an atmosphere that was a 180 from what most expect from a shelter.
The people who worked there were incredibly welcoming and eager to show off their pets to us. We told them we were from LMU and that we were gathering research for our class, they were more than happy to sit down and answer some questions for us after giving us a tour around the space. I could tell that the workers were genuinely happy about the work they've done for the human-animal bond, but I couldn't help but wonder why a 'shelter' like that needed to be so grandiose. While I understood that they are trying to create a fun environment for kids and families to play and get to know the pets as they look around the space, I was undoubtably rubbed the wrong way by the massive pet animatronics and towering ceilings. Just to play devils advocate, I wondered why all the money that was obviously put into the space couldn't be put towards actual shelters so that every dog shelter in Los Angeles could be a bit more beautified, rather than spending millions on an gigantic cat statue. I also remember walking up to some of the dogs and having them aggressively launch and bark at me which also gave me a weird feeling, were the pets actually happy and treated nice or were they trapped in a small glass box? Personally, these are some of my takeaways, but I am grateful for being able to tour the space and meet the wonderful workers.
The best part of the trip was when we met a lady named Claudia while leaving to go back home. Claudia introduced herself after we spotted her therapy dog, Harper Lee. She told us that she was involved with the P.U.P. Organization (Pups Unstressing Passengers) and that we frequently visits the PetSpace as a volunteer. She told us how Harper Lee gave her a new purpose in her life. She was once a school teacher, but was recently diagnosed with an illness that left her with limited mobility which led her to seek out the PUP Organization as a volunteer. This heartfelt story left us feeling inspired to involve her in our pet project for Marketing for Good. While our final project does not involve PUP, we are still in contact with Claudia and grateful for our initial meet.
Final thoughts on the experience, I respect Wallis Annenberg for creating a beautiful space for pet adoption and love the fact that they provide veterinarian and post training care for families who adopt. They said they have high turnover with the pets and I think this can be used for inspiration for others to donate to animal shelters in LA to give them a higher chance to create a similarly beautiful space which could also result in more turnover. I see it as the future of pet adoption, but there are obvious issues in animal shelters now to fix first. Easier said than done, but I'm hopeful.
Also... look at their Instagram! Incredible
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