It’s simple, I love pets. Much
like my friends at Wag! it’s always been in my DNA. Around age six, I
found my first cat Jimbo tied to a tree in the neighbourhood and took him
home. Finding Jimbo sealed the deal, and helping pets became a lifelong
passion. As CEO of
GreaterGood.org, a
non-profit with the mission of Protecting People, Pets, and the Planet, I get
to help animals in need on a daily basis. Through our partnership with Wag!,
which supports our
Rescue Bank program by
providing meals to rescue dogs with every walk, I knew Wag! shared the same
passion. But Wag! doesn’t just help GreaterGood.org save pets—they also saved
me personally.
As all great (puppy) love stories
start, we woke up one day in June and decided it was time to add another dog to
our family of two cats and one spunky Pitbull named Stella. We enthusiastically
adopted Goose from the local animal shelter as an 8-week-old puppy, guessing and hoping he would grow into a
medium-sized Pitbull mix. He was beyond adorable and Stella loved him.
But curiously, his paws grew double their size in the first week. And then we
watched him grow. And GROW.
Within his first year of life Goose
turned into a handsome 125-pound puppy with abounding energy that he would take
out on my shoes, the couch, the cats, and his sister Stella. I knew that me
being gone all day at work wasn’t helping with his energy, and I needed a
solution and quick. I downloaded the Wag! app and entered the following
descriptions for my dogs: “Pitbull” for Stella, and “Big” for Goose.
Within 30 minutes I received a response from a walker named Jaison who
suggested a meeting at my house the next day.
Quite frankly, I was nervous about
meeting Jaison, wondering if he would be able to handle my 125 pounds of puppy
love and his pippy sister Stella. But then I met him. There was a knock at
my door, and in walks quite possibly the tallest man I have ever seen. Even the
dogs were amazed. I remember thinking that standing next to Jaison, Stella
looked more like a Chihuahua than a Pitbull and Goose looked like a medium
sized dog. Jaison had an impossibly calm demeanour and the dogs took to him
immediately.
The rest is history. Problem solved.
Stella and Goose love their walks with Jaison. They wait by the door for him to
come every day at 11:00 a.m., even on weekends when we are home. He taught them
to sit patiently at the door before heading out. I get a video, live route, and
report card of days adventure through the Wag! app. I trust Jaison implicitly
as the dogs are cared for, the door is always locked when he leaves, and he
always shows up. The walks with Jaison have tempered the destructive force
that was Goose and allowed me to focus on other things, like my job where I can
help shelter pets in need.
Never has Jaison helped me more than
during the period following Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria last year.
GreaterGood.org was an all-hands-on-deck operation during those months,
providing millions of dollars of relief for people and pets in need. Our motto
for disasters is we are “There When It Matters,” and that means putting your
own schedule aside when there victims who need you. There were a lot of late
nights and weekends in the office. Without knowing that Jaison was there, I
wouldn’t have been able to commit focus where it needed to be. And while Jaison
was helping me, the Wag! community was helping those in need affected by the
disasters. Our Rescue Bank program met 100 percent of the pet food requests
from FEMA for all of Puerto Rico the weeks after Hurricane Maria—and it would
not have been possible without Wag!.
With Wag!, every single walk provides
a meal for a homeless dog, and I promise you it matters. That’s why on National
Dog Walker Appreciation Day, I want to personally thank Jaison for taking care
of my dogs and thank all the Wag! walkers who fund meals for homeless dogs with
every walk. GreaterGood.org thanks you, the tens of thousands of pets who were
fed in Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico thank you, and Goose and Stella thank
you too.