Tag Archives: pet friendly

Setting the standard for pet-friendly workplaces

Posted on August 16, 2014 | Leave a comment

Trupanion pet insurance, based in Seattle, has been pet-friendly since the very beginning – when it was just the Founder and his dog, Charlie. They are currently a company of more than 300 employees and 90 pets that recognizes the benefits every day of allowing pets in the workplace.

Better still, they are happy to share their knowledge for other workplaces that may want to go pet-friendly.  For example, they have a comprehensive page on Getting Started which covers:

  • Executive buy-in
  • Templates for developing a pet policy
  • A getting started checklist
  • and more

As another example, the company made a video about their experience in developing their fire evacuation policy – since there’s a lot of dogs (and a few cats) to evacuate along with their staff:

There’s also a page on Office Petiquette!

I think I’ll be monitoring the job vacancies on Trupanion’s website…this sounds like a great place to work!

Kathleen Crisley, specialist in dog massage, rehabilitation and nutrition/food therapy, Canine Catering Ltd, Christchurch, New Zealand

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Posted in dog-friendly workplaces

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North America’s most pet-friendly airlines

Posted on November 23, 2011 | 1 comment

As most of you know, I’m a big supporter of traveling with your dog when on holiday/vacation and I encourage you to support pet-friendly shops and accommodation providers in your area.

Petfinder.com recently released its findings for 2011’s most pet-friendly airlines.  This year, the site extended its coverage to Canada so it is now ranking airlines that service North America.

Petfinder reviewed airlines in the following categories:

  • what airline is most pet-friendly overall

Winner:  Pet Airways – a dedicated airline for transporting pets

  • offers the best amenities for pets and their parents

Winner:  JetBlue – for the 2nd year in a row.  JetBlue provides travelers with a pet carrier baggage tag, a travel “petiquette” guide, 300 TrueBlue points each way, and a comprehensive e-booklet with pet-friendly hotels, restaurants, parks and animal hospitals in some of JetBlue’s major cities.

  • best in offering transport to a variety of pets

Winner:   Frontier Airlines because they allow dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters and small birds in the cabin

  • best for flying multiple pets in the cabin

Winner:  Frontier Airlines, which allows up to 10 pet containers on each flight. Only one pet container is allowed per person, but the limit per flight means that multiple friends/relatives can travel with animals so the entire family arrives at its destination together

  • best service for large sized pets

Winner:  Pet Airways, the maximum height for a pet carried by the airline is 34 inches.  This allows for large sized breeds like Newfoundlands and Great Danes to fly.

All pet-friendly airlines which made the ranking were required to have zero pet deaths in the past reported year according to official government reports.

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Posted in dog care, dog ownership, dog-friendly accommodation

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AA site for pet friendly accommodation

Posted on November 5, 2011 | 1 comment

I was encouraged to see an item in the AA Directions magazine Summer 2011 issue.   Headlined as “www.aatravel.co.nz has some new accommodation categories to help refine your search for somewhere to stay or plan your next conference or meeting”, the item goes on to say that pet friendly accommodation is now a specified search on the AA Travel website.

From the homepage, it wasn’t as simple as going to the Accommodation tab and then picking a Pet Friendly category (which is what I expected).  I contacted the webmaster and was told

When you search for accommodation, you need to click on the Advanced Search button and choose the relevant criteria.

Here is the link:

http://www.aatravel.co.nz/accommodation-newzealand/

And it does work.  I’m just a little disappointed that the selection isn’t as prominent as it could be.  Still, well done to the AA.  It’s a sign of progress for those of us in New Zealand who want to travel with our pets that more accommodation providers are willing to accept pets.

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Posted in dog-friendly accommodation

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