All I Want for Christmas Is... Carl... or Pam.

This semester, my Marketing for Good project revolved around the human animal bond and was specifically inspired by the Wallis Annenberg Pet Space in Playa Vista! Because of the Annenberg Pet Space's close relation to our project, we were expected to visit the center at some point through out the semester.

When I went I decided to invite my big from my sorority, Julia, to come with me after finding out there would be cats to play with! I love animals, so I was really looking forward to going but didn't exactly know what to expect.

When we first arrived at the pet space I was very impressed by its size alone. The building was much larger than expected, and the inside proved to be very decorative!

The space alone was incredible, but that's not all that I was impressed with. Off the bat, I was greeted by a friendly employee who gave me a rundown of the space, she also made sure to note that I could visit the kittens at the "scratching post" at 3pm! The first floor of the building contained a gift shop and a rental/conference space, but "most of the action" as the employee I spoke to put it, happened upstairs!

When we went upstairs, we got to view and learn about several cats and dogs up for adoption. Each animal had its own "pet condo" with an accompanying touch screen display. The interactive display showed photos of the dog or cat and gave you the option to: learn more about the animal, the human animal bond, and adoption, as well as share the pet to an email or phone number or add the pet to your favorites!

I thought it was so cool that the Annenberg Pet Space not only houses and cares for pets who are up for adoption, but also that they educate their surrounding community on things like high shelter rates, pet adoption, and the benefits of animal companionship. It is obvious that they really care about the well-being of the animals they help.

One pet that really stood out to me was a 2 year old pup named Carl! He was so sweet and friendly and even tried licking us through the little voice holes as we got close to him. Unfortunately, my landlord doesn't allow pets and they wouldn't allow visits unless we were interested in same day adoption, but I still had so much fun learning about Carl and getting to see him and all the other animals!

After walking around and viewing the animals for adoption, the clock had finally hit 3pm... it was time to play with the kittens!

There were rules listed outside of the entrance of the scratching post where the kittens stayed, these included stipulations like: only two people in the room at a time, limit time to 5 minutes, don't pet the cats unless they approach you, and each child must be accompanied by an adult. Luckily, Julia and I got in line just before a group of 15 screaming children who were there for a birthday party, otherwise the 2 people at a time rule could've meant a crazy wait time!

Before entering the scratching post, I also noted the familiarity of the kitten names which were posted on the door. Each kitten had been named after a character from the Office, which I of course thought was super funny.

Since we were second in line, we didn't have to wait long and soon it was our turn to play with the kittens! The employee who was in the room explained to us that the kittens were brought to the Pet Space in partnership with the APSCA and most came from separate litters, which meant they were still getting used to each other.

It didn't take long for me to find a favorite, Pam, a grey and white striped kitten with hints of tan fur. Pam was so pretty and so so sweet! While we were visiting with the kittens one jumped off of a post and onto Julia's back. We thought it was pretty funny, but the worker explained that that kind of action shouldn't be promoted because it could worsen the anxiety of people who feel nervous around so many animals.

All too soon, our 5 minutes of fun was over and we had to exit so that others could come in and play. We wrapped up our time at the Pet Space fairly soon after that, and I left still wishing I could've taken Carl or Pam home!

Overall, I was very pleased with my visit to the Wallis Annenberg Pet Space! I am so happy that adoption centers like it exist and will definitely back for more fun another time. I can't say i'm surprised that our semester long project was created with the Wallis Annenberg Pet Space at its foundation, it is a pretty cool place!