Purina and St. Louis Blues Unveil ‘Purina Doghouse’ Penalty Box for 2022-2023 Season
Ahead of the start of the 2022-2023 NHL regular season, the St. Louis Blues Hockey Club today unveiled the Purina Doghouse, a new moniker for the away team’s penalty box at Enterprise Center in downtown St. Louis. Visits to the Purina Doghouse, which signifies Blues opponents taking a penalty, will trigger a $100 donation each time a player visits the away team penalty box from Purina, up to $15,000 to local service and support dog training organizations.
The donated funds from Purina will allow local organizations like Duo Dogs, a St. Louis-based nonprofit organization that trains and connects facility and assistance dogs with individuals and communities, to enhance its training services and help more dogs prepare to make a positive different for those in need.
“During the course of a hockey game, there will be moments when the players get too excited or play too aggressively and need to take a break. At Purina, two cornerstones of positive reinforcement training are to redirect inappropriate behavior and end on a positive note,” said Christina Lawrence, Vice President of Brand Marketing at Purina. “The Purina Doghouse represents a unique opportunity to help engage fans with tips to help their pets at home. We’re working to make the positive power of pets even more accessible to those in our community who need it most.”
Barclay, the Blues official Duo Dogs Ambassador, who is fueled by Purina Pro Plan, will play a key role in the Purina Doghouse educational elements provided by Purina experts throughout the course of the season. Barclay is the first dog to join a professional sports team full-time and is actively delivering positive impacts across the St. Louis community.
“In a traditional sense, time spent in the ‘doghouse’ is a bad thing, but for Blues fans, a trip to the Purina Doghouse provides an advantage on the ice and now generates a positive for pets in our community,” said Randy Girsch, Vice President of Community Development and Event Management with the St. Louis Blues. “We’re excited to add this new dimension to the gameday experience for fans and applaud Purina for finding another unique and exciting way to bring pets and people together.”
Introducing the new Purina Doghouse comes at a time where mental health awareness is on the rise and demand is increasing for animal assisted therapy. This program is the latest step Purina is taking to help unleash the power of pets to those in need. The company recently announced its first ever employee-led Touch Therapy dog program in partnership with local nonprofit Duo Dogs, which trains and certifies new Duo Touch Therapy teams to volunteer their efforts in Duo facility partner sites across the greater St. Louis metropolitan area.
Purina also supports St. Louis Children’s Hospital and helped create the Purina Family Pet Center, a facility that allows family pets to visit pediatric patients inside the hospital, in addition to partnering for the Purina Paws for Hope program, which provides St. Louis Children’s Hospital patients access to volunteer pet therapy teams.