Proctor and Gamble, Iams & Eukanubas parent company, operate an amazing Pet Care & Nutrition Center near Dayton.

*All images were provided to us from Proctor and Gamble.  We bloggers understood the need to protect their processes and inventions, but allowing a few picture with some of the puppies, etc., would allow for a little more transparency.  This was some of the feeback we gave to the heads of the brands when we spoke to them.

The Pet Care & Nutrition Center, and in fact the whole Behind The Paw event was about transparency and I was very impressed with how much they shared.  Walking through the facility it seemed that nothing was off limits for us to see or ask about.

Here is just some of what P&G has to say:
“P&G Pet Care is proud to have the Pet Health & Nutrition Center (PH&NC) at the Lewisburg Innovation Center in Ohio as the base of its animal feeding studies. We have gone to great lengths to create a pet-friendly environment that includes pair-housed dogs and group-housed cats. This is the only facility where P&G Pet Care feeding studies take place other than the in-home studies with volunteer pet–owning families and studies that occur in places where populations of dogs or cats already exist, such as a group that raises puppies for assistance dog training.”

One thing that impressed me most was the fact that each dog that is bought by P&G, from reputable breeders, has a life plan mapped out for it from day one.  The goal for each dog (& cat, which they breed themsleves) is to be a healthy, happy, well-trained member of a household when their time at the PC&NC is done.  There is a waiting list to adopt these pets and all applicants are vigorously screened by the people who have known and loved the animals all of their lives.

The other thing that really blew me away was that every pet gets one on one play time every day with people in stimulating play areas.  Look at some of the amazing cat areas:

That last picture shows that cats heading out to one of the amazing fenced in catios built for maximum stimulation & fun!

We saw labs in their beautiful kennels, long and short haired doxies playing with people in a huge play area and more dogs & cats being played with everywhere we looked.

We met black labs & some puppies that were either yellow labs or goldens with 2 baby black poodle poofballs thrown in for fun.  More than one blogger had to resist the urge to stuff a wiggling bundle into their purse!

They also have a room that simulates “home” with carpet steps & couches, babies toys, microwaves popping popcorn, a tv showing movies (Babe was playing while we were there).  This is so no dog goes into a home unfamiliar with the sights, sounds, smell and feel of what a home is really like.

Proctor & Gamble really make sure that their pets are ready to be great community members one they leave the center.

I also wanted to share with you the other bloggers that were on this tour with me so you could check out their opinions of things.

Jennifer Costello – My Brown Newfies
John Bigley & Paris Permenter – Dogtipper and Cattipper
Susi Szeremy – KnobNotes
Jacque Newman – Dogs, Dogs, Dogs
Lynette Robinson – My Wee View
Dr. Jessica Vogelsang – Pawcurious
Amy Urquhart – Hearts Into Home
Jaime Lynn Smith – Thoughts Fur Paws
Joanne McGonagle – The Tiniest Tiger
Rachel Phelps – Preston Speaks

I met some great people while I was there and look forward to seeing them again at events like BlogPaws & hopefully BarkWorld!

 and his mom person, Pam