By Robin Rhea, PetSafe Senior Brand Manager
On August 11th, my dog, Buckley, and I broke out our fancy dresses and headed to PetSafe’s Black Tie and Tails Gala which was Knoxville’s first dog-friendly black tie fundraiser. This landmark event benefited canine cancer research projects through the Morris Animal Foundation & the University Of Tennessee College Of Veterinary Medicine. 
The silent auction and cocktail hour was lively with 20 dogs and 120 people enjoying the playfulness of the event which PetSafe plans make an annual fund-raiser. During dinner and the live auction, four-legged guests were escorted by their very own professional escort, courtesy of the PetSafe Village, to a dog-friendly area for a bit of fun and one-on-one care.
While the dogs were at play, human guests got an in-depth summary of the industry-leading cancer research currently being performed at the UT Vet School. Research shows one in three dogs will be affected by cancer and half of them will not survive. This very shocking and upsetting statistic is why PetSafe is so committed to this cause. 
Much can be learned from canine cancer research that will help move cancer treatment and prevention to next stage in humans and vice versa. In the same way that human civilization has been paralleled and uniquely impacted by our pets, it’s no surprise that this life threatening disease follows this same pattern.
The spirit of the event and meaningful message that was shared encouraged pet-lovers to dig into their pockets to help protect the future of our pets, resulting in over $30,000 of donations.
These moneys and funds from the PetSafe Canine Cancer walk on September 23rd, will help keep UT’s progressive research moving forward and we are confident that lives will ultimately be saved.
ABOUT ROBIN
Robin Hawn is the Senior Brand Manager of the PetSafe Family of Brands for Radio Systems Corporation, head quartered in Knoxville, TN. She works to build a brand of products designed to give consumer more of the best moments they can possibly have with their pets. She has a MBA with a Marketing Emphasis, a B.A in English, and 10 years experience developing and launching marketing plans, brand strategy and PR campaigns across a variety of diverse industries. Her French bulldog Buckley typically logs the same hours at the office as Robin. She volunteers with the Most Pet Friendly Community initiative that has a mission of making Knoxville, TN the most pet friendly community in America.
