BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Offices in Brentwood City Hall are furnished with desks, chairs and the occasional dog bed. Even in City Attorney Kristen Cohn’s second-floor office, where tennis balls and chew toys may be on the ground, Cohn has to watch her step. Her Great Pyrenees mix, Nicks (named after Stevie Nicks), often rests on the plush bed and wags her tail when visitors come to scratch her behind the ears.
Nicks brings a calming atmosphere inside City Hall and is one of the reasons Brentwood is now a certified city in Mars Petcare’s Better Cities for Pets program. Brentwood first achieved certification in 2020 and was recertified in 2022. But over the past two years, the city has continued its pet-friendly efforts, and Mars Petcare has extended Brentwood’s certification through 2027.
According to the program’s website, “Science shows that people who own pets tend to get more exercise, feel less lonely and stressed, and have stronger social connections. Maybe that’s why more people than ever before think of their pets as family. Pets make our lives better, and we want to spend as much time with them as possible. The BETTER CITIES FOR PETS™ program helps cities become more pet-friendly so more people can enjoy the benefits of living with a pet.”
Last year, Brentwood added a new pet-friendly drinking fountain near the John P. Holt Brentwood Library. The fountain was installed as part of the Leadership Brentwood 2023 group project and is located on the walkway connecting the library to River Park.
The library also has a pet microchip scanner, provided by a local Girl Scout troop, that can be used to identify pets that have become separated from their owners.
“We recognize and celebrate Brentwood’s four-legged residents and are proud to support them with pet-friendly parks, businesses and features like on-leash regulations that keep everyone safe,” Brentwood City Commissioner Leah Little previously said.
For more information about the certification program, visit https://www.bettercitiesforpets.com/
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