A Sniff Hole By Any Other Name...

Shakespeare’s Juliet said “A rose by any other name is just as sweet.” She was making a point that the names of things do not matter, only what those things are. Juliet never heard of a sniff hole and if she had, me thinks she would doth protest.

In the early designs stages of our new Center for Compassion adoption center in Burlingame, we had to make a decision about the dorm room-like enclosures where our dogs would be housed for potential adopters to see and meet them. We knew our glass-walled design was fantastic, far from the old chain link and cinderblock dog runs at our old Coyote Point facility (which still serves as our intake facility for stray and unwanted animals). 

Still, at that old facility, visitors could reach down, put a finger or two up to the chain link and let a dog sniff or lick them; in fact, some adopters made their decision at that point. “I’ll never forget the way she came up to the front of the kennel and licked my hand – she picked me.” We heard many adoption stories just like that. 

Our new dog dorms, as originally drawn by our architect, did not give adopters this ability to interact with dogs. So, we asked for a modification to the glass that allowed for some interaction between our dogs and visitors. 

We didn’t want this opening too big – in the old facility, visitors would pass (ok, sneak!) all sorts of treats through the chain link to the dogs. Our dogs often gained weight in our care and would have bouts with diarrhea when treats weren’t monitored.

Our architect came back with a fantastic option: a small set of perforations in the glass door that allowed a dog to sniff a hand and allowed our staff to pass the smallest treats through those openings.  He called his new feature the “sniff hole.” 

Now, our architect was wonderful – he designed a warm, uplifting state-of-the-art adoption center.  No place for sniff holes! 

We went through a few ideas and settled on puppy portals as the name.  Not great, but better than sniff hole.  Come get sniffed today.  The experience might lead to a new best friend and inspire a new name for our greeter gateway…our welcome window…love tunnel.  I give up! Please leave your naming ideas in the comments section.