The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I received an email and voicemail from a local journalist asking about the veterinary college’s Michigan fire hydrant. I immediately called my colleague, Allison Burk (our team’s media relations expert), and told her the journalist contacted me. The journalist had contacted Allison too and she was already coordinating a time when Dean Moore could speak with the journalist about the unique fire hydrant. An hour or so later, Allison called back said the story was happening. She asked me if I knew any male dogs who could use the fire hydrant while the reporter filmed them for her news segment. I named two or three people I knew who worked in the Veterinary Medical Center who sometimes bring their male dogs to work. When I emailed them to ask if they had their dogs with them, I got an out of office response or didn’t hear back. I told Allison my female dog hikes her leg up and I’d gladly bring her in as a backup in case we didn’t find any other dogs. Allison appreciated my willingness to help. Our boss was off for the day, it was one of those days that everyone takes off from work, so Allison and I were managing this media story together. I offered to drive to work since I lived only ten minutes away and I knew my Allison lived twice as far away and was still adjusting from the stress of having just moved into her new apartment.
I met the news journalist at the veterinary hospital at 1pm with my dog, Holly, by my side. I’d quickly made Holly an Ohio State bandana (I bought Ohio State fabric last year, planning on sew projects with that fabric, so I just needed to measure and cut the fabric to the size of a dog bandana.
I got to work an hour before meeting the journalist to grab my nametag from my desk and jog my memory as to where the Michigan fire hydrant was located (I seemed to stumble upon it, rather than having the location cemented in my brain.) After I found the fire hydrant, I was walking down the hallway in the veterinary hospital with Holly, who was smelling everything on the hospital floors. A veterinary technician and veterinary assistant in the hallway joked to Holly about how those floors had a lot of smells on them. Y’know that voice people do when they are talking to dogs? I realized I knew the veterinary assistant from two years ago when I had borrowed his goldendoodle puppy, Georgia, for the Class of 2026 orientation. Turns out, veterinary students are much more likely to come to you and want their picture taken for social media when you’re holding a dog. I asked Clayton if he happened to have his dog Georgia here today. He said he had two of his dogs in the employee pet ward that day: one male and one female. Perfect. The journalist could get at least one good shot.
When I walked the journalist out back to the fire hydrant, I warned her that my dog Holly would likely go immediately. The journalist set up her TV camera, hit record and told me to let Holly off the leash. I let her go and she went right up to the fire hydrant and hiked her leg. I swelled with pride, in that way only a dog owner does when their dog fulfills the cliché of peeing on a fire hydrant. She got her shot. I offered her Clayton’s additional dogs and she said the extra footage would be good. I ran to grab Clayton from the emergency service (which thankfully wasn’t busy on a Friday afternoon) and he grabbed his two dogs. They went out to the hydrant and fulfilled their destinies, just like Holly had done.
Packing her camera up, the journalist casually said to me, “And I’ll just be back on Friday to get a live shot. I’m sure someone can let me back here.” Um, what? I told her I needed to check with our media relations person and called Allison. Allison said that Friday was observed as a holiday at Ohio State and a media trained staff member wouldn’t be able to accompany her, so she couldn’t come back on Friday. I hung up with Allison and told the journalist that she wouldn’t be able to come back Friday and asked if she could pre-record her intro and outro now. She said she could, she’d just need to write the copy then and there. We went back out to the fire hydrant and she filmed a brief intro and outro. I stayed nearby, listened, and texted with Allison. The journalist packed up and left the veterinary hospital.
I don’t do a lot of media relations in my current role but it’s always interested me, especially since I was previously on the other end, working as a small time local reporter for a print newspaper. I like when I get whatever public relations experience I can get. And I got a kick out of my own dog, Holly, fulfilling an Ohio State dog’s dream.
Allison was the all-star who coordinated schedules with the journalist, got the interview with Dean Moore arranged and who led the operation. I met the journalist on-site and helped her get the footage she needed for her story. Allison and I work together by me sharing on social media the new stories she helps make happen.
News story:
The story performed well on Facebook, getting more engagement than our usual posts and being our top post that week. I was most pleased by the 22 shares:
Tweet of news story:
That same day, I created an IG Reel about the Michigan Fire Hydrant. I wasn’t going to share the news story on Instagram so I knew I needed some way to engage our IG followers with the special fire hydrant.
Debbie Wakefield 