Pet Pals
You’ll also find this post at The Pulse
Say hello to my little friends.
We’ve spoken about children at work, and the effects of family illness.
How about critters?
What role (if any) do pets have in business?
Free Range
I figure there are three schools of thought:
- Corporate environments in which the prospect of pets is laughable.
- Home / small offices that consider critters de rigueur.
- Places in between.
As usual, I expect to learn that I’ve merely … scratched the surface.
I’ll describe my situation, tell a few tales, then open the floor.
Winston and Sarah have mentioned pets in several comments.
I’d love to hear yours too.
Dog Days
Omaha and Graham (pictured) spend each day in or around Empire House.
Omaha curls at my feet for hours.
She’s wonderful company for a sole trader in a solitary trade.
Twitter is awash with pictures of cats lounging on keyboards and monitors.
These suggest many businesspeople keep close quarters with furry friends.
Walkies!
My dogs get me out of the house.
I’m forever tempted to put work deadlines ahead of my well-being.
Left to my own devices, I wouldn’t exercise nearly as much.
But when bright eyes and tapping paws implore you to take them to the sun, it’s hard to resist.
Stress Balls
I’ve read that pet owners live longer and have reduced cancer and heart disease risk.
The mere act of stroking fur is supposed to lower your heart rate and stress level.
If you have a bad interaction with a client or supplier, the warmth and unconditional understanding of a best friend can be very calming.
Pet Hates
It cuts both ways, though.
When clients visit, critters must vanish.
You can’t have them jumping and pawing.
And that visitor’s chair better be clean.
It’s bad enough when you go to a meeting covered in fur. (The old sticky roller’s a godsend here.)
Sending your clients back into the world similarly hirsute is even worse.
Corporate Animals
Some larger offices allow pets (and military mascots abound).
Responses range from lifting team morale to finding poo in the boardroom.
Some people can’t handle the distraction of animals at work.
And a cute puppy sure can stop an entire department in its tracks.
Babies have a similar impact, though they don’t tend to chew three-phase power cables.
Then, of course, there are allergies.
Despite the pitfalls, some big firms have a liberal attitude towards pets at work.
How about you?
Your Say
What do you think of this fuzzy frivolity?
- One meow, yes.
- Two meows, no.
Give us a sign,
lest we do this by
arf.
Paul Hassing, Founder & Senior Writer, The Feisty Empire
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I couldn’t find anything in my lease about bringing animals into my studio, so I sometimes take my dog to work
That said, it’s usually just me here, so it doesn’t happen on days when I have appointments. I do find having her here helps keep me sane, starts conversations, and gets me outside. I should probably do it more often. Nothing wrong with a well-behaved office dog
Thank you, Luke. (Nice to see you back, BTW!)
Has your dog ever helped extract a smile from a recalcitrant infant?
Or do you employ other measures …
Meow, meow.
Clearly there’s a place for some animals in some workplaces, but pets are a different thing altogether IMHO (and I love a cute kitty-cat as much as the next person).
I’ve worked for two places where large dogs were allowed to roam freely; one was a professional services office (not only did the doggy manage to eat lunches from staff members bags, others were a little afraid of him and made to feel very uncomfortable); the other was a “professional” kitchen that had two massive dogs wandering freely getting into whatever they pleased. Let’s just say, I never ate at that particular restaurant again!
Health issues aside, the mess, noise, and odour caused by most pets can be very off putting for staff and customers alike. Sure, it’s kinda cool seeing a cat wandering around a winery… but not so cool when you leave covered in fur from everywhere it’s been sitting.
Having recently stayed in several B&Bs while on honeymoon, several had cats or dogs roaming the premises… and I can’t say I’m a fan of pee-stained, doggy-smelling carpet, or shredded furniture, or cats trying to jump on my lap while I’m having my morning cup of tea.
It’s just not appropriate. And while those who work from home may enjoy the company, pets should still be kept well away from any areas you may receive clients (or at least thoroughly vacuumed and aired out beforehand).
Thanks for going into such detail, Anna. You raise some ripper points.
Omaha has twice been almost bifurcated by large dogs, so I’m pretty wary of those too. As with kids, I think discipline is key. Thanks again!
Hey Paul,
Guilty of Tweeting kitty kat pics!
When I work from home I love having Mia around for a cuddle and sometimes a 2 minute break from the computer (particularly if stress levels are higher than normal), but frustration can appear when I’m madly typing away and she decides to harass me for food even though she was fed 2 hours before (and the way she behaves you’d think I haven’t feed her for a year).
I do believe that there are times when pets can add benefit to a work environment.
I can’t (and wouldn’t) bring Mia in to work – but if I was a sole trader working from home I know she’d be a great companion (I can shut the door when she harasses for food!).
Nice one, Naomi. You paint a vivid picture. How’s about a piccie of Mia, just for the record …
And…a drum roll, please…while we post a picture of Winston’s office pals. (very well behaved office pals, I might add)
Sharnie, the Border Collie, and Millie, the Groodle, are Winston Marsh’s source of inspiration and the repositories of his frustration! They make his day.
Nice one, Emma!
Thank you Winston! 
Great post, we have enough animals around here as it is! No right for the corporate world but great for the home office! Unlike staff, dogs are always happy to see you!
Here she is… hard at work…
Cheers, Naomi. Nice to see we’re getting a handle on this piccie caper. Thanks for dropping by, Malcolm!
Look at all those well behaved pets. Well. Let me introduce you to my zoo. From left, Charlie, Dexter and Diesel.
Bringing this crew into the office? Not. A. Chance. Dex chases Diesel. Diesel chases Dex. Charlie looks at them witheringly, with the odd paw swipe as required. Chaos ensues.
Interestingly, my previous work place allowed pets. As did my boyfriend’s. We took turns taking Diesel in when he was a puppy. At my work, the only way I could keep him quiet was to tie him up under my desk and keep giving him boxes to pull apart. Pretty sure he turned an entire skip of recyclables into mulch. At my boy’s work, he kept running into ‘visit’ everyone at the gym next door, where he made firm friends with Sav Rocca. Needless to say, little to no work was ever actually achieved.
I do admire those well mannered pets that are ‘office appropriate’. I just don’t actually own one. Heaven forbid I ever have to work from home! Paul, your lovely little family look much more, uh, ‘manageable’ than a 7 month old staffy.
Struth, Emma. Not just a menagerie, but nifty black borders on your ace photos too!
I love your stories, and am VERY glad we have a long-distance work relationship.
It’s also the reason why I enjoy working in an office. 8 hours of blissful freedom from the madness
Having said that though, I think the real temptation would be to play with them all day. How does one balance getting work done, when faced with those pleading ‘please come and play with me’ puppy eyes?
p.s. I’m not holding out on you – the black borders are part of the iPhone app. Instagram, for those of you playing along at home! It’s basically ‘Photo Twitter’.
Roger that, Emma. I do feel like a bad dad when I really can’t afford the time to take them out.
Thanks for that app. I was wondering if we should tell our readers how you did it so they can do it on their blogs.
A comment from @therealyonderr on Twitter:
‘Good call. I think every office needs a meercat or two’
Many thanks!
C’mon you lot, get a life and let your well trained and perfectly disciplined pets roam free!
They say that there is no such thing as a bad dog but just a bad owner.
So, if they have bad habits don’t point the finger at them but rather point it at the owner.
Rather like team members who don’t do it right… don’t look at them, look at their boss.
See, when you have your pets working with you they help you create great lessons for life and business.
BTW if you want to see a well trained dog have a look at the star of the new movie Red Dog http://tinyurl.com/42vf269
You’re dead right, Winston.
I had the chance to take my dogs to Puppy School and I blew it out. Now they have as much road sense as a jumping castle. My bad.
Red Dog is one of my all-time fave books. Can’t wait to see the film!
*gulp* Oh dear. That doesn’t reflect well on me. We took pup to puppy school. All we got out of it was that he is apt at chasing his tail, rolling around on the ground and eating mud. I think we became known as ‘those staffy owners’. Granted he’s not ‘bad’, just a little ‘energetic’. Everything is a game.
I think I may need to work on my angry voice…
Fear not, Emma. I suspect The Lost Dogs Home’s curriculum is about to receive a significant boost:
http://www.theage.com.au/executive-style/3m-benefactor-frank-samways-is-a-dogs–and-the-lost-dogs-homes–best-friend-20110728-1i2dz.html
Between twitter, facebook, youtube, the fridge and my empty coffee mug – I don’t think I could handle another distraction.. maybe a goldfish..
Hi, Dan. They say goldfish have an attention span of eight seconds. It could be the perfect partnership. A lifetime of endless hellos …
On the subject of puppy school one of the greatest teachers I’ve ever met was the guy that ran the puppy school to which we took Millie. She was a headstrong little pup and we knew we’d need training and so would she.
The guy was brilliant! He could get puppies to do what he wanted in a flash… getting owners to do the same took longer!
What I got out of it resulted in a lesson I’ve been reminded of a number of times… treat your team like dogs! You see the way he went about training the dogs was exactly and precisely the way we should train our team. Use praise and reward liberally and chastise sparingly!
BTW the Red Dog trailer is here http://www.reddogmovie.com/
Thank you, Winston. Is that Puppy School chap still with us? If so, I’d love a name …
Hi Paul,
I work from home and find my dog Jojo, aka The Rescue Dog, is both a blessing and curse. It’s wonderful to have her slumbering in my office while I toil away at copy. She’s also good at making sure I get out for a walk a couple times a day. I find it’s the best thing to do when I’m stuck on a project is to take Jojo for a walk and clear my head. I don’t see clients in my office so that’s not a problem.
The flip side is managing a dog during working hours isn’t always convenient. Today I came home from a meeting and found her in my front garden. I didn’t leave her there. The back gate was wide open when meant someone had let her out. She can jump over the wall to get in the front garden but now I’m worried she was roaming around by herself and waiting for the neighbourhood complaints to start. It also makes me wonder who was at my house when I wasn’t home. I’m just glad she’s safe.
On days when I am ticking over nicely it can be a complete distraction to have to stop for a walk Jojo has a habit of escalating a nudge to a paw on the knee, two paws on the shoulder and then sliding my chair across the wood floors of my office. She also had an uncanny ability to get into trouble on days when I’m most distracted – jumping into the pond, getting into a fight with another dog, or finding wet paint to roll into (see photo).
I’m on the fence about pets in home offices but certainly don’t want to see them in a place preparing/serving food.
Hi, Sarah. Thank you for sharing your story. You almost have the makings of a chapter there!
Sorry your piccie link didn’t load. I’d love to see what Jojo looks like. Any tips, Emma?
Paul I believe that the man is still with us and I’ll dig out his details tomorrow. In fact I did an interview with him so, now that you’ve mastered putting photos up, will you be able to post an audio?
Fair dinkum, Winston?! I sure would love to hear that. Emma, as you grapple with the piccie issue, could you please look into uploading audio too?
I make no promises – my tech savvy skills are still at an intermediate level – but I’m certain that I’m 21st century enough to figure out how to get the audio going. *crosses fingers*
Sarah – how about you shoot me the pic of Jojo and I’ll upload for you?
We’re all obviously very passionate pet owners here – look at all those comments about our furry friends!
Just a heads up that from this Thursday’s post, we’ll be moving our commenting over to The Pulse. While we’ll still be posting Paul’s articles on both sites for the next few weeks, we’re going to ‘host the party in our brand new house’ so to speak
Make sure you pop in and join the conversation, and I’ll be lurking around both sites as per usual to help out or point you in the right direction if you need!
Roger that, Emma.
Has a decision been made on our past comments?
If you can’t migrate them to the new blog for technical reasons, can you at least let them live on in this space (along with all the backlinks we’ve laboriously assembled over the years)?
PS. I REALLY want to see Sarah’s doggie!
No firm decision on past comments, Paul – we’ve got those IT type people looking into whether it can actually be done, which will no doubt steer the final decision.
At any rate, this blog will remain here for the foreseeable future – we have absolutely no intention of ‘wiping the slate clean’!
Haven’t got a photo of Sarah’s pooch as yet, but rest assured the minute she sends it across, it will be up! I hear she’s in the middle of a brand new website….and as a fellow recent website launcher myself I’m very well aware that there’s no time for doggie photos!
Thank you, Emma. I greatly appreciate your candour.
So Emma re your comment under 33. You told me the other day I had to do nothing to get the Pulse and it would all happen. So, c’mon, I have to do something don’t I? Do I subscribe or something?
Ha ha, yes, I did indeed! Perhaps not quite a correct choice of words…the other day you all didn’t have to do anything but hang around and wait for the grand unveiling. Today however, yes, we’d love you to register!
If you click here it will take you to the log in page. This will set you up in the system so you can register for email alerts and set up a profile. It works exactly the same way as the log in functions for this site works. You can also log in the same way or via Facebook from a link on the right hand side of the comment box at the bottom of each post.