BRYAN, Texas: June 22 could be your chance to join the growing global trend of taking your pet dog to work with you.
You know the scene: you're up early on a Monday, prepping for another work day with a flurry of morning activity. Your dogs greet you with hearty barks, competing with a cup of coffee for a little attention. When they realize you're just about ready to head for the office, they whimper and look at you with sad doggy-eyes as if convincing you to skip work today and play with them instead.
For dog-lovers everywhere, this is a familiar scene every workday. But according to MSNBC.com, one group hopes that at least once a year, every dog has its day - in the office!
June 22 is the ninth annual Take Your Dog To Work Day (TYDTWD), as declared by Pet Sitters International- a day when more than 10,000 companies across the United States allow their employees to bring their canine companions to the workplace.
Once upon a time only certain companies- such as Google, Amazon, Apple, Autodesk and other Silicon Valley firms - were known for their pet-friendly policies. However according to Texas' TheEagle.com, the number of dog-friendly workplaces is steadily growing.
According to a recent study, if employees don’t have to worry or miss their dog, or have to think about racing home to feed or walk their mutt, then they tend to become more effective at work.
"It's great for morale," says Andy Wright, chief operating officer of Mercedes Medical in Sarasota, FL. "It reduces the stress level for employees. A lot of employees are more productive because they don't have to worry about their dog being left at home all day long."
According to a recent study, if dog owners could take their dogs to work with them:
- 66% would work longer hours for same pay,
- 55% would commute a greater distance,
- 49% would switch jobs,
- 32% would take a 5% salary reduction,
- and 11% would be willing to take a 10% salary reduction
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Len Kain, co-founder of Dogfriendly.com, says that medium to smaller businesses are most receptive to allowing dogs at work, since it's easier for employees to reach a consensus on office policy. "Many of the larger corporations have a lot of legal issues, insurance regulations, that sort of thing," he said.
Of course, there are workplaces which aren't suitable for visiting pooches (such as warehouses full of chemicals), as well as offices which aren't as supportive of Take Your Dog To Work Day. In these cases, Pet Sitters International's John Long says that even the simple act of people placing their favorite pets' photos of their desks can go a long way to support TYDTWD.
Of course, Take Your Dog To Work Day has an ulterior motive. As explained by Pet Sitter International, as people bring in their dogs to work, co-worker's hearts will be touched by all that canine cuteness, and as a result, more homeless dogs from animal shelters will be adopted.
Take Your Dog to Work Day is already spreading around the world. Countries like Canada, Australia, New Zealand and England also celebrate TYDTWD, but not necessarily on the same day as the United States'.
unfortunately, no TYDTWD for me. i work in a lab- which means lots of potentially breakable stuff that can possibly hurt our dogs. i did bring some new pictures to show my Toxie off to my colleagues though!
Yay I get to bring my little Muffins to work today! Always fun to be able to bring your little dawgie to work- Muffins always looks forward to it! Yay!
I work at a hotel, so there is no way I could bring my hyper dog to work with me. My last job though, I had her with me every day. I worked as a dispatcher and worked an 40 hr shift straight, so they let me bring her. It was hard for both of us when I switched jobs after 2yrs.
I heard about this one. It would be cool to take Buddy with me to work. but sadly, this is a no-no for me coz I work in a construction site. There would be too many dangerous things there that could harm pets. Maybe I should consider changing my job?? LOL
Haha Take Your Dog to Work Day was alright for us- I took Cassie with me (she's an adorable little Jack Russel). So a lot of my collegues brought their dogs along to work, but there was this one woman in HR who had her little pug dressed up in a power suit and tie, complete with attache case, glasses and toy mobile phone! It was a total blast!
Haha I took my cat instead last Friday when everbody else brought in their dogs. Corkie got along just nicely with my officemate's cocker spaniel. Though snob that she is, she decided to spend most of the day napping in her carrier.
Our office had a small little contest for the dogs that showed up last Friday. It was real fun! There were prizes (doggie treat baskets) to the most well-behaved, the cutest, the rowdiest, the most friendly, etc, etc. Sammie would have won an award, but that bitch from marketing (hello Priscilla!) snagged the award away from us doing cutesy stuff in front of the judges! Good times!
what a great idea! I would love to bring my dog to the office! it would really make my day and i'm sure my colleagues would also love her. my only problem is what if they pee or poop inside the office? wont that make the smell unbearable? just a thought.
Imagine a version of Take-Your-Cat-to-Work day: We'll probably be chasing after our little kitties all day hoping they don't knock down any of your colleagues stuff. If we're lucky, they'll just nap in a corner all day. Then jump on the table and make for a cute little interactive decorative piece.
wish we could have a bring your dog to work day every month. my choc lab winston was a hit with the ladies at accounting. i owe you one buddy!
I would love to bring my dogs to work. It is so difficult to leave them at times especially if they look at me with those cute puppy dog eyes *sigh*sigh* But I think it would cause a lot of problems at work. If they allow dog owners to bring their pets then I'm thinking cat owners would want to bring theirs and then those with parrots and parakeets would follow suit and then most probably those guys with piranhas and tarantulas and snakes and iguanas would want to show off their pets too.
i wish the place that i work at would try this idea of bringing dogs to the office. i would love to bring my dog to work. i would even probably be less stressed if i have my pooch right beside me during work.