Bring your dog to work day
What is bring your dog to work day?
A wonderfully fun day that encourages dog owners to bring their pups with them to the office. Of course, at Pets at Home and many other big organisations around the world, every day is Bring Your Dog to Work Day. In fact, we regularly have about 50 pets in our head office at any one time!
Why bring your dog to work?
Beyond the obvious cuteness factor of having your dog sat beside you all day long, there are many other benefits to taking your dog to work with you:
Stress-relief- Having your pampered pooch with you at work has been thought to help boost workplace morale and help keep you calm and collected during stressful situations.
Sociable- Nothing gets people talking like a cute dog. From fellow dog owners visiting you with their pets to your colleagues simply coming over to have a mid-morning chat, having your dog at work can make the office a whole lot more sociable.
Fitness- Bringing your dog to work means that you’ll have to spend some of your lunch time outdoors and exercising which is good for both your physical and mental health. Your pet gives you the ideal excuse to get away from your desk and get some fresh air!
Pet well-being- Many dogs suffer from separation anxiety if they’re left alone for too long. This often makes them become naughty and end up destroying something in your home while you’re at work! By taking them with you instead, they’ll be much happier and have better mental stimulation.
Making your work place pet-friendly
While you may be keen to take part in Bring Your Dog to Work day, you might find you face some drawbacks. For starters, is your office dog-proof enough to cope with your pet for the day? Does your business or the landlord of the building even allow pets to visit? And are any of your colleagues allergic to dogs?
You’ll want to make everyone in your workplace aware that you’re planning on taking part in Bring Your Dog to Work Day as others may decide to get involved too. If this is the case, you should set down some simple etiquettes rules for every dog owner including:
- Making sure every dog’s flea and worming treatment is up to date
- Making sure the dogs are all well-trained and not likely to steal co-workers’ belongings or cause mischief
- Setting up designated areas for feeding and drinking so the office doesn’t get too messy
- Making sure there’s an area within the office or outside it that’s suitable to use as a doggy toilet so there’s no unwanted accidents
- Making sure all the dogs are likely to get on with each other and not be aggressive
Tips for introducing your pet to the workplace
Any dog owner will know that taking your beloved pooch to a new environment is bound to excite and often overwhelm them. Your place of work is probably not the best place for them to start barking and running around so you’ll want to make sure your dog is calmly introduced to everyone and immediately made to feel at home.
It might help to bring them into your workplace for a visit prior to spending an entire day there so they can have a sniff around and get used to the new space. It’s highly likely that they’ll always be excited or nervous for the first ten minutes or so of any visit so you should make sure you have a plan to help keep them calm and get them settled in quickly.
Toys- Help them feel more at home by bringing their favourite toy with them to play with or cuddle. It will give them something to do and make the new environment feel less alien.
Bedding or blankets- You might also want to bring a familiar blanket or bed that smells of home for them to lie on. This too will make them feel more relaxed and it will also give you somewhere for them to sit and be contained while you’re working.
Treats- Having a stash of little treats is a great help if you need to bribe them to sit calmly or be more obedient!
