Should You Take Your Dog to Work?

My friend has been nagging me to take my dogs to work during so they wouldn’t be sitting at home all day.  I started doing some research on the pros and cons of animals in the work place and this is what I found:

A group of folks from the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond Virginia did a study published in the International Journal of Workplace Health Management.  Their study found that pets did indeed lower the stress of their owner and the owners reported higher job satisfaction when they had their pets at work. Other studies have found that there are numerous other benefits to having a pet around, including: lowered blood pressure, more exercise, and that our pets are great entertainment.

With the evidence from the Virginia Commonwealth University study, I wondered why I still had a nagging feeling that pets didn’t belong at work. So I kept researching to see what else I could find. According to Ayyar Rohan, there are a lot of reasons to reconsider allowing pets in the workplace. 15% to 30% of the population is allergic to pets so bringing a pet into the office can actually compromise someone else’s health. A fellow employee doesn’t even have to share workspace to have an allergic reaction to a pet in the office; they can be affected by just being in the same building.

Another reason to avoid pets in the workplace is that the fear people have of dogs is second only to spiders and snakes. Though a dog may help some to be calmer and less stressed, it may cause a co-worker to have more stress, which would be a great reason for me to keep my dog home. I also wondered about the distraction that a pet might cause in the workplace. My dog would have to be taken out, possibly more regularly than my breaks would allow. It could also be tempting for my office mates to pay more attention to the dog and less attention to their co-workers, which could damage office bonding and become a distraction from work.

After considering all my options and the benefits, I’ve decided to take a third option for my pet family while I’m at work and hire my local Fetch! Pet Care. My dogs get to enjoy the socialization of going for walks, meeting people, and being in the community. My cats get to play with my pet care professional so they are stimulated. All of my pet kids know exactly when their playmate is due to come and I get to go to work knowing that my little family will be happily looking forward to the adventures of their day as I focus on the adventures of mine.

What do you think about pets in the workplace? Click here to find a Fetch! Pet Care location near you so that your dog is cared for when you're at work!

12 Pets Who Are Living Valentines

This cat who wears his heart on his chest.

This chocolate Valentine...

This lil' ball of fur...

This living Care Bear...

This kitty who dons Angel wings...

This Corgi with the cutest bum in the world...

This heart-shaped duo...

This very patient Golden...

These lovers...

This Boxer who has mastered the art of the loving stare...

This puppy who has reached max cuteness potential (is that even possible?)

These yin and yang friends.

Happy Valentine's Day! 

Have a Valentine's Day photo of your pets to share? Send them to us at social@fetchpetcare.com. Thank you!

Run Derby, Run!

Derby was born with limb differences in his front legs where they do not have all the bones that they should. Although his foster mom did try to create a solution by putting wheels under him, the wheels still did not allow him to turn quickly or to run like his foster family was hoping.

Derrick Campana, CO of Animal Ortho Care and his team found a way to help Derby the same way that the team of folks from E-nable are helping children with limb differences, using a 3-D printer. I spoke to Derrick about Derby last week. Derrick said that Derby was a new challenge to Animal Ortho Care. They often make legs for dogs that have amputations or braces to help dogs. However, for Derby they had to figure out how to help him with legs that would accommodate his different feet. Their first thought was to make Derby some blades like humans with limb differences use to run. However, they soon figured out that the blades would not work the same in a dog as in a human. Then they came up with the innovative design that could be printed on a 3-D printer.

When designing Derby’s feet, the goal was to keep Derby close to the ground in the beginning so that he didn’t have trouble learning balance and could get used to his new feet. He has since received more sets of feet that are higher and he will soon be running on full height feet!

Derby is a pioneer in the field of helping dogs with limb differences run. With his help, more dogs will soon be able to go for walks, and even run.

Red Solo Cups and Baby Bulldogs [Video]

Baby bulldogs -- what would be cuter? These tiny puppies can be no older than a few weeks and they are clearly playing with red solo cups. I guess that means they are very smart dogs! So what would it be like to have a baby bulldog in the family?

I did a little research and found out a bit about these cute little dogs. According to the site, “How to Train English Bulldog Puppies” by Louise Lawson, bulldogs are very smart and also very stubborn. If you don’t start training them at 8 weeks, they will be training you. That sounds suspiciously like what happened with my Peyton sometimes, even though he’s not
a bulldog.

Did you know that short-nosed breeds can overheat easily? I had no idea that they would, and Louise says that is why you should always crate short-nosed dogs in crates that get good ventilation, like a wire crate.

Louise goes on to share some great suggestions to train a baby English Bulldog puppy, and it could go for other puppies, too. I know I’ll incorporate several in my routine, including working on obedience commands.

What’s the cutest thing your pup did when he was a tot?

What My Vet Wishes You Knew

While in my veterinarian’s office the other day, we started talking. She mentioned that there were so many things that most veterinarians wished that their clients knew. She believes that her patients could get better care if they would just do a few things differently while also adding a few things to their pet care routine.

The first item on her list is a yearly checkup. The yearly checkup is an opportunity for her to hear all about how my dog Buffy is doing. Regular checkups give the Vet the opportunity to catch any problems that may come up with all pets (especially with cats). Cats can hide their illness and injuries until it is too late.

The second item on the Vet’s list is dental care. In addition to preventing cavities and infection, good dental care can prevent some heart and kidney diseases. I kinda felt like one of “those” pet owners when I purchased the pet-specific toothbrushes and chicken flavored toothpaste…guess I need to get over that.

Here’s an interesting fact for you, did you know that about 52% of all dogs and cats in the U.S. are overweight? Veterinarians say that on average, a pet that is overweight lives two years less than one that is average weight. Pets, like my Buffy, that could normally deal with some bone issues find that they are in too much pain to survive them if they are overweight. I’m feeling better about keeping her on that diet because I don’t want to lose her to obesity.

Overweight pets are also at higher risk for other ailments like arthritis and heart disease. To prevent all my pets from becoming obese, we pay attention to portion control, and they get NO people food. The other side of the equation is to make sure that everyone gets lots of exercise, both physical and mental, so lots of games and lots of walks for all of us.

Which brings me to Dr. Lawson’s fourth recommendation: hygiene routine. Part of our bedtime routine now includes brushing those canines, and our weekend chores include baths and pedicures (and the wrestling matches that are probably good exercise for me, too). Bath time works well for also checking Buffy’s skin and looking for strange lumps and bumps that don’t belong. We also make sure that the first Saturday of every month is preventive medication day – Frontline, Heartgard, etc. By creating a schedule, I’m less likely to forget preventative care and just like my pets, I love routine.

Finally, Dr. Lawson said that she wishes that everyone knew that veterinarians don’t mind if you get a second opinion or request a referral to a specialist. The veterinary professionals welcome all the information they can get. With information, they can take better care of your family members. Veterinarians don’t even mind when you do web research and share the results of your searches, as long as you make sure you’re searching credible sites with quality information. That is good to know since I’m almost an Internet junkie and look up all the information I can find about what is happening with the health of my crew.

Here’s a handy chart to keep next to the family calendar or somewhere you’ll notice it to help remind you of your pet’s health routine...

Setting Us Up for Success in 2015

After the fun and frivolity of the holiday, I feel the guilt over the extra pounds, extra couch time, and extra fun. I feel extra pressure to set some goals for the New Year so I can get my life “back on track”. Spending time with my dog, Peyton, is at the top on my resolutions list.

Tasha Eurich, Ph.D. says in her article, “The Science Behind Successful New Year’s Resolutions” that there are a couple of secrets to keeping your resolutions. One way to be successful is to work on only one thing at a time. Eurich reminds us that the late Stephen Covey advocated putting first things first, pick the resolution that will give you the biggest payoff and work on only that. I know that the time I spend with Peyton is always has the biggest payoff for both of us.

When training Peyton, I found that instead of teaching him to quit doing something, it was much more productive to have him learn a behavior that is more desirable to do instead, for example, he loves to chew. Instead of chewing up my shoes, I have provided a lot of other choices of chewies and taught him to find one when he needs to chew. Dr. Eurich says that the same can be done for humans. Maybe I can change my clothes when I get home from work and take Peyton for a walk instead of sinking into the couch and then trying to talk myself into getting up and getting out again. The extra incentive is that when Peyton realizes that this is routine, he will encourage me to continue walks when I get home from work. I know he won’t give up easily!

Finally, Dr. Eurich recommends that I practice my resolution every day A research study by . K. Anders Ericsson, Michael J. Prietula, Edward T. Cokely and Daniel Coyle all show by research that greatness isn’t born, it is achieved by consistent practice every day. They proved that marathon runners don’t have any different bodies than anyone else, they just train every day for the months leading up to the marathon. Not only will I do walks with Peyton regularly, I can do more challenging activities for both of us. 

What will we do next?! My mind goes directly to running a marathon. Peyton could do that with me, except I don’t like to run. I watch the dogs on television that dance and do tricks. I think we could do that. And maybe we can if we are consistent and I’m realistic enough to know it isn’t my personality. So what will work for us? So I decided to consult with Sam the Trainer to see if he had some basics skills that every adult dog should have. He said that every dog should be:

✔ Well socialized: good with me, family, friends, strangers, and other animals in any setting

✔ House trained: 100% trustworthy indoors

✔ Well-mannered: in home and in public

✔ Obedient: able to do sit, down, heel, come off leash and with distractions, obedient up to 100 yards from me and even if he can’t see meOk that gives me a few things to work on!  Sam the Trainer has some advanced skills that we can work up to like agility (I think we’d love to do this), retrieving on command and tracking.  This could be overwhelming. Then Sam the Trainer gave me some more advice, “Note that none of this comes automatically. To get the most out of your dog takes planning and effort.”

Karen Pryor is a clicker trainer (which I find fascinating), and she says that teaching nose targeting is the most important skill. For those of you who aren’t familiar with nose targeting, it is essentially a building block in dog training where the dog is taught to touch it’s nose to a target being held close to the nose. Karen says that if a dog has the nose target skill then you can substitute it, in a pinch, for another skill the dog has yet to learn. I’ll be looking into her book, “Fired up, Frantic, and Freaked Out”.

I know there is still a lot of research I need to do and then I need to come up with a written plan with a schedule. I also know that planning for our future is one of the most rewarding things I will do for both of us in the coming year.

Bath Time Heaven: Barry the Pug in the tub.

My dogs know when it is bath time way before I even setup the bath. They scatter and hide. A task that usually takes a few minutes becomes an ordeal that takes at least an hour and involves wrestling.

Then there is Barry the Pug. This little guy practically begs for a bath, luxuriating in the warm water, the attention, and all the rubs. His owner has a little bath set up for him. I can
totally relate to the bliss this little guy feels. I also think there is nothing better than a warm bath.

The Pug in bath is video #23 of the series of videos made by Barry’s owner, David Stanton. Most of the videos are about David’s carpentry skills, however, Barry is an unusual dog and the video of him taking a bath has become so popular that David did another video of him. In this video, Barry is eating fruit. David says that Barry isn’t very fond of dog food and prefers fruit. His sister, obviously, prefers dog food.

Now Barry is a bit of a social media star, maybe we’ll get to see more of him and all his quirky ways. 

Have a video tip? Send them to us at social@fetchpetcare.com