What You Should and Shouldn’t Do When Bringing Your Dog To Work
As we’re sure you are aware that bringing your dog into the workplace helps with lowering stress levels. And they also motivate the employees so they can work harder, stay longer at work, thus producing more output without burning them out. And it also makes the workplace a lot more joyful. Before we all get carried away though, in order to make this trend a lot more sustainable. We should all set up rules and boundaries as to what you should and shouldn’t do when bringing your dog to work.
What You Should Do
1. Do not let your dog interfere with your workplace
Although the dog is a pretty good company in the workplace, that doesn’t mean it’s free to interfere with your work and your workplace. Always make sure that your workplace is dog-proof. You don’t want your dog chewing on cards and papers. Put away office supplies that your dog might swallow, and you don’t want that report you’ve been preparing tore down by your dog, do you not?
2. Make the dog as prepared as you are for the workday
A workday with your dog is supposed to be a productivity-boosting day. But I might just do the opposite for you and for everyone around if your dog stinks and it looks dirty. Make sure that before you and your canine friend enter the office doors, your dog is as well-groomed as you are. Brush their teeth, bathe them, and polish their fur to gleaming condition.
3. Keep your dog healthy
Before bringing your dog to work, make sure that they are up to date with their vaccination schedule. You don’t want your dog to spread diseases into the workplace to either your coworkers and other dogs. Make sure also that no parasites are plaguing their fur and skin, that they are free of fleas and ticks. And most importantly, your dog must not be sick before you bring it to work with you. Have your veterinarian examine your pet at least once a year to make sure your pet is healthy and to help detect problems earlier.
4. Prepare and train your dog for the day at the workplace
Dogs are proving to be essential for preventing stress at the office. But they might very well be the source of stress if they are continuously running around and barking, distracting the office workers. Make sure that before you bring them in, they are properly trained in a working environment. It is essential that your dog must be able to understand basic commands giving you the power to regulate its movement while it accompanies you in the office. And lastly, make sure that your dog gets the right amount of exercise, and that is well behaved along with other dogs to prevent it from starting a fight with them.
5. Prepare all the needs of your dog
Another tip for making your dog stay behaved is by giving it an environment that gives it comfort like home. Make sure to don’t let the dog get thirsty, give it ample amounts of drinking water. Make sure you have packed food for it, and plenty of snacks to give it. And lastly, dogs love napping, so you must prepare a place and a bed for it to sleep on.
What You Shouldn’t Do
1. You shouldn’t force your dog’s interactions
Just like with humans, dogs sometimes get along with other dogs, and sometimes, they don’t. It is natural for them to not like another dog. If that’s the case, just don’t force it. Another thing worth noting as well is. Be respectful to your coworkers that might be allergic to dogs. Ask them if it would be okay for you to bring your dog in, and sometimes be close to them. Because even if they are allergic, if you properly communicate it and you both put up boundaries, it might very well be okay for them, you bringing your dog to work.
2. Do not let your dog roam around freely
Although you have the freedom of bringing your dog in the workplace. It’s still an office, remember, it is still a place where people work. And it is your full responsibility to make sure that your dog doesn’t get in the way of other employees. Some things you can do to regulate the movement of your dog are: putting your dog in a leash, or if you don’t have a leash, you can keep them confined inside your work area. Also, make sure that someone is looking after your dog while you are in a meeting. You should never ever leave your dog unattended.
3. You shouldn’t bring your dog in if they’re behavior is unreliable
Imagine how much of an inconvenience it would be if your dog barks when a conference or a meeting is ongoing. A dog that jumps randomly all the time at your boss or your coworkers. Have your dog be acquainted with other dogs outside first before you bring them to the office. An ideal place to bring them would be a dog daycare center or in the park, where there are a lot of other dogs for them to play around with.
4. Do not bring your dog in when they are sick
It is only proper to not bring them in whey they are ill. This is to protect other people’s dogs as well because the disease they are carrying might be contagious and harmful to other dogs.
5. Prevent your dog from making a mess
It is only courteous to look after your dog. Do not let them leave spillages and stains. You shouldn’t especially wait for others to clean up after your dog. If an accident happens that your dog made a mess indoors, you should clean up after them almost immediately to not cause inconvenience to other people. Make sure as well that they have clean food and water containers, and that you have prepared diapers or bags to put their poop in as well.
Also, here are Things to Consider Before Becoming a Pet-Friendly Workplace
Founder, Editor-In-Chief // A native Angeleno. John studied engineering at UCLA; founded Schmoozd, an offline social tech networking event in LA with 30,000 subs; ran a startup accelerator (StartEngine). Worked for several major brands like Toyota, DIRECTV, Hitachi, ICANN, and Raytheon. A mentor at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) Entrepreneur School, Dr. David Choi. And advises a dozen local LA startups building amazing tech in various industries; and invested in some. // Let's Connect: john@lastartups.com
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