This Friday is Take Your Dog to Work Day!

In 1999 our friends at Pet Sitters International created Take your dog to work day. Their website explains it like this: "Take Your Dog To Work Day® (TYDTWDay®) was created to celebrate the great companions dogs make and to encourage their adoption from humane societies, animal shelters and breed rescue clubs. This annual event asks pet lovers to celebrate the humane-canine bond and promote pet adoption by encouraging their employers to support TYDTWDay. Employers are encouraged to open their workplace to employees' four-legged friends on this one special day."

It is a really great idea! If your job is conducive to it and your employer will allow it, I encourage you to take one of your little guys or girls to work with you this Friday (June 21, 2013). I always encourage people to spend more time with their dogs. Dogs bond with their people and need interaction with them. It is also a lot of fun for you and your dog!

Many of you know that in addition to Dog Training, I also do Handyman work and Lawn Maintenance work . Since starting my business, I have always taken my canine buddies to work with me as often as possible. If the conditions are right (i.e. they will not have to be in the hot sun all day, etc.) I take one or maybe two of my buddies with me. I even have some business cards with my dog's names and titles (i.e. head of security, customer relations, etc.) on them to give customers. Many of my customers think it is really cool that my dogs have business cards :) .
The dog sitting in the truck is one of my buddies from years ago named Critten. She helped me on many jobs in the Tampa Bay Area back before  I relocated to Georgia. Critten was a pit bull and lab mix. She was one of the sweetest dogs I ever had! For those car and truck folks out there, yes, that is a 1969 Chevrolet C/10 Pickup. It was a great every day work truck for me in those days!

Use common sense about taking your dog to work though. If you are not self-employed, make sure it is okay with your employer first. If you have a job that puts your dog in a dangerous situation or if the dog would distract you to the extent that it would put you in a dangerous situation then not participating in Take Your Dog to Work Day is a no-brainer.

An ironic thing is that when I worked as a Dog Trainer at Petco in Peachtree City, GA, for a brief time, I used Copper as a demo dog. He helped me with classes and for prospective customers, he did demonstrations of the behaviors that we taught in our classes.  Not long after I started using Copper in that way, our district manager informed me, in no uncertain terms, that I was not allowed a demo dog under any circumstances. I was told that this was a corporate policy. It is very ironic that professional trainers at Petco are not allowed to have their own animals at work but any customer can bring a dog into the store. So, I am really curious if Petco will allow their Dog Trainers to participate in Take Your Dog To Work Day this year. I suspect not. I guess Petco is not where Petco Dog Trainers' pets go.

I now use Copper as a demo dog again. At some point little Cody may also become a demo dog. So, if you take classes with me you will see the behaviors that I teach demonstrated with at least one demo dog :) .

If you feel that your dog is not well behaved enough to take to work, please contact me. I will be glad to help you train your dog to be a well behaved and polite dog. Maybe next year you can take your dog to work!

Have fun with your canine buddies at work!

Till Next Time

-William-

William Moore
William Moore Canine Training
678-702-4791
fayettedogtrainer@gmail.com