Modernizing and improving the company culture has countless benefits: it keeps employees happy and the average weekdays a little bit less stressful. Integrating more freedom into the rules will picture any employer as more considerate and attentive while allowing people to merge their personal lives with the office life to a healthier extent.

Points to consider before going dog-friendly

Pets are massive parts of our lives, the number of fur-parents is continuously on the rise. Dogs especially started to be considered family members instead of animals, which planted the idea of bringing them into work. The change started with smaller start-ups and companies, but recently the trend has spread towards wider circles of employers, even to leading multinational companies like Google. We chose to make our IseeQ office dog-friendly, but there are several factors you might need to consider if you are debating whether it will work for your organization or not.

• Dogs are a potential source of damage. Regardless of them being well-trained, a new environment can always be stressful, possibly leading them to act out of character. No one wants to have chewing marks on their laptop chargers or shoes, not even mentioning a stain on the carpet.

• In many cases, distractions are not considered to be beneficial by architects who design offices. However plain the environment is though, a dog will always attract attention. Petting it and playing with it can be a great escape from our daily tasks, but it can also cause some delays in the workflow.

• Outer factors might determine the validity of the practice. If you rent a room in an office building, the whole establishment or the landlord might advise you against pets, and if you’re lucky enough to have your own terms on the topic, some colleagues might be allergic to fur or just afraid of dogs.

The moral of the story is that you should thoroughly investigate all the influencing factors before you adopt the new policy, and also survey all co-workers on the issue.

Things you should include in your dog policy

If you decide to switch to a dog-friendly office, you will definitely need a policy. But what exactly should be included in it, you might ask. Well, there are countless rules that can help to create a calm atmosphere together with dogs, like:

1.Don’t allow an uncontrollable or aggressive dog to work. 
As simple as that, if a pet has a hard time obeying its owner, they will have a hard time trying to discipline it amongst colleagues. Needless to say, if anyone is bothered by their behavior, it leads to tension and unwanted conflicts. Calmness and not too much movement are usually expected and anticipated from animals, making them less likely to distract employees.

2.Listen to your senses. 
If a dog stinks, is dirty, or barks all day, it will probably get the owner some sharp looks. The focus always should be on work, not on adjusting the environment to unwanted factors.

3.Freeriding should not be allowed. 
A dog should always be in the sight of an owner, otherwise, its instincts might lead to some uncomfortable things, like some food off the counters. To be honest, there will be times when they will have to be left alone (if none other than for restroom breaks), so it is really important and useful to teach them to stay calm by themselves for a couple of minutes.

4.Policies for non-owners. 
Very few dogs like to be bullied with attention all day, and also very few owners like their dogs to be fed and pushed out of their comfort zones. It is best for all to summarise the correct behavior with dogs for people who never owned any so that everyone is on the same page.

Tips for training the perfect office dog

Certain dog certificates can also assure employers that an animal is well-trained and probably won’t cause any trouble. If going to school doesn’t fit the owner’s schedule, there are still some options to choose from online. Youtube has many training videos, and some experts like Brandon McMillan also sell masterclasses. Some important commands that might come in handy in the office are:

1.Stay/hold it – so the dogs know when they are not allowed to move from their position.

2.No/stop – in case they do anything that is not allowed, it is really important that the owner is able to stop them at the moment, without putting up a fight.

3.Go to your place– it’s useful to put a blanket beside the owner’s desk, and introduce it as the dog’s place at work. That way you can send them back to a safe zone anytime you don’t want them around

4.A previously introduced word to indicate playtime, so that the dogs knows when they can let loose.

Why we went dog friendly and you should too

Okay, but all that hassle for what? Benefits for the workplace include higher employee satisfaction and commitment. Some organizations also have a “company dog” or “office dog” for therapeutic reasons. It can also be an influencing factor for future job seekers, as millennials -that are increasingly sensitive to their freedom at the office- are more likely to apply this way. The whole company can seem friendlier and more welcoming, and the visibility of hierarchical levels can also be minimized. Dogs boost interaction between entry and senior-level colleagues, making leaders and CEOs more approachable. After all, with a thoughtfully implemented and applied policy structure, fur friends and humans are able to coexist in the office, so that it’s mutually beneficial. Just make sure to pay attention to others, their needs, and pet peeves, and try to understand and empathize before any negativity.