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Member Center Taking Your Dog to Work . Recent Editions Jun. 24, 2006

Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal F S Su M T W Th Here are some expert tips for a positive office- >> Search the site dog experience. . . Doggin' It At Work . . NEWS • If your dog isn't Today's Headlines People bring pets to their jobs on special day housebroken or well- socialized, leave it • Obituaries home. By JENNIFER ROBISON • 2006 Elections • Las Vegas Housing REVIEW-JOURNAL • Make sure your pet's Market vaccinations are up to • Judging the Judges date before you expose -• Political Corruption: Maybe she wanted some attention. it to other animals on Galardi Investigation the job. • Yucca Mountain • Operation Iraqi Maybe she was really dying to meet a rock star. • Puppy-proof your Freedom office beforehand. Put . . . • Opinion Polls Whatever the electronic wiring and potentially poisonous

reason, plants out of reach. Shazam, 3-year-old border Shazam, a 3- Stow toxic office collie, stares Friday at owner year-old border supplies such as and attorney Steve Pickering correction fluid and collie who hangs permanent markers. of Morris Pickering Peterson & out at the Las Trachok, as he catches up on Vegas law office • Bring toys, snacks and work. Pickering owns eight of her owners, chews to put your dog dogs and brought in Shazam at ease. Steve Morris . . for Take Your Dog to Work . . • Have your dog and Kris groomed before the trip CHANNEL DIRECTORY Day. Pickering, just Photo by Jane Kalinowsky. to the office. had to get in on Arts & Entertainment a deposition of Advertisement • Create an exit strategy. If your dog

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shows signs of Auto Guide Rod Stewart. aggression, gets Books nervous or begins barking too much, have Casinos & Hotels "We were a plan to get it home. asking Celebrations • Don't force coworkers (Stewart) to socialize with your Community questions, and dog. Some people are afraid of or are allergic Coupons Shazam came by our glass- to dogs. E-forums Teacher Cheri Serlin leads her walled • Consider other ways summer school class Friday Employment deposition room to honor Take Your Dog accompanied by her dogs and wanted in," to Work Day. If you Food & Dining Sosa (Shih Tzu) and Sequoia can't bring your pet to said Morris, who work, bring a picture Fun & Games (a Wheaton Terrier) to deposed and tell co-workers celebrate Take Your Dog to Health & Fitness Stewart last "how the dog impacts Work Day. your life in a positive year over a Home & Garden Photo by Gary Thompson. way," said John Long, contract dispute spokesman of Pet Legal Center with the Rio. Sitters International.

Money "He really likes dogs, so he stopped for a moment and got acquainted with her. They got Long also recommends setting up workplace Obituaries on famously, he and Shazam." adopt-a-thons with Photo & Page Store animal shelters, dog On Friday, the legal beagle -- er, border collie -- was back at Morris Pickering Peterson & dress-up pageants, dog- Personals Trachok, breaking the ice between visitors and generally giving the firm's 35 employees owner look-a-like the warm fuzzies. contests and fundraisers Real Estate for animal shelters. A New York company has Recreation Shazam was one of thousands of dogs accompanying their owners to work on the eighth a picnic for workers and Relocation their dogs. Michigan- annual Take Your Dog to Work Day, a national event that North Carolina trade group Pet based Village Green, an Shopping Sitters International organizes to publicize the plight of shelter dogs. apartment-complex developer and manager, Technology collects $25 donations "Take Your Dog to Work Day brings the issue of pet overpopulation and homeless from each employee Traffic & Transportation animals to the forefront in a positive way," said John Long, a spokesman for Pet Sitters who brings a dog to Travel International. "Rather than focusing on negatives like euthanasia statistics, we showcase work and contributes the money to a Lansing throughout the day what great companions dogs make. It lets people who don't own Weather animal-adoption agency. dogs experience the bond, and it encourages them to visit a shelter and adopt a pet." Village Green gives out Weddings best-dressed awards and invites K-9 units Yellow Pages Cheri Serlin, an English teacher at Warren-Walker School in Henderson, brought her from local police stations in to give About the site dogs, Sequoia, a soft-coated Wheaten Terrier, and Sosa, a Shih Tzu and Pekingese mix, to summer school on Friday in part to spur animal adoption among her students and demonstrations.

their families. "It's a very creative Contact the R-J event," Long said. "Try to keep it open-ended." • Subscribe

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• Report a delivery problem • Put the paper on hold "There are so many unwanted pets who could be adopted, and animals bring so much -- REVIEW-JOURNAL • Advertise with us joy and compassion and love into our lives," Serlin said. "I realized this would be a great • Report a news tip/press Advertisement release opportunity for kids to see the relationship they can have with animals. Pets can be • Send a letter to the editor teachers, too." • Print the announcement forms • Jobs at the R-J Serlin, who had never brought her dogs into work before, said Sequoia and Sosa were big hits with the fifth- and sixth-graders she teaches. The students volunteered to feed, water, walk and play with the dogs. By mid-morning, Sequoia and Sosa were snoozing, bellies full of snacks, while the kids worked in the computer lab.

"It's been a great experience overall," Serlin said. "The children have seen me in a different light. I'm not just a teacher to them. It's been a bonding experience."

A recent study shows legions of workers would pay a hefty price to bond with their dogs in the office.

Online placement agency SimplyHired.com and social-networking Web site Dogster found that 43 percent of dog owners would take pay cuts of 5 percent to 10 percent if they could bring their four-legged pals to the office. Two-thirds of respondents said they would put in longer hours if the overtime would translate into canine companionship on the job.

In addition, 55 percent of employees said they would accept more commute time to work at a place that allowed pets in the office, and 49 percent said they would ditch their current employer if a dog-friendly business came hiring.

"For most dog owners, bringing their pets to work is really a benefit that trumps all benefits," said Kay Luo, director of marketing at SimplyHired.com. "Most dog owners don't like to leave their dogs alone all day, and they don't like to rush home to take the dog for a walk. That's why our survey showed people would work longer hours if they had their dogs at work. It's like having a child -- if they're with you, you don't have to rush home and tend to them."

Business are increasingly welcoming dogs at work, too.

A report from the American Pet Product Manufacturers Association found that nearly 20 percent of U.S. companies permit pets to visit employees on the job. SimplyHired.com has added a dog-friendly filter to its job-search functions so candidates can screen for businesses that allow pets on-site. And Long said participation in Take Your Dog to Work

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Day rises noticeably every year. The holiday started with 300 companies in 1999; today, several thousand businesses participate, he said, and the ranks of businesses Featured Jobs celebrating the day increase by about 650 a year. Graphic Artist Needed Las Vegas, NV Experts said several trends are driving dogs into the workplace. Review Journal/Sun Classified ads

First is the recruiting advantage pet perks provide, Luo said. SALES YOUR NEXT BIG Las Vegas, NV Also behind the increase in animals on the job, Long said, is the changing relationship Review Journal/Sun Americans have with work. Classified ads

WRANGLER/ "Our personal lives and business lives over the past 10 years have really become GUIDES meshed," he said. "Folks are carrying BlackBerrys, and they're e-mailing and taking Las Vegas, NV Review Journal/Sun phone calls around the clock. Business goes everywhere they go, and when business Classified ads bleeds into home life, then home life will bleed into business." Construction LABORERS Plus, the last decade has brought a change in how people view their dogs, Long said. Las Vegas, NV They're no longer backyard pets but family members who merit coddling and pampering. Review Journal/Sun Classified ads

Most important, however, is a growing recognition that man's best friend can promote Cab A-CAB TAXI emotional wellbeing among people.

Long said studies have credited dogs with reducing stress, and he cited a survey that found people believe dogs in the office can boost creativity, reduce absenteeism, enhance relations among coworkers, increase productivity and improve interactions between supervisors and employees.

At Morris Pickering Peterson & Trachok, dogs have smoothed human relations since the early 1990s, when the firm was handling cases for a trial related to the 1988 PEPCON plant explosion in Henderson. Morris and Pickering were raising a litter of puppies, but long hours at work made it impossible to care for the dogs at home. Thus did the puppies make their first foray into the legal world. When participants consented, the dogs would even attend depositions and client conferences.

"(Clients) were very comforted by these little dogs," Morris said. "For the most part, they had a calming influence on people."

When two witnesses stopped by Morris' office with a massive gift basket after the trial, Morris said he "vainly assumed" it was for him.

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"They told me, 'We didn't come to see you -- we came to see the dogs,' " he said. The gift basket overflowed with dog biscuits, toys, chews and other puppy paraphernalia.

"Litigation can make people jittery. It's a high-stress activity," Morris said. "Dogs have therapeutic value in those kinds of situations."

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