Honey has been going to work with me since she was 8 weeks old. She’ll be 15 weeks old tomorrow.
I thought I’d share some of what I’ve learned that might help someone else looking to do the same thing.
- Invest in infrastructure. As you can see, Honey has her very own apartment in my office. Yeah, I could shut the office door and give her free run–if I didn’t mind her eating my pens, files, furniture. And she rests better in her own little crate.
- Plan for frequent breaks. I’m notorious for planning lots of appointments with little time for a break in between. No more. Now I schedule down time in between appointments so we can stroll, or play, or even do a little training. And speaking of appointments:
- Ask permission of everyone potentially affected by the dog in your office. After getting the permission of my boss, I asked everyone else in the building if they had any allergies or other concerns about having a dog in the office. I have a post-it note on my phone reminding me to ask clients if they will mind the dog in the office.
- Plan to get less work done. I go into work an hour early, work through lunch, and work from home to make up for the disruptions in my day.
- Remember that your puppy has a very short attention span. Enough said.
- Enjoy being on PST (Puppy Savings Time). Although I panic when I have too much to do and not enough time to do it, I’ve found the little breaks in my day help me think. Fifteen minutes out in the park with my pup remind me that no one ever died wishing they had done more work.