Dogs have their day as employers welcome pets at work

By Anya Sostek, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On the first floor of Coolidge Hall at Chatham College, Pongo happily plays with a stuffed animal. Down the hall, Belo turns over his water bowl. And although Katie isn't at school today, her gate leans against the door. It's an ordinary day in Chatham's English department, where several professors regularly bring their dogs to work.

"It's nice -- everybody knows him, and they get used to seeing him prancing down the halls," said Sheryl St. Germain, an English professor and owner of Pongo, a 9-year-old Shih Tzu. "If he's not with me, he's at home and he has a little bit of separation anxiety."

One of several workplaces scattered across the Pittsburgh region that allows dogs at work, Chatham has permitted pets for at least 25 years, but English department chairman William Lenz said the number of dogs on campus has increased in recent years.

That trend may hold true nationwide. John Long, spokesman for a North Carolina organization called Pet Sitters International, said that participation in the group's annual Take Your Dog to Work Day event in June is up from 300 companies when it started in 1997 to more than 10,000 this year.

"Having dogs in the workplace has been found to reduce stress levels, increase employee morale, and it's always a lot of fun," said Mr. Long. "Employees feel more comfortable staying later and devoting more hours to their work."

Deborah Daquila, who owns a hair salon in East Liberty, brings her two cocker spaniels to work with her three or four days a week. She says her main motivation is "just plain guilt" about leaving them at home, but that they also provide psychological benefits.

"If I have a stressful client, I look over at my dogs and I feel immediate joy," she said. "It keeps me calm and happy."

Of course, as Ms. Daquila knows, there are problems inherent in bringing dogs to work: Some co-workers or clients might be allergic to dogs, while others could be afraid of dogs or just dislike them. And recently, one of Daquila's cocker spaniels had an accident in the shop.

"They're dogs -- it's going to happen," she said. "My client was way less upset than I would have expected."

At Chatham, the attitude is a little more strict. "A dog that had an accident would be a dog that was banned," said Dr. Lenz. Dogs there are not allowed in classrooms and are supposed to be on a leash outside of professor's offices. And a new policy that went into effect this fall asks employees who want to bring dogs to get permission from the administration. "We are in the education business first," said Dr. Lenz. "Our central mission is students rather than canines."

But in the hallway of Coolidge, the business of students and canines often intersects. Lynne Dickson Bruckner, an English professor who has brought her greyhound, Katie, into work for the last five years, said that students often stop by for "dog therapy." And Dr. St. Germain, who came to Chatham this year from Iowa State, said that the dog policy was one small factor that helped tip the scales toward moving to Pittsburgh. "Sometimes it's these small things that really push you in a particular direction," she said.