Area offices have gone to the dogs

Pete Erickson / The Bulletin Cinco’s whole body wags as she greets a stranger at the GreatOutdoors.com office. Cinco is one of the seven dogs that enjoy romping around the Redmond facility.

More Central Oregon firms enjoy the company of man’s best friends

Tuesday, January 29, 2008
By Laura Moss / For The Bulletin

In dog-loving Central Oregon, with more than 14,000 dogs licensed throughout Crook, Deschutes and Jefferson counties, it should come as no surprise that some people want to take their four-legged friends to the office with them. Some are lucky enough to be able to.

There are many reasons people may bring their dogs to work. It could be that the dog does not do well at home, but is well-behaved in the office. Or it may be that dogs are a necessary part of the business, as at Ruffwear, the Bend business that creates outdoor gear for dogs. At GreatOutdoors.com, not only is the building conducive to dogs running around, but having the pooches there is also meaningful to the employees.

"Our culture is enormously important to us,” said GreatOutdoors.com Director of Business Development Kevin Bauer, adding that dogs help make it a good environment to work in.

GreatOutdoors.com, a Redmond-based online outdoor-gear retailer, has allowed dogs to be a part of the work environment since it relocated to Oregon from Washington in September 2006.

Thomas Sales & Service With roughly 70 employees, Bauer estimates that on any given day, there will be seven dogs hanging out at their owners’ desks, or taking a quick trip around the 35,000-square-foot building.

Rebecca Larsen, a buyer for GreatOutdoors .com who has been with the company since before the move, says even with a dog-friendly atmosphere, they could not take dogs to work at the Kirkland, Wash., office because the building’s lease disallowed pets.

Larsen got her mixed-breed dog, Cinco, about a year ago from the Humane Society of the Ochocos, when Cinco was a puppy. At first, Larsen didn’t think to bring her pooch to work, but Cinco started escaping from her kennel and Larsen had to find a solution. Another dog was already coming with its owner to work, so Larsen gave that a go.

"She’s been coming in ever since,” she said.

Another regular at GreatOut doors.com is Conner, a slender mixed-breed herding puppy who is not even 1 year old yet. He comes to work with his owner’s mother, Lori Meusec. Conner and his owner, 20-year-old Kalah Meusec, recently moved in with Lori in her home near Terrebonne. Lori now affectionately calls herself “grandma.”

"It’s really cool to be here and bring your dog,” Lori said. When he’s not sitting with grandma, Conner can be seen running through the office area and warehouse, getting some exercise.

Bauer says the dogs get tons of exercise. They can run in the large building and play outdoors as well.

At one point Larsen invited Sa Khyi (SAH-kee), a hairy 13-month-old Tibetan mastiff, to come outside and play with her and Cinco. Sa Khyi’s owner, Damion D’Oyley, unhooked the dog’s leash, and off they went. D’Oyley said he only brings Sa Khyi to work once in awhile. Hauling the 100-pound dog, which isn’t yet full grown, can’t be easy.

When they are outside, Bauer said, the dogs can play fetch and Frisbee in the large yard.

Few issues have risen from dogs coming to work, Bauer said. When one does come up, they discuss it in company meetings, but try not to make rules about what is or is not allowed. He says so far the open discussions have taken care of any problems.

Everybody keeps an eye on the dogs at work, but Bauer emphasized they are the owner’s responsibility.

With so many dogs running around, it may be surprising that they all get along. Some play together when they’re not leashed at their owners’ desks. Others stay with their owner all the time.

“It’s socialized Cinco, like, extraordinarily well,” Larsen said.

Bauer said they have not yet had a problem with dogs not getting along.

“Everyone tends to be really good parents,” Bauer said, explaining that they all take care to make sure that this really is the proper environment for their dog.

Pete Erickson / The Bulletin Local lawyer Ron Johnson watches as the office manager, Linda Smith, hugs his beagle, Chester, on Wednesday.

A different type of office dog

Chester, a 2-year-old beagle, goes to work with his owner, Ron Johnson, nearly every day at a law firm in Bend. Chester is usually the only dog at the firm, and therefore gets all the puppy love.

“The staff love him,” his owner said.

Johnson, a domestic relations lawyer, is a partner at Stahancyk, Kent, Johnson and Hook. The firm has offices throughout Oregon, including Bend and Prineville. Johnson and Chester live in Prineville with Johnson’s wife, Mary Lou, and the couple’s six cats and one rabbit.

Almost every day, Chester gets into the front seat of Johnson’s car and rides to work. Johnson said this is the toughest part of the day because Chester doesn’t like car rides. But the dog enjoys being at work with his owner so much that both are willing to endure the nearly hour-long drive.

Once at work, “he greets everybody,” Johnson said.

When he’s settled, Chester sleeps in an office chair or at Johnson’s feet. If Johnson goes into another person’s office, Chester follows him and snoozes in that person’s chair until Johnson returns to his own office. After the initial excitement Chester shows in the morning, he spends most of the day finding the best napping spots.

“Just the opposite of what he is in the car,” Johnson said.

At regular intervals, Johnson takes Chester for walks outside. Johnson often takes Chester to Pioneer Park during lunch.

“I throw him the ball,” Johnson said.

Since the times that Chester gets to go out are so regular, Johnson said the dog sometimes starts to get antsy when one of those times is approaching.

“I’m pretty sure he knows the routine.”

Johnson, who has owned Chester since he was a puppy, said he was reluctant at first to bring the dog to work with him since a law firm can be a tense environment. Now, though, he believes that having the dog there helps calm people.

“I think he’s kind of a reality check,” Johnson said.

Johnson is careful with new clients and keeps Chester secluded unless the client approaches the dog. “We are a client-based business and I can’t assume all people are dog people,” he said. “In Central Oregon, so many people are animal lovers and almost everyone has a dog so it is almost never an issue.”

The only time having an office dog hinders Johnson is when he would like to spend his lunch hour running errands. He has to first care for the dog before he is free to do anything else.

Chester goes to work not because he can’t be left at home, but because Johnson believes the dog truly enjoys it. Johnson has days in court when Chester has to stay at home, if he doesn’t go to work with Mary Lou at the Crook County administration office. Johnson said he is just a happier dog on the days he goes to work.

Practical purposes

One Bend company has employees bring their dogs into work simply to help business. Ruffwear designs, which develops and distributes outdoor gear for dogs, is “dog-focused,” said founder Patrick Cruse.

He said each of the company’s 16 employees has at least one dog. A portion of the company’s Web site, www.ruff wear.com, is devoted to showing them off.

Dogs come to work at Ruffwear to help with product research. They do fitting tests, and are sometimes used for making prototypes of new products. Since the employees have all different shapes and sizes of dogs to bring in, it helps them investigate how products will function differently on each type of dog. Cruse said different dogs come in based the product being tested. If it’s a day when a small-dog item is being tested, people with small-breed dogs bring them to work.

However, because their workplace is small, Cruse said they don’t usually have the dogs in there just to hang out.

“If everybody brings their dog in, it’s just mayhem,” he said.

At the businesses where dogs are a regular fixture, those who do bring their dogs seem to really enjoy it. It gives them an excuse to take regular breaks from work, and go outside to get some fresh air — and maybe even a little exercise of their own. None reported any problems that would make them re-evaluate their dog-at-work situation. It’s likely that dogs thoroughly enjoy getting to spend so much time with their masters, as well. What dog wouldn’t?

Laura Moss can be reached at lmoss@bendbulletin.com.

Click here for a link to the article at The Bulletin.

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