More pets are going to work

URBANA – The morning routine is the same as in most offices. Co-workers Miles, Lily and Riley greet each other, admire new outfits, maybe sniff each other once or twice.

Canines of all stripes – and spots – roam the offices of the ASPCA Midwest Office in Urbana's Sunnycrest Mall.

Forget family friendly; this is a family-pet-friendly work place. Here, you'd feel left out if you didn't have a critter – or two – snoozing in the corner.

The office's Animal Poison Control Center manages more than 100,000 calls a year from pet owners nationwide worried that their animals have consumed something poisonous.

Many of the employees are veterinarians or veterinary technicians, so they have a natural affinity for animals, said spokeswoman Dana Farbman. And having a furry companion by your side can be a great stress reliever.

"If you're having a particularly difficult call, or you've managed a really tough case over the phone, it's nice once you wrap up that case to be able to turn to your dog and give him a scratch behind the ears," said Farbman, manager of client and professional relations. "You feel like your blood pressure is slowing."

About half the employees take pets to work on a regular basis – close to 60 animals altogether. Most are dogs. Cats, shall we say, are a bit harder to contain.

Some workers take more than one, or rotate pets so everyone gets a shot.

"We do actually have quite a detailed pet policy, but you can bring your pet as much as you want," Farbman said.

For years, the practice was informally policed, but earlier this year, a "pets at work committee" came up with a policy. The rules are fairly straightforward: pets must be well-behaved (i.e., quiet), up-to-date on their vaccinations, parasite-free, and kind to their neighbors, either canine or human.

The committee, chaired by Dr. Pam Reid, a certified animal behaviorist, meets to consider any problems that may arise.

"We really want to make sure that we can keep bring our pets to work and not have anybody get sent home forever," Farbman said.

There have been pets who were a bit too aggressive and asked not to go back, but that's rare, she said.

And no one's ever complained, about the barking, allergies or anything else. This is, after all, an office filled with animal lovers.

Safety gates and dog beds in individual offices are provided by the owners, though Farbman said the ASPCA does keep some crates on hand "just in case" – say, if an animal needs somewhere to "cool down."

Some employees (or their spouses) are allergic to certain types of pets – cats or rabbits, in particular, not that anyone's ever taken a bunny to the office. If someone takes in a cat, they're conscientious about keeping their office doors closed to limit unexpected contact, Farbman said.

Tamara Foss's co-workers have embraced her pets, Aslan, a red Doberman, and McKinley, an Aussie mix, both strays she rescued. She doesn't have her own office, so she uses a makeshift pen to section off the cubicle she shares with colleague Heidi Godley.

"Aunt Heidi" watches the dogs when Foss has to attend meetings, and the two women often stagger their lunch hours so the dogs aren't left alone. Godley, who has two Bassett hounds who "whine too much" to go to the office, said, "I get to have a dog here but not worry about taking it out or cleaning it up. I think it makes it a more relaxing work place."

Foss agreed: "I feel better knowing they're here. I can work longer if needed. I don't have to worry about running home."

The dogs are usually quiet. Aslan never makes a peep, eyes focused unnervingly at Foss as she talks or works. They spend much of the day sleeping – Aslan on his huge dog bed, McKinley with his head resting on a chair.

"I love having the dogs here," said associate Jessica Kendall, who has pictures of her own two dogs above her desk. "You can take a break and love on 'em. It's kind of relaxing... It helps me not miss my two."

Employees said they've worked at shelters or veterinary offices where they could take in pets, but they weren't eager to expose them to sick animals and usually had to keep them in kennels, not under their desks.

Miles, Farbman's energetic 1-year-old Cairn terrier, has a plaid bed in Farbman's cozy office, his "home away from home." He usually sits there or waits by the gated door for someone – anyone – to stop by.

Down the hall, 6-year-old Bacardi, a Lhasa Apso, sits at the very end of his red leash, attached to a computer work station inhabited by Craig Johnson. He's a friend of Bacardi's owner and takes him to work once or twice a week.

"Otherwise, he sits at home with a house full of cats," Johnson said. "He enjoys it so much. He gets to guard the hallway." But he confesses, "I don't think I get as much done when he's here."

All of the dogs much prefer coming to the office over staying home.

"In the morning, when I'm getting ready, they're standing by the door waiting for me," said veterinary toxicologist Eric Dunayer, who walks a half-mile to work each morning with his dogs, D'Argo, 3, and Xander, 1. "They get stimulation. People come and see them. They get treats. It's better for them than sitting home all day in a locked kennel."

Both dogs are large. D'argo, 3, is a Labrador retriever/shepherd mix and Xander is, well, anybody's guess: black like a lab, with a curly tail, long spindly legs and white feet with black spots. They stay in a pen in the call center, and usually sleep all day.

Unless somebody points a camera at them. Or the doorbell rings. That produces thunderous barks.

Then there's one-eyed Lola, a Chihuahua who tends to bark at any dog, big or small.

"Sometimes one dog will get going, and it will circulate through the place," Dunayer said.

Another drawback: potty breaks once a day, or more.

"D'Argo has the smallest bladder on the face of the planet," Dunayer said.

There aren't many accidents, and when there are, owners are responsible for cleaning up. More common, perhaps, is the occasional upset stomach, but Foss said you can usually see those coming and grab a trash can – prudently lined with plastic bags – before disaster erupts.

Still, pet owners say they'd have to race home to take their dogs out if they weren't at work, or ask someone else to do it. And it also forces them to get some exercise.

Mindy Bough takes her two dogs for a walk every day. "I wouldn't ordinarily do that otherwise," she said.

Her black retriever mix, Lily, soaks up love from visitors, with lots of licking and tail-wagging. Honey Bear, her Chihuahua, is more diffident. Wearing a tiny purple sweater, she huddles in a fleece-lined basket on top of Bough's desk until it's time for her walk.

"She's not much of a people person," Bough explains.

Riley, a mellow Beagle reminiscent of Eeyore, has missed just two days of work in the last two years. While the rest of his family dreads the start of the work week, "he loves Mondays," said owner Christine Ballard.

His sweatshirt says "Just chillin," which is how he spends his day. If you don't pet him, he just leans on you until you have no choice.

Riley shares a cubicle with Little Lily, the "social butterfly" of the office, and owner Cindy Lebie. The Boston Terrier-pug mix won't win any beauty contests – though her Dorothy costume from "The Wizard of Oz" took first prize in the office Halloween contest – but Lebie likes to "soften her look" with seasonal ruffled collars. This month's version is winter-themed, with tiny Santas.

"She's not necessarily the prettiest girl in town, but we love her," Lebie said.

And so do Riley and Miles.

Offices gone to the dogs (and cats)

Holiday shoppers got a surprise a few years back when a "reindeer" was spotted outside a downtown Urbana shoe store.

It was actually Sparky, a greyhound-like Ibizan dog who hangs out at Heel to Toe. Owner Will Martens had put a little antler headband on him for Christmas, and Sparky made a brief but memorable escape.

"There was this big white dog wandering around downtown Urbana with antlers. We found him and got him back fast," said store manager Meg Giles.

Stroll the downtown streets of Champaign-Urbana and you're bound to spot animals – inside the storefronts. Cats lounge in the windows of Christopher's Fine Jewelry in downtown Champaign. A Chihuahua, Roxanne, visits with customers at nearby Ippatsu Salon. Several felines rule the offices of state Appellate Court Justice Robert Steigmann in downtown Urbana.

Champaign-Urbana businesses aren't alone in their affinity for animals. Vermont-based Small Dog Electronics features a "dog friend" of the day on its Web site, inviting readers to send in pictures and stories about their pets.

"Seldom a day goes by when there aren't five or more dogs here at Small Dog each day," says the site, www.smalldog.com.

At Heel to Toe, Martens' dogs have been helping sell shoes since the store moved from Marketplace Mall to Main Street in 1988.

"It's nice to bring a little piece of home with you," said Giles. "Who doesn't like having their pets with them?"

It also keeps the dogs socialized. Think of it as a doggy playgroup.

"My dog is more depressed when he's at home with me on the day off," she said.

It's not all fun and games. The animals have to be walked in the middle of the day and trained not to run out the front door when a customer leaves, for example.

"They've got to learn one set of rules for home and one set of rules for the store, and not every dog can do it, said Giles, who lives in a downtown condo. "For some dogs, it's just too much activity."

Martens and Giles said customers don't seem to mind.

"The only trouble we have is the dogs get so obnoxious because they want so much attention, we can hardly wait on customers," Martens said.

He's had just one complaint, from a woman who thought one of his dogs was aggressive. The inspector who came to check it out tore up the complaint once he met the dog, whose demeanor was "sweet."

Martens' dogs – Peruvians and Ibizans – are generally quiet, and most customers don't even know they're there, Giles said. If customers aren't comfortable with dogs, the animals are penned up in the office. Her dog Auggie, a standard Dachshund, always stays in a crate while the store is open "because he is a little Hoover. He eats everything off the floor."

If anything, Martens' dogs are an asset because the breeds are so unusual – kind of a conversation starter, she said.

"People come in to see those wacky hairless dogs," she said.

Since they're hairless, fur isn't an issue. The store also gets vacuumed every day.

"I've worked here 13 years, and I've never had anyone complain of allergies," Giles said.

Occasional issues do crop up. The dogs may bark at a skateboarder going by or other "weird random things," Giles said. Then there was the time a customer came in with a ferret in her backpack. The hounds are bred to hunt vermin.

"They smelled the ferret first, and then it was sort of game on,'" Giles said. "It was just basically a lot of circling and baying at the poor woman."

Undaunted, the customer took her ferret home and came back.

Steigmann, a professed "cat lover," adopted his first two office cats four years ago from a veterinary clinic, where they'd been brought to be euthanized. One, Bailey, later died, but 14-year-old Garfield survives. Since then the office has acquired two more: Webster, 2, and 3-month-old Flash.

He thinks the cats have a "calming, settling influence" on the office.

"They're just wonderful," the judge said. "We do a lot of reading and writing here, and it's great to do that with a cat purring in your lap."

Luckily, his staff shares his passion for pets, with his assistant and two law clerks all owning cats, dogs or both.

"I am probably the most reluctant," said his assistant, Becky Gordon, who has two dogs at home. "But I do have to say I love them. They are adorable. There are times when they get in the way, but that's the way it is when you have kitties."

Her biggest objection is cat fur. But the office doesn't have too many walk-in patrons, so allergies aren't a big issue.

The only real problem is the Ameren meter-reader.

"She's just scared to death of the cats. Whenever she knocks on the door, we put the cats away," Gordon said.

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