A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.

E-mail from my uncle, who has a service dog:

Do you need your heart warmed tonight? Perhaps a warm fuzzy or two?

Read this article.

DOG POST

Saw this: 

and laughed out loud, partially because it reminded me of this:

Dogs are funny.

(Source: Daily Mail)

My dog is against me going to bed early.

First, she tried to submarine under my covers while growling. I pushed her away and now, as I type this, there is a hedgehog toy balanced on my right butt cheek.

My dog has one of those Home Again rescue chips (I know the controversy surrounding them and whether they cause cancer or something, but after your dog escapes from your house and runs rampant through the streets of Baltimore with you sprinting, teary-eyed, behind her, you throw caution to the wind). But let me just say - I made a mistake by putting down my email address for that thing. All day every day I get emails about lost dogs. “Pickel, a lost dog [whose owner can’t spell], is LOST in your area!” And if Pickel is, indeed, lost in my area, I usually start wondering what Pickel’s owners are thinking about and whether they’ve found Pickel yet and I get a little sad. And then I get another email about another dog named Rocco or a cat named Smelly McTootles approximately five minutes later and I’m sad all over again. I hate getting these messages, but I would feel horrible filtering them out, because what if Rocco or Pickel or Smelly McTootles is nearby and I can help (this has yet to actually happen, but it’s the thought that counts)? And more often than not, it’s a dog or cat or hamster or whatever lost up in Pennsylvania, which, while it appears close on a map of the east coast, is a little far for a dog or a cat to be roaming.

I don’t know what the point of that rant was other than that sad lost dog/cat/[insert runaway animal] emails are sad.

I just want my dog in a little dog bed next to my desk, okay?

I was thinking this morning, when I was cleaning the gross eye boogers from my dog’s eyes (too much information?) that it would be pretty awesome to take my dog to work.  Partially because I don’t really love work and I think that it would be more tolerable with my non-judgmental* bff sitting next to me, but also because I just think it’s an awesome idea.

I did a little research on this, but I don’t even need statistics and articles to come to the conclusion that pets in the workplace would be a great morale booster.  When I think of dogs relaxing under desks, I think of chill California workplaces (I don’t know why I think of California.  But try thinking of pets roaming the halls of an office in Nebraska.  Just doesn’t have the same feeling) which are low-key, great work environments with lots of sunlight and a general feeling of awesomeness in the air.  Science has come to the conclusion that pets make people happier.  People who are happy with their jobs create better work product (this is not scientific…this is Ashley-science).  Seems like happier employees and better job performance go hand-in-hand, right?  

Obviously this doesn’t work for a lot of businesses, maybe even for most businesses.  But, according to Fox, one in five businesses allows dogs in the workplace (I kind of doubt this statistic, as I don’t always trust Fox News, and as I know a lot of people, and none of them are allowed to bring their dogs to work).  If you work in the packaging line for Nabisco double-checking to make sure that all the packs of Fig Newtons are sealed, that’s probably not a great place for a dog.  Or if you clean houses for a living - probably not a good place to bring your pet, since you’ll be undoing everything you’ve just done.  For large businesses or businesses in buildings where pets absolutely will not be tolerated, that’s fine.  But I think for small-to-medium businesses, it could be pretty cool to let people bring their (well-behaved, potty-trained, not vicious or prone to attacks) pet to work.  They’ll be happier, and as a result, everyone will be.  That’s why if I was starting up a business (which I’m not), I would make it semi-pet friendly.  I say “semi” because I really wouldn’t want people bringing in their pet boa constrictor or hamster (not because I don’t like them, but because hamsters are slick little buggers and one second you’re playing with and nuzzling your little furry friend, and the next he’s sprinting down the hallway and hiding out in the cupboards and gorging himself on all the Riesens that the secretary hides there).  And I definitely think it would be weird to have an office sugar glider. 

Places where you can take your dog to work:  Urban Decay cosmetics, Replacements Ltd., Capitol Hill (yes, even the Senate loves pets), a law firm in Florida, Google (at their Mountain View location), Clif Bar, Omnivision, Dell, Mountain Hardwear, The Jim Henson Company, Athleta….

I’m sure that this wouldn’t work for everyone.  It definitely wouldn’t work for every business.  I just think it would be really cool to be able to bring Shiloh to work. 

*I choose to believe that she doesn’t judge me.  She probably does, but since she can’t speak, I can believe whatever I want.