Inside the World’s Most Dog-Friendly Office
BY CHRISTINE LAGORIO-CHAFKIN
Senior writer, Inc.
Creating a doggie heavenIn search of an office big enough for its staff and their dogs, Kurgo, a Salisbury, Massachusetts-based startup that makes dog-travel gear, took over its own 4,000-square-foot warehouse in 2015. (Here, Josie “the jumper” lounges near the creative department.)
IMAGE: COURTESY COMPANY
Marking the territory – The centerpieces of the office’s structure are massive orange shipping containers–the very same ones Kurgo’s products are imported in. Wood paneling for walls and desks is reclaimed from Maine rivers. (Here, Mia, a yellow Lab, attends a meeting.) IMAGE: COURTESY COMPANY
Roaming with Rover – In addition to the shipping containers and reclaimed wood, a vintage 1956 Airstream trailer adds personality to Kurgo’s office. The founders say the trailer reminds them of travels with their family dogs. IMAGE: COURTESY COMPANY
Fetching amenities – Humans weren’t the only considerations in building out Kurgo’s offices. The ample kitchen has an easy-clean floor, and is always stocked with kibble and treats for the four-to-eight pups that come along to work each day. IMAGE: COURTESY COMPANY
Creativity booster – “Besides being great stress relievers, the dogs boost creativity, testing our products and providing us with ideas for new ones,” says Kurgo co-founder Kitter Spater. No word on whether they’ve tried the slide. IMAGE: COURTESY COMPANY
Lap of luxury – The new office features numerous amenities for dog owners, including a low water fountain, fake grass to create indoor play areas, and baskets of dog toys. IMAGE: COURTESY COMPANY
Pack mentality – The dog-friendly office provides a natural community for the dog owners too. They not only go on walks during lunch or afternoon breaks (dubbed “stink and steps”), but also often volunteer to watch one anothers’ pooches for weekends away. IMAGE: COURTESY COMPANY
Shake it off – After that long lunchtime walk, a shower specially designed to help hose off muddy puppies is a neat, if unusual, addition to the company bathroom. IMAGE: COURTESY COMPANY
Sit, stand, roll over – Kurgo’s offices are customizable, with standing desks for the employee and beds for any size of pooch. (Here, a Lab named Clover relaxes, while his human, Lisa, works.) IMAGE: COURTESY COMPANY
Spreading the love – Kurgo doesn’t just love its own dogs, like Mia, here. It also hosts occasional after-work “Yappy Hours” so dog owners can connect. And it launched Dogs Allowed, a database of dog-friendly businesses. IMAGE: COURTESY COMPANY
Source: http://www.inc.com/christine-lagorio/inside-the-worlds-most-dog-friendly-office.html
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The Kurgo’s offices are amazing as these offices are not only designed and built to meet their staff’s needs in order to carry out their tasks, but also including the welfare and necessities for the furry friends to stay protected, emotionally and physically taken care of, while the pet owners can focus in their work without any worries of their dogs. There is so much compassion, kindness, care and love filled within the amenities, which I believe could be the keys to success for that organization because the harmony-with-animals environment allows the staff there to stay relax and enjoying their work. Hence, this can lead them to generate new ideas for improvement at work and able to increase productivity as well. Most importantly, people there are given the opportunity to learn on how to stay with the dogs under the same work place because it takes a lot of patience, care and compassion to communicate and interact with the dogs. Eventually, the staff there can easily pick up and practise the qualities of respect, love, tolerance, kindness, compassion and selflessness.
May all the animals will be blessed and protected by all the Buddhas, able to gain good and higher rebirth to learn and practise Dharma until achieving enlightenment.
Humbly with folded hands,
kin hoe
I personally think that this is a very good practice where the employees no longer have to worry about leaving pets at home alone. The work environments that cultivate loving kindness, caring and compassion create a much more positive and productive place to work.
It may influence everyone especially those who do not have pets to be kinder to animals.
Thank you Rinpoche and blog team for this interesting article as a reminder to us to love and be kind to animals no matter where we are.??
Many companies especially in overseas are very considerate and allow their employees to bring their dogs to work. I personally think that this is a very good practice where the employees no longer have to worry about leaving pets at home alone. The work environments that cultivate loving kindness, caring and compassion create a much more positive and productive place to work. Besides, it may influence everyone especially those who do not have pet to be more kind to the animals.
Nevertheless, the employer and employees may have to work together to maintain the safe and cleanliness work place such as reduce odour, provide clean air and many others.
Thank you for this interesting article as a reminder to us to love and be kind to animals no matter where we are.
Just fantastic. Imagine to have a place like this here where we can bring our furry friends with us to work.
Both owners and dogs will be happy to be together at work and the dog don’t need to be lonely at home. Just love this concept very much.
It is so lovely for Kurgo to create such a dog friendly environment for its staff and their dogs. Nowadays, many people regard their dogs as their own children and spend as much time and money on their dogs as they would their own children (if they had any). Therefore it make sense for Kurgo to provide its offices to be dog friendly as its staff will have the ease of mind of having their “children” there with them. The dogs will be happy to have their owners with them instead of being home alone.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing such an interesting concept that provides peace of mind for its staff and their dogs. I am sure that the productivity of the staff increases as they are able to focus more on their work without worry of their “children”.
This is such a creative and neat way to have your pets with us. More companies should provide facility for dogs to come to work as well. Pets can always do what we least we anticipate so they can really surprise us.
Cute! This is so wonderful that the office is animal friendly. If the animal is well trained, they will be a jewel to be with when we are too stress out from work. More work place should do the same.
Hi Sock Wan! I agree with you about the pleasures of a well-trained furry friend. Awareness of pet care and responsibility is not very high in Malaysia yet, and this education starts from young. One of the problems is parents buying pets as gifts for their children. First, it teaches their kids that an animal’s life is a commodity that can be readily traded.
Second, if the motivation is to get the pet as a plaything or companion for the child, then the approach is wrong from the outset – there is no sense of responsibility for a plaything and at the point of purchase, you’re doing so with the unconscious assumption that no further care is necessary. But dog or cat or gerbil or whatever isn’t an inanimate doll or toy that can be put to one side once you’re bored with them. Once that reality sets in, that is why we often see animals being abandoned at shelters (if lucky) or the roadside (if not so lucky) because the parents didn’t factor in the time taken to properly care for their new furry friend.
If Malaysians are educated into pet care, they will find that a furry friend can give us years of love if we train them well!
I love what these people have done with their office! Absolutely love it! So nice of them and very thoughtful. I find that not only does it make the environment more friendly and attractive for their dogs, but it also gives more life to the office area. I can imagine that most office areas are dull and rather boring, so by doing something like this is really lights up the space and gives a cozy creative feel to the workplace 🙂
And obviously the best part about this is that it is friendly for their dogs. Dogs are known to be mens best friend and they deserve the treatment of a best friend. I already love how these people want to take their dogs to work with them, so it actually only makes sense to make the environment better for their dogs. Their business is also based around dogs so im sure this would increase their publicity and image as a brand or business. It benefits them and the dogs around them. Excellent!
Oh wow this is so cool and creative and great office! I wish we can have this in Malaysia. However the pet owner must be just as mature and responsible for their dogs otherwise having such amenities does not help but could create more mess. So although I love the idea, I would love it better when dog owner really take responsibility and real care for their babies… yes because our pets are just like our children. They are not toys and not to be pushed or dump on to someone to take care when you are “busy”. Hence although I myself is an animal lover, because of my work schedule, I make a decision not to have my own pets because I know I cannot give them that time and care as I would like to.
In the end it is the pets that suffer which I think isn’t fair at all. Most people have pets for their own selfish reasons – to keep them company because they are lonely… I know a few. So I hope more awareness is created and educated to pet owners, that our pets are like our children is being instilled in pet owners.
I’m happy to hear that people are creating these dog friendly office spaces but I don’t necessarily agree it is a fair workplace. I am all against animal abuse but a workplace has to be fair to all. There are people who do not like dogs. So are we going to start discriminating people who doesn’t like dogs? If you can bring dogs to work then what about other pets like cats and fish, etc. What about bringing children to work?
Does it really create a more productive work environment or more distraction? I’m sure dog lovers will be over the moon about this but I still think we should keep work place as work place and personal interest separate.
A 2015 Society for Human Resource Management survey found 8 percent of American workplaces allow employees to bring their furry loved ones to work, and up from 5 percent in 2013. These companies include Amazon, Etsy, Google, Bissell, Clif Bar, Petco and etc.
Some companies have dog owner play groups and offer pooch play areas, pet gates in cubicles, and a few provide free pet training, pet walkers, off-site pet sitters as well as pet pampering services such as grooming and dog spas.
It was reported that the millennial segment (18- to-34-year-olds) tends to look at their pets “as practice families or substitute families”, instead of “just a pet”. Nowadays, companies have to invest in employees’ lives beyond their workstations and a decent salary. Some employers shared that employees who are allowed to bring their pets to work are more focused, more comfortable at the office willing to work longer hours.
It is nice to have a dog/pet-friendly office. I am sure if we ask around, many would be enthusiastic, but there will be some who would find it uncomfortable to work alongside certain animals, and there is also possible complications: people with allergies. As such, it is wise to look into how best to develop dog-in-the-workplace policy before we copy and implement other people’s ideas without proper planning.
This is really cute, I hope more offices, companies and public places around the world will soon follow their footsteps and change their policies. It takes people with a huge passion towards animals to build this, I personally think that its not easy because it requires love, carefulness and safety precautions in order to make sure that the environment is dog-friendly so they don’t get hurt. I’m very happy to see this because pets are just like our family members and its not safe to leave them alone at home when we go to work.
Thanks for the sharing…
Wish to hv a office like that in MY…
It part of my dream to create this office environment…
Beside that Labrador are the man best friends…
I hv one Labrador follow me around at house…..
This reminds me of a video I watched recently, filmed in the Oracle offices in Japan. A dog by the name of Heidi has been roaming their halls for the last 10 years (or was it 12?) so that the workers can pet her, give her treats, etc. They have found that Heidi’s presence helped to reduce workplace related stress and boost productivity. The film was done because Heidi was retiring and being replaced by another dog. If a company like Oracle in a country that’s as advanced as Japan sees the merit in having a dog roaming the halls to boost job performance, what’s the rest of the world waiting for!
Incredible! Absolutely love the idea of a dog friendly office.
This idea of a dog friendly office is a really good idea!
It is great to see the owners of Kurgo give plenty of attention to their furry four pawed pals!
More offices should be designed in such a concept that it would be pet friendly, offices are the places where the environment can be a bit stressful sometimes but with pets around, staff can always take some time off and just let of some steam by cuddling or playing with the pets!
Thank you Pastor Seng Piow for the article. It’s very thoughtful of the company to allow their staff to bring pets in to the office. Dogs are like a 3 year old kid. If left alone for a while, they will get depressed and unhappy. If you ever have a pet dog, you’ll know what I mean.
Most of them love to hang out with their master. They will follow wherever the master goes. So I can imagine how happy the dogs are for being able to go to work with their masters.
For the masters, they also have a peace of mind and would most probably perform better at work because they won’t have the constant worry of their pet dog. This is a win win situation. Thanks for the great story!