Tomorrow, many will celebrate “Take Your Dog to Work Day” with a day at the office. For my dogs, Amber and Krissy, however, the day holds no particular distinction since they come to work with me every day. True, I own my own business and our workplace is small, so it is easy to accommodate them. Still, as an employer, I find that having my dogs in the workplace is beneficial for everyone for a number of reasons:

1. Dogs teach us to give every task our best effort. Whether my dogs are chewing a bone, chasing a ball or pulling apart a new toy to get the squeaker, they go after it with gusto. It’s just another way of demonstrating that old adage: “Any job worth doing is a job worth doing well.” Maybe that’s where they get the phrase “Work like a dog!”

2. Dogs reduce stress. A lot of stress is relieved just by taking a moment to scratch the ears or belly of a canine co-worker. Even if you’re having a tough time solving a problem, your dog will tell you you’re the greatest person in the world every time you look at her. In fact, studies have proven that petting a dog can help lower blood pressure-though I don’t know who gets more benefit you or the dog.

3. Dogs can help us look at things in an unusual way. When we’re trying to solve a problem, it is easy to fall into similar patterns. This is where it is comfortable for us as humans. Yet, we only have to glance at Krissy who has undoubtedly fallen asleep in some unusually contorted position that reminds us that there are many ways to look at a problem and comfort is just a matter of interpretation.

4. Dogs motivate us to stretch. In this computer age of information overload, it is easy to sit staring at the computer for hours without moving. Prolonged periods of time writing, reading or researching can put stress on the lumbar region of the back as well as the neck and shoulders. Dogs don’t remain in one position for too long and whenever they get up from a resting position, they stretch first. Daily stretching can provide a lot of physical and mental health benefits including keeping us younger.

5. Dogs remind us that work is more fun when we do it together. Sure there are vendors to bark at, issues to lick and client demands gnawing at us, but all seems doable when we collaborate. In the company of dogs, all things are possible.

6. Dogs encourage laughter. Dogs are naturally spontaneous and playful and they do smile and laugh. (Really!) Whenever Amber or Krissy hears one of us laughing, they love to be a part of it. Amber will throw her bone in the air and Krissy will roll on her back and grin. They don’t let us get too serious, prompt us to take play breaks and generally just make the workplace a more joyful place to be.

7. Dogs make us feel safe. Whether or not we actually are safer .is beside the point. The reality is that my dogs would rather lick someone to death than to bite their butts, but to the unwelcome solicitor we do nothing to discourage their image as ferocious beasts. “NO, WE DO NOT WANT YOUR BULK CANDY, SPA DISCOUNTS, OR YOUR COPIER, CLEANING OR INSURANCE COST COMPARISONS. GRRRR!!!!

8. Dogs can help us stay in the moment. Oil in the Gulf, job layoffs down the street, assistant out with the flu on day of the big presentation-there are plenty of things to worry about in business-but dogs will keep you grounded. There’s nothing to worry about except what’s right in front of you. All you have to do is take some time to chew it over.

Let’s face it—when you’re in business, there are some days we feel like the dog and sometimes we feel like the hydrant. We’re just glad we have always have the benefit of the doubt from our canine companions.

A friend of mine sent me the following parable.  It is written from the perspective of the family dog, but the author is unknown. It is a great reminder to us all to appreciate the moment and to be generous with our time and attention, and the wisdom of its lesson crosses time, generations, and species. It bears repeating here:

I am your dog, and I have a little something that I’d like to whisper in your ear. I know that you humans lead busy lives. Some have to work, some have children to raise. It always seems that you are running here and running there, often much too fast, often never noticing the truly grand things in life.

Look down at me now while you sit there at your computer. See the way my dark brown eyes look at yours? They are slightly cloudy now. That comes with age. The grey hairs are beginning to ring my soft muzzle. You smile at me: I see love in your eyes. What do you see in mine? Do you see a spirit? A soul inside, who loves you as no other could in the world? A spirit that would forgive all trespasses of prior wrong doing for just a simple moment of your time?

That is all I ask. To slow down, if even only for a few minutes, to be with me. So many times you have been saddened by the words you read on that screen of others of my kind, passing. Sometimes we die young and oh so quickly, sometimes so suddenly it wrenches your heart out of your throat. Sometimes we age so slowly before your eyes that you may not even seem to know until the very end, when we look at you with grizzled muzzles and cataract-clouded eyes. Still the love is always there, even when we must take that long sleep, to run free in a distant land.

I may not be here tomorrow: I may not be here next week. Someday you will shed the water from your eyes that humans do when deep grief fills their souls, and you will be angry with yourself that you did not have just ‘one more day’ with me.

Because I love you so, your sorrow touches my spirit and grieves me. We have NOW, together. So come, sit down here next to me on the floor and look deep into my eyes. What do you see? If you look hard enough and deep enough we will talk, you and I, heart to heart. Come to me not as ‘alpha’ or ‘trainer’ or even ‘Mom or Dad’. Come to me as a living soul and stroke my fur and let us look deep into one another’s eyes and talk. I may tell you something of the fun of chasing a tennis ball, or I may tell you something profound about myself, or even life in general. You decided to have me in your life because you wanted a soul to share such things with. Someone very different from you, and here I am.

I am a dog, but I am alive. I feel emotion, I feel physical senses, and I can revel in the differences of our spirits and souls. I do not think of you as a “dog on two feet” I know what you are and who you are. You are human in all your quirkiness, and I love you still.

Krissy and I spend a few moments together on the floor.

Now, come sit with me on the floor. Enter my world and let time slow down if only for fifteen minutes. Look deep into my eyes and whisper into my ears. Speak with your heart, with your joy, and I will know your true self. We may not have tomorrow, but we do have today, and life is oh so very short.

So please….. come sit with me now and let us share the precious moments we have together.

Love on behalf of canines everywhere,

Your Dog

Do you ever wonder who you can turn to for good marketing advice? I think the answer may be lying at your feet. Your dog is probably one of the best examples of what it takes to market effectively. Take our Airedale, Krissy, for example. She and Amber come to the office with us every day. After they have greeted everyone, Krissy begins her marketing campaign to be taken for a walk. What makes her an effective marketer?

1) She knows her target market. She knows who feeds her, takes her for a walk and plays ball with her. She is not going to waste time pursuing anyone who hasn’t scratched her belly or given her a Greenie. She makes a beeline directly to my office and jumps on my lap to get my attention.

2) She has developed her core message. For any given situation, she knows the exact doleful face, the slight whimper or persistent paw that will get the just response she wants and she keeps it up persistently until she gets the desired reaction.

3) She uses a good marketing mix. Krissy doesn’t rely on just one tactic to attract attention. If I don’t respond to the lap jumping, she barks and then gets Amber to bark.

This is the basic premise of social marketing. You tweet; someone retweets.

If that doesn’t work, she takes my hand in her mouth and pulls me toward the door.

This is called direct response marketing.

If that doesn’t work, she runs to my assistant and jumps on her chair.

This is called influencer marketing.

And if her wishes are STILL ignored, she will lay by the window and sigh loudly and forlornly.

A good example of stealth marketing.

In the end, she usually gets the walk she’s been lobbying for which just proves you have to use a variety of tactics to achieve success.

These are just a few of the marketing lessons you can learn from dogs and it is the basis for my presentation, Marketing to the MAX: What My Dogs Taught Me About Marketing My Book. Please join me at my next presentation Wednesday, April 28, 2010, 5:30 pm at the monthly meeting of the Scottsdale Society of Women Writers at the Scottsdale Marriott Suites Old Town, 7325 East Third Avenue, Scottsdale, AZ 85251. You’ll see that much of marketing just takes dogged determination!

Yesterday was National Puppy Day and in celebration, I thought I’d share Amber’s baby picture.  I didn’t find it until today so I’ll keep the celebration going by sharing it today as the Pose of the Week. Here she is when we first brought her home in May of 2001:

Now doesn’t that just make you say, “Awwww!?”  Still that innocent face certainly masked a devil in a fur coat!  She was really the poster pup for bad behavior. You’d never know it by the proper lady she has become today though.

Although Krissy looks pretty much like she did when we rescued her, she would feel left out if we didn’t include a photo of her:

That’s the sweet face we fell in love with! Another furry rascal underneath!

If you have a photo of your dog as a puppy, send it to max at nice creative dot com and we’ll share it on our blog.  The cutest photo will win a copy of our book!

We have had a lot of fun doing these Poses of the Week with Amber & Krissy, but they’re getting dog-tired of always being the center of attention (well, not really). Anyway, they just KNOW that some of you out there have taken some great photos of your fur-kids and we’d like to feature some of them as our Life to the MAX Pose of the Week. Just email us your digital photo–no smaller than 800 KB and no larger than 3 M–to max@nicecreative.com. Tell us the name of your dog and anything pertinent about the photo. We’ll choose the best from the photos that are submitted, write a caption for it and post one each Wednesday on our blog. If your photo is chosen, you will win an autographed copy of our book, Life to the MAX: Maxims for a Great Life by a Dog named Max.

So join the fun.  Send your photos today and win! Krissy will be very grateful!!

We can hardly believe that we have turned the page on another new year and a new decade to boot!  It just doesn’t seem that long ago that everyone was fretting about Y2K, but here we are, fretting about the economy!

For us, 2009 was a time of letting go of many things that we thought should be, but with that came an appreciation of the things that are–you know, the important stuff like we are healthy; we are valued by our friends and families; we are talented, hardworking and smart enough to adapt when necessary. We don’t know what will happen in 2010, but for me, I am going to take a cue from my dogs and fret less and laugh more.

Here are our wishes for you in the new year and may they resonate throughout the new decade:

May you be safe
May you be happy
May you be healthy
May you live with ease

Happy New Year, everyone!  May it be the best year yet!

I don’t know who’s worse when it comes to the anticipation of the holidays–kids or dogs. Yes, I do–it’s the dogs.  Every time I come in the house with a bag or package, I have Amber and Krissy glued to my heels until I put them down.  Then they have to stick their noses in the bags and if there is anything that could even remotely be considered a toy for them, out it comes in a flash.  My husband’s socks, a package of ribbon, a pair of slippers for my mom, a t-shirt for my son–have all been danced across the room with gleeful abandon and christened with a wee bit of slobber before being rescued.

And when the big night comes and everybody is supposed to be all nestled in their beds with no one stirring, not even a mouse–Amber is scheming under her stocking next to the fireplace.  Since more than once, she has crawled up and taken her stocking down by herself, we have taken to barricading off the fireplace and putting her filled stocking up high on the mantle once it’s filled.

It is small moments like these that make the holidays fun, memorable and special.  And when it comes down to it, it’s really the small moments in life that really mean the most. So enjoy your every moment of the holidays with your family, friends and dogs.  Appreciating the moment may be the most important lesson we can learn from our dogs, not just during the holidays, but every day.