Dogs are some of the most beloved animals in the world. They make perfect pets and are always happy to see their humans when those come back home after a long day of work. In other words, it’s a great pleasure to own a dog.

But what if you don’t have to wait to see your favorite pet in the evening? What if you actually work with your pet? There’s evidence that dogs could help you succeed at work even more than you do now. Hence, here’s the role dogs play in your professional efficiency and success.

Body and Mind Harmony

The first thing dogs can help with is body and mind harmony. It’s not enough to simply feel well physically—you should also feel well mentally. And that’s exactly what having a dog at work can do. Dogs can provide you with the well-needed emotional support that employees often lack because of the stressful environments they find themselves working in.

Amazon is one of the companies that has a dog-friendly work policy. There are over a thousand dogs just in Amazon’s Seattle headquarters which lets employees enjoy their work more. Though there are only 8% of US companies that allow dogs at work, the percentage of such organizations is growing.

When owners can bring their dogs to work, they know that everything will be fine with their pets. They can walk their dogs and feed them during the day. On the other hand, these very dogs are the ones providing them additional support when doing their job gets challenging (e.g. deadlines, intense meetings, and the like).

According to research, social or emotional support often plays a big role for people with serious mental illnesses. Not having such support can influence whether the person returns to work or even simply stays employed. Luckily, dogs are perfect for providing such support which is exactly why they can be so useful both for employees with mental illnesses and for those without them.

Work-Life Balance

Another way dogs can help out is in assisting you in achieving a healthy work-life balance. Being able to balance your work with everything unrelated to it is the key to being satisfied with your job as well as successful at it. That’s why so many companies are becoming more open to the possibility of working with pets.

Catherine McGee, an expert from a dissertation writing services site, explains, “Companies like Inverse-Square allow pets in the workplace because they positively affect the work-life balance both of employees and of employers. Apparently, keeping pets around at work helps them spend long work hours in a happy mood and enjoy breaks more.”

Etsy also treats pets at work as a great opportunity for raising spirits and having some comic relief. There is less negativity in the workplace when dogs are around which means that teams can work in a more relaxed and positive atmosphere which, in turn, impacts how they feel about their jobs.

Stress Reduction

Speaking of feeling good, dogs can help you achieve the harmony of both your body and mind in another way – by reducing stress. Of course, there is always the chance that the dog will start barking, but it’s relatively easy to teach your dog to behave well. Moreover, if you work in an office of your own that is separate from other employees, they will be unlikely to find your dog too annoying if it does start barking. After all, it’s just in your own office.

It’s also a good idea to consider adopting the so-called office pup. A dog like this could become a pet for an entire team that will care for it dearly. In this case, the dog would be around employees all the time. This will create a warm atmosphere and will help employees relax and feel less anxious or stressed about their daily tasks.

Higher Productivity

Just as dogs can help you reduce stress in the workplace, they can also help increase productivity among employees. In this case, both employees and employers will be satisfied with the result of bringing a dog to work. After all, if there is more productivity, then more tasks can be completed faster.

For example, you might be too stressed out to complete all of your work. That’s when you decide to Google “pay someone to write my research paper” to outsource the task which is the perfect way to solve the issue. With your dog around you, you will be able to get even more tasks done as you will feel more energized and productive.

This is because having a dog around at the office lowers levels of cortisol (also known as the stress hormone). Moreover, when stroking the dog, you will also start producing more of the hormone oxytocin which will make you feel relaxed and happy. With such a positive outlook, you are bound to be more satisfied with and, in turn, more productive at your job.

More Teamwork

Interestingly, having dogs in the office could also potentially lead to more teamwork and collaboration between employees. This is partly due to the warm atmosphere dogs create and partly because people with dogs are perceived to be friendlier. In other words, office dogs (and other pets) could improve work relationships.

For instance, you might be doing keyword research for the phrase “write my research paper” and having a hard time with it. When you ask a colleague to help out, they will be more likely to join you in doing your task if they are in a good. Because dogs at work directly impact the overall atmosphere and make employees happier, bringing a dog to work could indirectly help you become friends with your team members.

Help for the Disabled

Last but not least, dogs can also be necessary to provide help for disabled employees. Oftentimes, being successful in life is associated with being capable of performing all kinds of physical actions. However, not everyone has such opportunities which is why service dogs, therapy dogs, and emotional support dogs come to the rescue:

  • Service Dogs: Service dogs help people with disabilities, including physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disabilities. They can guide blind people, alert deaf people to sounds, detect and lessen the effects of a psychiatric episode, help physically limited people, assist people with autism, and recognize seizures among other things. If you have an employee on your team who is disabled, they might need to bring their service dog to work that will help them in different ways.
  • Therapy Dogs: Therapy dogs are trained by their owners to feel comfortable in new environments and to interact with people they just met. This is done to allow such dogs to provide therapy in different settings such as hospitals and schools. However, you could probably find an owner and their therapy dog happy to volunteer to provide some therapy at your workplace.
  • Emotional Support Dogs: Emotional support dogs (and other emotional support animals) are often considered companion animals that provide emotional support in some way. They can ease anxiety, help with depression and loneliness, and even handle some phobias. Patients with certain diagnosed psychological or emotional disorders can be prescribed to have an emotional support dog. If there is an employee in your team who requires emotional support, they might benefit from getting an emotional support dog.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, simply spending time with your dog when you aren’t working could help you feel better. But if you want to excel at work even more, consider bringing your dog to work with you. Alternatively, ask your boss whether you and your colleagues could adopt or rescue a dog and care for it together. It’s one of the best things you can do as a dog lover that will also help you get better at your job.