Dog Days @ Sun
Friday Feb 13, 2009
Wow! I can't believe so much time has gone by since my last post! Things here at Sun have been incredibly busy. I have lots of great ideas for my blog, so keep your eyes peeled!
I recently had a conversation with my brother-in-law, who has three feisty cats, but who would really love to get a dog. He not so secretly covets my other sister's Greyhound, Kanga, who was rescued from almost certain doom in the racing world, having never won a single race in 3 years. Kanga is a beautiful dog, gentle as can be, and lightning fast. If she ever got out of the yard, you'd get to spend the day driving around trying to catch her, and she'd think it was a really fun game.
My brother-in-law said the problem was that he and my sister both work too far away to run home at lunch and let the dog out for a bit. I asked him if either he or my sister were allowed to bring dogs to work, and he said no, and looked at me like I was from another planet. I told him that at Sun we're allowed to bring pets to work (assuming they are well-behaved) and he thought that was really cool. Well, it *is* really cool. 
We have several dogs that are part of our legal team here at Sun. They are:
Katy and Spencer. My Golden Retrievers, named for Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. (I'm a sap for old movies like Adam's Rib. I also have two lovebirds named Fred and Ginger.) Katy and Spencer just LOVE to come to the office because they get so much extra TLC. They are love sponges and can never get enough attention. I would love to bring them more often, but they aren't particularly good about sitting through multi-hour meetings in conference rooms, or in my office alone where they would chew up everything in sight. When they come in with me, they walk into people's offices and look at them like, "Well, aren't you going to worship me?" If I am ever reincarnated, I want to come back as a spoiled rotten Golden Retriever.
My black Lab, Maggie, can't come to the office. We tried it once, and she barked at everyone who came near my office, and the hair on the back of her neck stood up. She is very protective of me, and I understood that she was trying to save me from all those "evil" colleagues who were "threatening" me. Ah, Maggie. I guess it's the thought that counts. My little dog, Lucky, who is a Schnoodle (designer mutt), really doesn't like to come to the office. She is so shy that she seems to want to burrow under the carpet anytime anyone comes near.
CJ. An outgoing, friendly yellow Lab who often comes in on Wednesdays and Fridays. CJ is very well-behaved and gets lots of attention and treats from our entire legal group. He's so happy when he's hear you can hear his tail thumping against the wall. I actually keep a box of dog biscuits in my office for all our canine visitors. CJ knows that I make him shake with each paw and then turn around before I give him his treat, so now he does it before I even ask him to. Smart puppy. Maybe we can start giving him some agreements to review. 
Kimber. A very sweet, somewhat shy German Shorthaired Pointer. She will not leave her owner's side even if the office door is open all day (unlike Katy, Spencer, or CJ, who would go gallivanting through the halls to see what food, adventures and attention they could find). Kimber is so quiet and well-behaved that sometimes you don't even know she's here.
Brogan. An adorable reddish Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. He is always so excited to be here that his tongue and nose don't stop moving the entire time. Brogan always makes a beeline for my office, because he knows that's where the treats are.
Gunner and Ramsey. HUGE Golden Retrievers (around 90 lbs.) who make occasional appearances at the office and at our fun events, such as picnics. They are always big hits.
Roxy. A tiny (maybe 5 lbs.?) white Maltipoo (another designer mutt) who will melt your heart. She looks more like a little stuffed animal than an actual dog. I have to break up the dog biscuits for her because they are too big for her to get her mouth around. She will chase a ball and bring it back to you all day.
Hapa and Joey. Hapa is the most recent addition to our legal canine team. She is an adorable Australian Shepherd with one blue eye and one brown eye. She is as fluffy and soft as cotton. Her brother Joey is a very cute Australian cattledog mix with freckles on his nose, and he is keeping a watchful eye over his little sis.
Bonnie. Another Australian Shepherd. She was recently skunked, and our colleague/her owner took on some of the vile scent while trying to clean her off. He still smelled like skunk after taking several showers and changing clothes. He then had to attend a negotiation meeting and explain why he smelled so terrible. We thought it might actually be a great negotiating tactic - "I've got all day to sit here and negotiate with my eau de skunk cologne filling the room - are you going to agree or not?" Surprisingly, the other side was very understanding. I let my colleague know about Nature's Miracle, which I've used pretty successfully to de-skunk my dogs when necessary - which seems to happen more often than it should.
Like other aspects of in-house culture that I've mentioned, it's hard for me to imagine people bringing their dogs to work at a law firm (or even at most other companies). But I think part of it is also the unique Sun culture. I knew Sun was a very special place when I first worked here as a "rental" lawyer from a law firm several years ago. Then I saw an engineer's office that was pitch black (in the middle of the day) - the office resident had used some special outerspace-type material to block out all light from the windows. The office contained one of the largest, most elaborate Habitrail mazes I have ever seen, and I grew up with all sorts of pets and pet habitats. And in the middle of the gargantuan Habitrail was one very happy hamster. I remember wondering how (or if) the office resident cleaned the Habitrail, and then decided I really didn't want to know.
So why on earth would you ever want to bring a dog to work, you may ask. I do it for fun, but also because of the number of people who will stop by my office to talk. On most days, people will go about their business and do their work as usual (unless it's International Talk Like a Pirate Day or there's some other special event). There's always some social interaction, of course - as people see each other in the hallway or going to get lunch. But when there's a dog in the office everyone perks up and wants to go take a look and say hi. People who I might not normally cross paths with during a normal day will come by, see my dog, say hi and I make a connection with them. As I've mentioned before, those connections are so valuable, both within and outside of a company. Networking is crucial. A dog just makes it a little easier.
I may bring my African Grey parrot in soon. I'll let you know how that goes.
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