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Pets strutting their stuff in the workplace
13 March,
1998
It's a secret Australia's tradespeople and farmers have known for many
years.
Pets make the best work partners - they're reliable, friendly, put customers
at ease and only quibble with you about what time lunch is.
However, due to their ability to de-stress owners as well as those around
them, pets are quickly hotfooting it into careers as diverse as hairdressing,
real estate and the nursery.
Director of Public Relations at Plantusforsalus’ a vibrant nursery in
St Kilda is Diva’ a three year old Golden Retriever.
The nursery, already a haven amid the bustle of Fitzroy Street, is made
even more tranquil with the presence of Diva’ says owners, Adam and
Greg.
"All our customers love Diva’ she has a wonderful personality that
seems to put even nervous children and small dogs at ease. When they,
children and small dogs, come in she instinctively bends right down
to their level to talk to them" Greg said.
"We also have many customers who stop by on their way home just
to say hello to Diva’ and others who bring their dogs in to play with
her" he added
The pup of a customer’s dog herself, Diva’ certainly has her favourite
visitors. "Her flame of the moment is another Golden Retriever,
she has a big smile on her face whenever she sees him coming" Greg
said.
The main benefit of having Diva’ at work with them Adam says is purely
selfish, "We like to be able to enjoy her all day long."
The growing trend towards people working in tandem with their pets is
not surprising says Ms Denise Humphries, Consultant, Petcare Information
and Advisory Service.
"Research is continually showing that pets put people at ease,
and why not? They are non-judgmental, they are tight-lipped confidantes,
they are prepared to listen to the same story over and over again and
they are always happy to see you" she said.
One of these studies was completed by the University of Buffalo School
of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and presented to the American Psychosomatic
Society in 1996. The study found a pet dog to be more beneficial to
a person's mental health, when they were placed in stressful situations,
than either a spouse or a friend.
The four-legged worker at Beauty In Style’ in Middle Park is further
evidence of the shift towards mixing the pleasure of pets with the business
of work.
Jodie has been working side-by-side with her cat Billy’ for two years
and while she admits that he is actually not much of a worker, preferring
to sleep on the appointment book than to take appointments, she says
he is great for staff morale.
"I have always lived with pets and having Billy’ around the shop
is just a natural extension of that. I think he relaxes us all, customers
included" Jodie said.
"Some customers tend to say hello to Billy before they say hello
to me" she added.
Jodie says that Billy also has a good sense of what is going on around
him.
"He can pick out the cat lovers and even meows at the really regular
customers. But as soon as he thinks his affections aren’t appreciated
he quickly retreats upstairs" she said.
A worker who is prone to sleeping on the job may not be everyones ideal
work mate, but to more and more Australians they are just purrfect.