For the third consecutive year at Switch, we’re stocking our desk drawers with milk bones and peanut butter to prepare for Take Your Dog to Work Day, an international event established by Pet Sitter’s International. Our four-legged, furry friends will occupy work cubes and conference rooms for the day in exchange for sloppy kisses, contagious smiles and perpetual tail wagging.
Switch has a soft spot for our canine companions, having worked with organizations like APA Adoption Center and Solid Gold Pet Food. To tie in a charity effort, we’re asking participants to make a donation to the APA, one of our favorite local shelters.
We also got so excited planning the event, we wanted to share a few stories of how our precious pups came into our lives. Some of them (like Chris Jobst’s Pug-Chihuahua mix, Chuggy) even have Instagram accounts. Grab some Kleenex and pull your dog close. At least one of these stories is sure to tug on your heartstrings.
Rebecca Reardon, Creative Director
Three dogs, three cats and a really big treat budget make up the #ReardonZoo (check ‘em out on IG). Are we crazy? Maybe. Would we add another? In a heartbeat. 13 years ago, we rescued our first from a farm in Wisconsin – and we haven’t been able to say “no” ever since.
Some fun facts about the #ReardonZoo (in order of when they joined our family):
1. Lizzie (cat) tries to jump in the fridge any chance she gets
2. JackJack (cat) is ironically always in a box
3. KC (lab mix) sneezes when she is happy
4. Chase (lab) weighs 100lbs and thinks he is a lap dog
5. Dave (cat) is a Hurricane Katrina rescue
6. Olaf (terrier/dachshund) barks at horses on TV
The Reardon Zoo
The hardest part about Take Your Dog to Work Day for me, is deciding which lucky puppy gets to join me. If I could, I would take them all. But I would need a bigger desk.
Allison Tippet, Assistant Account Executive
About two years ago, my boyfriend and I decided we wanted to open our home up to a dog in need and started researching local rescue groups. As it turned out, a co-worker of mine runs a Pitbull rescue group and was looking for foster parents to care for a litter of Pitbull-Boxer mixed puppies. The moment we laid eyes on Burley, now known as Porter, we knew we found our furry child. After about a year of loving Porter, we decided to expand our family once again and adopted Gus, another Pitbull, from our local Humane Society. Porter and Gus bonded quickly and have been brothers ever since Gus gave Porter a thorough ear cleaning when they first met.
Both our dogs love to play outside, go on walks or car rides, bug their two older human sisters and they really love to snuggle with us on the couch… (and in bed). I am proud to be the mother to our Pitbulls, breaking down the misconception of the breed – and I wouldn’t have them any other way.
Emily Wisely, Assistant Brand/Business Development Manager
I met my firstborn nearly five years ago when I walked dogs at Stray Rescue, a no-kill shelter that picks up strays from the streets of St. Louis. Among my “favorites” was Dispatch, an 8-month old curious, high-energy pit bull mix who suffered from really bad separation anxiety. I fostered him for a about two weeks before receiving an email that someone wanted to adopt him. Panicked, I pleaded to call “dibs,” as we had both grown attached to each other. Yes, I am a “foster failure.” I renamed him Vince, and he’s been by fearless protector, lazy morning snoozer and ride-or-die ever since.
Last August we welcomed another canine to our family: Tony, an 11-week old terrier mix from the APA Adoption Center. Charles Schulz was right: “Happiness is a warm puppy.” Now a year old, Tony loves cuddles and belly rubs as much as he loves trudging through our dirty garden bed. He is a small, scruffy thing who has redefined the limits of happiness.
Tony and Vince, respectively
Danny Elchert, Art Director
After several years of living alone and “thinking about getting a dog,” then deciding I couldn’t handle the commitment, I finally filled out an application to rescue a dog through Dirk’s Fund.
For almost four months, I visited their shelter to meet new dogs. I am very picky (thus why I’d spent several years living alone). None of the shelter dogs met my standards until I came across “Miley.” She was a smaller Golden mix with blonde eyelashes and soulful brown eyes. The shelter knew very little about her but estimated she was 10 months old and suspected she had been abused. I knew immediately she would be my dog. I renamed her Haven (after my favorite hometown ice cream shop). Haven and I were inseparable, and we quickly became best friends. I didn’t know it at the time, but she rescued me as much as I rescued her.
Haven
It was just the two of us until I started dating my wife Ashley, and thus inherited my “step-dogs,” Howie and Stella. Howie (a Boston Terrier) immediately bonded to me, but Stella (a Frechie) is a constant challenge. I sometimes wonder if she hates me. During the early days of our relationship, she’d pee on my furniture and always be on the lookout for new and innovative places to poop in my apartment. As of recent, she’s taken to eating my recently planted sunflowers, chewing my record collection to shreds and gnawing my face out of wedding pictures (I’m not joking). The list of her antics goes on …
Life was hectic having three dogs, but Haven loved her siblings and being in a dog pack. Watching the three of them play was hilarious. Watching all three of them cuddle up together at the end of a long day was the best. I enjoy my “step-dogs,” but they will never compare to Haven. The fact that I’d rescued her has always made her special; she needed me. Howie and Stella had led privileged lives with the same owner while Haven’s past was an unknown struggle.
Haven, Howie and Stella
This past winter, we had to put Haven to sleep. I won’t go into the details of why because it’s too difficult for me to discuss. Ashley found a vet that would come to the house so that we could spare poor Haven the trauma of an office visit. I sat on the couch by her favorite window and held her in my lap. I stroked her soft blonde fur and whispered in her floppy ear as she drifted away, Ashley, Howie and Stella by my side.
I’ll always regret that I couldn’t give her more time, but I try to focus on the years that we had together and difference I made in her life. Losing my four-legged best friend has been one of the hardest things I’ve experienced … but it’s part of being an adult. Surprisingly, who’s brought me the most comfort is a mischievous French Bulldog. Although she’ll never be Haven, Stella has burrowed a special spot in my heart when I needed it the most.
Sara Sexton, Account Director
What is love?
I have no less than five lint rollers strategically placed throughout my house at all times.
Fur is both an accessory and a delicacy at our house.
I have actually had to vacuum my vacuum.
And, I wouldn’t trade any of this for hair-free pants, furless meals or dust bunny extinction. My 10+ year old Golden Retriever, Sisco, “rescued me” 9 years ago; and, while he literally explodes fur every time he shakes and rainy days mean a potent wet dog smell that permeates all soft surfaces and lingers for days, he has my whole heart.
In 2006 we had a chance meeting at the Canine Center. Love a Golden Rescue had recently plucked him from a local shelter in rural Missouri. He didn’t have much: no collar, no tags, no chip (he did still have all his junk). He was as handsome as he was goofy. A ball of energy with the best dog smile you’ve ever seen. He and the other foster Goldens were ready to find their forever homes. Sisco scaled to the top of a stack of dog beds – at least 10’ high – and perched himself on his princely pedestal. I was smitten.
We’ve been through a lot together, and he never judges, only nudges. He doesn’t give me advice, but he will give me wet sloppy kisses. He humors me by being relatively agreeable to just about anything such as wearing Halloween costumes (one time a banana split); learning – and performing – silly tricks (he does math); sitting in a canoe for hours on float trips (surrounded by drunk hoosiers); and, most recently, putting up with a baby brother (the human kind) that pretty much stole his limelight.
Sara and Sisco
His given name is Sisco de Noche, but he’s also my buddy dog (“bud,” “budders,” “budder-ball,” “budda”) and yes, if you must know, he has dumps like a truck (and he like it when the beat goes “duh dun duh…”).
On that note, we’re going to call it a day … and maybe go home to hug our pets. Those “Who Rescued Who?” bumper stickers may have poor grammar, but the sentiment is on point. Dogs are the goofiest, happiest, most loyal creatures known to man. They make us talk in stupid voices. They sometimes ruin our stuff. And doggone it, we love them.
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