What does every D.C. tech company with high morale have in common? Free food? Unlimited swag? Flexible vacation time?
Nope. Behind every successful tech company in this town is a (few) loving office dog(s)!
Working behind a desk can be dull even at the most amazing tech startup. Dogs are a great way to boost employee spirit. This gets people motivated so they can get out of their chairs and playing with the dogs.
“Our CEO encourages pets in the office to help with team morale,” said Gretchen Gailey, director of Communications and government affairs at New Frontier Financials, in an interview with DC Inno.
“I think the dogs keep the morale up in the office, minus when they are barking and being dogs in an office," said Taylor Guidon, creative technologist at iStrategyLabs. "Clients love them too! Always impressed to see them roaming around and enjoy petting them.”
Having an office dog is mutually beneficial too. Why keep your dog at home all day when he or she can accompany you on your commute and hang with your coworkers?
“Our team loves animals and they keep the office fun, energetic and a little unpredictable,” said Framebridge marketing vice president Matt Carrington. “But we also aim to create a home-like atmosphere in our offices as it gives us a better understanding of our customers and how they use our frames in their own homes. Nothing like friendly dogs to make work feel like home!”
Not all dogs have a temperament that works well in an office environment, so here are some general requirements of a good office dog: house trained, doesn’t bark too much and gives unlimited amounts of love to all.
"It's definitely a de-stress factor...like having therapy dogs throughout our entire day," Contactually director of content marketing Sabel Harris said.
It's a win-win, unless of course you're allergic. In that case, get a poodle.
Here are the dogs of the DC tech world Did we forget your company or dog? Let us know, contact ali@dcinno.com:
Company: TrackMaven
Dog's Name: Maven, mascot of TrackMaven
Dog Owner's Name: Allen, CEO
Dog Breed: Corgi
Personality Traits: Relentlessly curious and a natural herder! Frequent visitor to DMV dog parks, a belly rub enthusiast, and a lover of chasing pretty much everything. At the end of the day, he likes to sprawl out on the couch and dream about his next DC adventure! Follow him on Twitter at @MavenTheCorgi.
Favorite Snack: Whatever you're eating!
Funniest thing he’s done: Nonstop splooting.
Company: Opower
Dog’s Name: Otto
Dog Owner’s Name: Roxanne, Field Marketing Manager
Dog breed: French bulldog
Personality Traits: Loyal, highly affectionate, sensitive, snuggle fiend, blanket thief
Favorite Snack: Oatmeal, bacon
Funniest thing he's done: Got his head stuck in a yogurt container
Company: Opower
Dog’s Name: Olive
Dog Owner’s Name: Roxanne, Field Marketing Manager
Dog Breed: French bulldog
Personality Traits: Stubborn, opinionated, talkative, likes the finer things in life
Favorite Snack: Apples
Funniest thing she's done: Kissed Governor McAuliffe of Virginia on the cheek when he was visiting the Opower office
Company: iStrategyLabs
Dog Name: Watson
Dog Owner’s Name: Taylor, Creative Technologist
Dog Breed: English golden retriever
Personality Traits: Playful, energetic, friendly, loyal, goofy
Favorite Snack: Steak and Cheez-Its. He's a simple guy.
Funniest thing: There's too many. He does this one thing most days where he lays on his back, wiggles around, and tries to eat his tail. He also makes this cute/hilarious face when he wants something tasty. He lifts up his lips and drools, making a goofy face.
Company: New Frontier
Dog Owner's Name: Giadha, CEO & Founder New Frontier
Dog’s Name: Lucy
Dog Breed: Half German shepherd and we don’t know the other half
Personality Traits: Loving, energetic, playful, cuddly, well-behaved
Favorite Snack: Beehive rolls, dental stix
Funniest thing she’s done: Tried to lick a squirrel that almost let her! She loves to chase her own tail, and to cuddle or wrestle with our male cat Indy, who dominates her despite being 1/5 her size.
Company: New Frontier
Dog’s Name: Wheezie
Dog Owner's Name: Gretchen, Director of Communications & Government Affairs
Dog Breed: English bulldog
Personality Traits: Affectionate, loyal, sweet, funny
Favorite Snack: Bullysticks and pigs ears
Funniest thing she’s done: I used to take Wheezie to work with me on the Hill and bulldogs are not the biggest fans when it comes to exercise. On the Hill parking is generally quite far from your office, so walking to my office was always quite a feat. Almost 99 percent of the time, she would always tucker out in the metal detectors and refuse to budge holding up the security line.
Company: Sensics
Dog Name: Bobby
Dog Owner's Name: Yaron Kaufman, COO
Dog Breed: Virtual beagle
Personality Traits: Can become translucent and change colors. Self-cleaning. Does not bark. Can replicate, appear and disappear on demand.
Favorite Snack: It does not need feeding
Funniest thing he’s done: It likes to sniff aliens and zombies that get shot when we play games
Company: Industry Dive
Dog Name: Bunnie
Dog Breed: Corgi/border collie mix. She's a rescue from CDR in DC!
Dog Owner's Name: Malinda, Ad Operations Manager
Personality Traits: Playful, smart, affectionate, goofy, submissive
Favorite Snack: Bully sticks
Funniest thing he/she’s done: She has two kitten brothers and has picked up lots of their habits--she loves all of their toys and also now naps perched on top of the couch cushions just like them. Now that they are a bit bigger she has started to wrestle with them and her go to move is "pinning" them down by sitting on them, which we think is pretty funny.
Company: Industry Dive
Dog Name: Fallon
Dog Owner's Name: Robin, Audience Development Manager
Dog Breed: Shepherd mix
Personality Traits: Loves Frisbee-play, naps, and following his humans everywhere. Hates doors and goodbyes.
Favorite Snack: Peanut butter and apples
Funniest thing he’s done: Fallen asleep at Dacha happy hour. Also "marked" his owner at the dog park so none of the other dogs could play with her.
Company: Industry Dive
Dog Name: Henry
Dog Owner's Name: Chris, Finance
Dog Breed: Balkan buffalo terrier
Personality Traits: Heroic swimmer, fiercely intelligent, relentlessly playful
Favorite Snack: Rotisserie chicken scraps
Funniest thing he’s done: Not really funny, but more impressive: he once helped scare off a bear in the Blue Ridge Mountains during a seven-hour hike - true story!
Company Name: Industry Dive
Dog’s Name: Luna
Dog Owner’s Name: Laura, Data & Software Engineer
Dog Breed: French bulldog
Personality Traits: Loves anything and everything, great cuddle buddy, suspicious of turtles, has really bad FOMO, has a really judgemental and sassy side eye when she's tired
Favorite Snack: Kleenex...also, tomatoes
Funniest thing she's done: She's a great 'office vacuum cleaner', though really it's more like it all turns into pandamonium here when she finds every single alligator clip, pen, or solo cup you've dropped and runs around the office with it on parade
Company: Contactually
Dog Name: Tucker
Dog Owner's Name: Tony, Co-Founder and COO
Dog Breed: Mutt
Personality Traits: An emotional, loving, scavenger
Favorite Snack: Any and all people food. But no cherry tomatoes for this pup.
Funniest thing he/she’s done: During our Friday team meeting, while investigating our unattended desks, Tucker jumped up and grabbed a Chipotle burrito off of a desk. He ate the entire thing.
Company: Framebridge
Dog Name: Muffin
Dog Owner's Name: Tessa, Creative Director
Dog Breed: Rescue mix
Personality Traits: Playing, cuddling, watching TV, napping, riding in the car, taking showers. But hates being alone. She wants to be best friends with every other dog—even the ones who don't love her back—and is terrified of kids. When she gets excited and wags her tail, her entire body shakes and she can't control herself. The older ladies in our neighborhood have nicknamed her "Mrs. Wigglebottom".
Favorite Snack: Ice! Every time she hears the freezer open, she goes crazy.
Funniest thing she’s done: Muffin loves participating in photo shoots. She tries to help us style everything, and loves to review selects on the laptop with everyone. I know it sounds nuts, but she literally puts her paw on the touchpad and believes she's doing the same work we are. She thinks she's a human... a human who loves the Adobe Suite.
Company: Framebridge
Dog Name: Captain Taves
Dog Owner's Name: Teresa, Office Manager
Dog Breed: Labradoodle
Personality Traits: An eternal enthusiast about literally everything
Favorite Snack: Peanut butter, we give him every leftover jar to clean out
Funniest thing he’s done: Tries to get in anyone and everyone's car that he can to go for a joy ride. Total strangers included, only thing he needs is an open door and he's ready to go.
Company Name: Spotluck
Dog Name: Mikey
Dog Owner's Name: Dillon, VP of Sales
Dog Breed: Shepherd mix
Personality Traits: Energetic for 15 minutes, sleeps the whole day and then wakes up to play at 5 pm, rollercoaster of excitement
Favorite Snack: Anything duck flavored
Funniest thing he’s done: He escaped and went and hung out in our neighbors office!
Company Name: Spotluck
Dog Name: Osito (means little bear)
Dog Owner's Name: Cherian, CEO
Dog Breed: Sheltie
Personality Traits: Follows Cherian around like a shadow, he's really calm because he's a certified therapy dog
Favorite Snack: Anything dogs like
Funniest thing he’s done: He doesn't do funny things, but he's a really great at posing for pictures
Company Name: DMI
Dog Name: Nuka
Dog Owner's Name: Natalie, Office Administrator
Dog Breed: Siberian Husky
Personality Traits: Sweet and calm, but loves attention. If you walk in the door without saying "Hi" she will howl at you.
Favorite Snack: Rawhide bones
Funniest thing she’s done: For two weeks straight Nuka carried around a new toy like it was her stuffed animal. It never left her side. She would take it with her in the backyard and bring it back in the house.
Company Name: DMI
Dog Name: General
Dog Owner's Name: Harrison, Project Manager
Dog Breed: Golden retriever
Personality Traits: Overly friendly - in no way afraid of strangers…a major flight risk.
Favorite Snack: He loves big chunks of ice
Funniest thing he’s done: He is clumsy and super awkward (since he’s still a teenager)
Company Name: DMI
Dog Name: Alinea
Dog Owner's Name: Andrea, Account Director
Dog Breed: Rhodesian ridgeback
Personality Traits: Sometimes serious, something rambunctious, and always taking up too much space on the couch
Favorite Snack: Anyone’s leftover lunch (from the garbage cans, of course)
Funniest thing she’s done: Standing on the white chair and barking outside the conference room while trying to get my attention. Or, that time she puked in front of a meeting of 10 people. That was awesome. (Not.)
Company Name: DMI
Dog’s Name: Moonlight
Dog Owner’s Name: Alika, VP of Marketing
Dog Breed: Husky mix
Personality Traits: Super friendly – loves people and kids. Always excited to hang out with people!
Favorite Snack: Anything! Loves food! And will do anything for food. She will even eat salad…
Funniest thing she's done: She is our marketing mascot and demo dog [at DMI] as she is [currently] using the Voyce collar.
Photos provided by owners.
