Study finds dogs may lower stress in workplace
(CBS News) A new study finds that bringing your dogs to work can make you feel better, all day long.
According to a new study by Virginia Commonwealth University, dog owners who brought their pets to work had stress lower at the beginning of the day and throughout the day than workers who didn't bring their dogs to work or have pets. In the study, owners who did not bring their dogs to work stress increased steadily, and nearly doubled by the end of the day.
However, not everyone is a dog lover, so having your best friend at the office can cause some issues.
Dr. Randolph Barker, of Virginia Commonwealth University, said, "People (in the study) did find that sometimes the dogs were destructive. They were noisy. People did find that that sometimes the dogs were not as clean as they would like them."
But if you're thinking how nice it would be to take your dog to work, Barker's study just might give you some ammunition with the boss.
Barker said, "Fifty percent of those people that brought their dogs to work felt that their dogs increased their productivity - that gets businesses' attention when you say that, right?"
The study is preliminary, but the results are expected to be similar in the final report.
