Czechs Want to Bring Their Dogs to Work. More and More Offices are Letting Them

Currently, about one tenth of offices in the Czech Republic are pet-friendly, but that number is gradually increasing.

Some offices in Prague allow dogs on certain days of the week, while in other places dogs are always welcome and they receive full attention.

Fans of going to work with a dog even celebrate the international day “Take your dog to the office” on June 21st.

When workers returned to offices, many wondered what would happen to their four-legged friends. “Many households bought a dog in a pandemic, which got used to the daily presence of the owner at home.

With the owners returning to normal working life, it can be very stressful for the animal to stay home alone all day. Dog behavior and the psyche work on the basis of habit, so sudden separation can have negative effects for them,” explained veterinarian Leoš Železný in a report for journalists.

If someone in the household is unlucky and has to leave the dog at home, someone else can take him to work without a problem. While about 45 percent of companies welcome animals abroad, in the Czech Republic it is just over 10 percent, according to the findings of recruitment companies.

A dog in the workplace can also increase the efficiency of employees. Psychologists confirm that a dog in the workplace can paradoxically increase not only the efficiency of employees, but also create a more relaxed atmosphere in the company and encourage friendships between coworkers.

One business in Prague with a pet-friendly office is the company Mars. “In our offices, the dogs are very positively perceived, but hand in hand with this comes also the mutual consideration of colleagues. Thanks to a long-term strategy and sophisticated corporate culture, we have created effective rules of operation in the workplace so that colleagues and pets live in mutual symbiosis and respect each other,” explained Lenka Kroupová from Mars in a press release.

 
Prague Named 4th Most Dog-Friendly City in the World

A study released on August 26, 2020, in honor of International Dog Day by Berlin-based insurance company Coya found out that Prague is the 4th most dog-friendly city in the world

The 2020 Best Cities for Dogs Indexcompares and analyzes the conditions for our four-legged friends in 50 major dog-friendly cities around the world.

Researchers looked at several different metrics related to dog ownership, including the number of veterinarians, dog-friendly restaurants, and lifetime costs of owning a pup.

The survey also takes into account other factors such as the number of abandoned dogs per year, and the minimum fine a dog owner would need to pay for not removing dog waste.