Pittsburgh Businesses Celebrate 'Take Your Dog To Work Day'

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- It's Take Your Dog to Work Day and plenty of Pittsburgh-area companies, businesses and more are participating in the furry fun.

That includes the City of Pittsburgh, which allowed city employees to bring their pups for a fun event Friday afternoon in the Portico of the City-County Building.

The event was hosted by Councilwoman Darlene Harris and was held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Animal Friends and Humane Animal Rescue were also there to participate in the fun.

But there are plenty of other local companies that allow pets in the office every day.

One of those companies is Smith Brothers Advertising, located on the North Side. Lindsey Smith is one of the owners, and his dog, Mae, was the first dog here.

"Just having them around make the humans, frankly, behave a little better," he says.

He says the benefits outweigh any downsides, and adds that allowing dogs helps recruit and retain employees.

"If a new dog comes into the office everybody kind of rallies around and it kind of breaks down barriers between folks," he said.

Across the river, downtown, the company, 4moms, is known for creating hi-tech products for babies, but they also allow their furbabies to come to the office.

"It's stress relief, you know, helps you focus on the job if you're not worried about letting the dog out," said employee Jake Rosenthal.

"I think it's definitely a perk for certain employees. They view it as, 'Hey, I didn't even know that was a thing,'" said Jacki Szymanski, of 4moms.

Dog-friendly work environments are not just in Pittsburgh. About 8% of workplaces across the country are now dog friendly, and that's up considerably in just the last couple years.