By Lisa Peterson

This year’s annual Take Your Dog To Work Day on June 22, 2001, sponsored by Pet Sitters International, is the perfect opportunity to bring your best friend to the office and convince your boss to let them stay for the rest of the year.

This nationwide event allows owners to take their well-behaved and groomed canines into participating workplaces for a day. Take Your Dog To Work Day will call attention to the wonderful pets that dogs make and will encourage adoption of them from rescue clubs, humane organizations and animals shelters.

“Fortunately health benefits of pet ownership have been substantiated by scientific studies,” says Patti Moran, president of PSI, a professional pet sitting industry organization. “But, unfortunately, the number of dogs that need caring owners continues to grow in this country. We hope that once dog-less co-workers see firsthand what great pets dogs make, many will be encouraged to adopt a dog. At PSI we believe that every pet should be a wanted pet, which has a pet sitter. And events such as Take Your Dog To Work Day will help us to see this goal become a reality.”

Why take your dog to work? The benefits range from happy owners and canines to successful business owners. According to an American Humane Association and the American Animal Hospital Association survey, 90 percent of pet owners consider their pet to be a member of the family and 76 percent feel guilty when leaving their pet home alone. By bringing your dog to work you not only alleviate the guilt you feel by leaving them home alone but give them the opportunity to socialize with other pets, exercise in fresh air during office breaks and enjoy new sights, smells and sounds.

But more important are the benefits to business owners. According to the 2000 American Pet Products Manufacturers Association survey of companies and businesses allowing pets in the workplace, pets create a more productive workplace, decrease employee absenteeism, and produce a more creative workplace. In addition, the survey found staff morale increased by bringing pets to work, increased camaraderie among employees and employees stayed late more often with pets in the office. Storeowners who take their dogs to work have reported increases in sales!

This year, PSI will again spearhead efforts to bring this successful project back to the American workplace for an encore performance. Their web site at www.petsit.com contains feature stories and informative articles to highlight the positive benefits of dog ownership.

PSI member Peterson Pet Sitting, LLC will be sponsoring local businesses wishing to participate in this year’s event with a photo contest. The best photo submitted of a worker and her/his dog in the workplace during Take Your Dog To Work Day will be featured in an upcoming column.

For more information about participating in Take Your Dog To Work Day contact Lisa Peterson at Peterson Pet Sitting, LLC at 270-1732 or e-mail at petersonpets@usa.net

Kelda Lands

In my last column I wrote about a small parcel of land adjacent to Huntington State Park slated to be part of a larger purchase by the state Department of Environmental Protection. This state purchase of watershed properties owned by the BHC Company, informally known as the “Kelda Lands,” is in danger of not being financed by the state legislature.

According to an e-mail I received late last week from the Coalition for the Permanent Protection of Kelda Lands, the Connecticut General Assembly will soon be voting on a new state budget. The legislature needs to include a financing package to purchase 18,700 acres of Kelda Lands across the state including the Newtown parcel.

If the legislature does not act to fund this purchase in the next week before the end of the legislative session, the opportunity to buy the land could be lost, subjecting the lands to possible development.

We should urge our lawmakers to fund the purchase this year before it’s too late. Call them and tell them to permanently protect the Kelda Lands and fund Connecticut’s open space programs with appropriate funding in this year’s budget.

The phone numbers are: Senate Democrats: 1-800-842-1420; Senate Republicans: 1-800-842-1421; House Democrats: 1-800-842-8267; House Republicans: 1-800-842-8270.

For more information on how to contact your State Senator and State Representative log onto: www.cga.state.ct.us or for more information on the Coalition for the Permanent Protection of Kelda Lands, log onto: www.savetheland.net or contact Sandy Breslin at 203-787-0646 ext. 24.

Lisa Peterson, a breeder and exhibitor of Norwegian Elkhounds is the Public Education Coordinator for the Newtown Kennel Club and will serve on the Board of Directors for the Norwegian Elkhound Association of America as its AKC Delegate.