“Working like a dog”: reconceptualizing human-dog interactions in the office

Will Low was awarded Research and Professional Development funds to examine the acceptance of dogs in the workplace as a way of understanding the reconceptualizing of physical spaces.

In 2007, Belkin wrote “Take Your Dog to Work began as a quirk of the dot-com boom — another perk that employers could offer to employees to persuade them to stay.” That means that having a pet-friendly office has been a trend for over 20 years. Widespread acceptance of companion animals in the work place will require reconceptualizing physical spaces, and human-human and human-dog interactions. Reconceptualizing the work space and working relationships around dogs will be an emergent issue in organization studies post-Covid-19, expanding the concept of an inclusive and supportive workplace. This reconceptualization will call upon theoretical frameworks of ethics, equality, and care, often applied through an ecofeminist lens.