Take Your Dog to Work Day

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Take Your Dog to Work Day (sometimes abbreviated as TYDTWD) was first started on June 25, 1999^[1] in the United States and in 1996 in the United Kingdom. It is hosted by Pet Sitters International^[2] and, in the United States, falls on June 22 in the year 2007. According to PSI, the objectives of the day include: making pet adoptions more common by placing less of a burden on the owner, "facilitating positive interactions" between employees at the workplace, and helping businesses cooperate with local animal shelters to increase the number of adoptions. It is estimated that thousands of companies, called "pet-friendly" companies by some, participated in 2006^[3]^[4]. There is also a high level of participation in TYDTWD in Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, and New Zealand, although it is not necessarily celebrated on the same day as in the United States^[5].

[edit] History

On June 25, 1999 PSI held the first Take Your Dog to Work Day in the United States. An estimated 300^[6] companies participated nationwide. 2000 saw the acquisition of TYDTWD by the now defunct Pets.com. Pets.com promoted the event using their mascot, Buddy, the sock puppet. That same year, pets.com closed its doors as a result of the dot-com crash, and PSI regained the rights to TYDTWD. In 2001 PSI was hosting the third annual TYDTWD. That year saw the introduction of the first TYDTWD “poster dog,” Ernie. The next year (2002) continued the “poster dog” theme with Sandy. 2003 saw the participation of over 5000^[7] companies in TYDTWD. That number doubled in 2004 with an estimated 10,000^[8] internationally participating companies. The poster dog for that year was Little Nicky, who was the oldest TYDTWD poster dog to date. 2005 saw a record number of 37,191 hits on the PSI TYDTWD web site. The event was featured on such media as The David Letterman Show and the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, as well as CNN Headline News. The poster dog for that year was a boxer named Chloe.