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Photo by Emily Featherston.
Dr. Timothy Colbert feeds a peanut to Dudley, a 47-year-old yellow-naped Amazon parrot, at Columbiana Road Pet Wellness Center.
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Photos by Emily Featherston.
Nellie, ‘risk manager’ at Rainbow Paint and a very good dog, watches the shop from her favorite spot by the window. Nellie often greets customers as they come in for paint, wallpaper or window treatments.
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Photos by Emily Featherston.
Coco, a 5-year-old standard poodle, relaxes on the floor while her mom, Kate Lawrence, works at the ARC Realty home office in Cahaba Heights. “She’s quiet, and she just kind of lays there and hangs out,” Lawrence said.
At several local businesses, customers are often greeted by a wagging tail along with a friendly handshake.
Multiple Vestavia business owners bring their own pets to work or allow employees to do so, providing a novel environment for both their employees and those who do business with them.
According to a study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, workplaces ranging in size from Google and Amazon to local hardware stores have seen an increase in the allowance of pets or formal “Bring Your Pet to Work” days.
The reasoning, the paper said, can be linked to more than just fun and games.
Dogs in the workplace have been shown to measurably reduce stress and even heart rates and blood pressure, and the paper also noted that pets can provide improved social interactions among employees.
And in Vestavia, pets in the workplace have had an effect on both employees and business owners.
Hometown feel
James Pace Jr. is the owner of Rainbow Paint off U.S. 31, and his black Labrador retriever, Nellie — who is listed officially as “Risk Manager” in the company contact list — comes to work with him every day.
“It was kind of one of my goals for my career when I was getting out of school was I wanted a job that I could take my dog to work with me,” he said, “So it’s kind of a dream come true for me.”
Rainbow Paint has been in Vestavia for 16 years, and Pace said he thinks having a dog in the workplace adds to the environment he provides his customers.
“Having Nellie there is kind of that hometown feel” he said he wants to have.
And his employees, he said, enjoy having Nellie around as well.
“They love her. They take care of her,” he said, “I don’t want to say she’s a mascot, but everybody has kind of taken a little bit of ownership to her.”
Supporting employees
Across town at the main ARC Realty office, one can usually find at least one or two dogs on the premises, including Coco, a 5-year-old poodle owned by Kate Lawrence, who works in agent services.
Lawrence said she has brought Coco to work on and off for the last few years, and that everyone seems to enjoy when Coco visits.
“She’s quiet, and she just kind of lays there and hangs out,” she said.
Kristie Castro, who does marketing and communications for ARC, said having dogs in the workplace fits with the fun and friendly environment the company tries to foster.
In 2017, the company brought all the furry friends together for a day of fun with the Fetch food truck, and Castro said they hope to plan another one this year.
“It was just a fun event for ARC agents and staff who have dogs, and then even agents that didn’t have dogs, they just enjoyed being around the dogs and hanging out,” she said.
Lawrence said that beyond providing a fun environment and a few puppy snuggles here and there, allowing agents and others to bring their dogs to work provides flexibility.
“For a lot of the agents, real estate happens all the time,” she said, explaining that even on “off” days, employees may need to come in to draw up a contract or put in an offer for a client.
If an agent has the ability to bring his or her pet along, there is no need to stress about taking a dog home before coming in.
“It really makes it easy for them to be able to drop in, as is, with their kids, with their pets, and do business,” she said.
Fun for all
Not all pets at work are dogs, however.
At the Columbiana Road Pet Wellness Center, customers will find feathered, rather than furry, friends in multitudes.
Dudley, a yellow-necked Amazon parrot, was hatched when Richard Nixon was still president, but despite his age entertains pet parents daily with his antics.
“Everybody around here knows Dudley,” said Carol Colbert, who runs the office and whose husband, Dr. Timothy Colbert, is the practicing veterinarian.
Dudley can do everything from say “Hello” and “Goodbye” to repeat phone numbers, as he did when the Colberts practiced in Florida.
“At nighttime when [the voicemail] would go off and tell people to call the emergency number, he had the number memorized,” Carol Colbert said, prompting a spell of raucous laughter from Dudley.
Most of the time, she said, customers and employees love Dudley and find him entertaining. But not always.
“He also knows if you’re afraid of him,” she said, which again prompted the parrot to laugh.
The office also has a blue and gold macaw, Willie, who was born in 1991.
Willie can also repeat phrases, but Colbert said she isn’t quite as friendly, and stays in a cage while customers are in the building.
Having an animal in the office that can talk is definitely unique, Colbert said, and provides hours of fun and entertainment, even if they are a bit messy.
“You do develop a relationship with them, because they do give back to you,” she said.
There is also a sun conure, a group of smaller birds and a duo of turtles in the office, and Colbert said they’ve also had guinea pigs and other animals in the past.
Even for a business that deals with animals as its service, Colbert said having pets at work is a big part of the center’s philosophy.
In addition to the birds, she said many employees will bring their dogs to work each day, rather than leaving the office to take them out at lunch.
“It just seems like the whole family is coming to work every day,” she said.
Bringing pets to work
Colbert, Lawrence and Pace all said pets add fun and more relaxed atmosphere to the workplace, but that care has to be taken to make sure everyone is comfortable.
For dogs, that means making sure that both the people and pet have the right personalities.
“I think it takes the right person and it takes the right dog,” he said, “and it has to be a well-trained animal.”
And for birds or other exotic pets, it means knowing that pet and educating employees and customers, as well as a lot of cleaning.
“It’s just another part of the job,” Colbert said.
Do you have pets in your workplace?
Share your photos with us by emailing efeatherston@starnespublishing.com, and we may share them on vestaviavoice.com.