{"id":8133,"date":"2020-04-10T13:01:36","date_gmt":"2020-04-10T17:01:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qa.vet.purdue.edu\/news\/?p=8133"},"modified":"2025-12-02T09:19:59","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T14:19:59","slug":"so-youre-working-from-home-with-your-pet-tips-for-managing-your-fur-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/so-youre-working-from-home-with-your-pet-tips-for-managing-your-fur-workers.php","title":{"rendered":"So You\u2019re Working from Home with Your Pet? Tips for Managing your \u201cFur-workers\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“A downside of working from home is that many of my important work conversations are interrupted by what I have begun to refer to as my fur-workers,\u201d said Dr. Candace Croney<\/a>, director of Purdue\u2019s Center for Animal Welfare Science<\/a>, as she fondly described her cat, Bernie, and Havanese mix, Desi. \u201cThey like to help me out by announcing the end of the world is coming because a delivery arrived or walking across my keyboard to end a web conference without my consent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Candace
Dr. Candace Croney, Photo by Charles Jischke<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Dr. Croney, who holds a joint appointment in the Colleges of\nVeterinary Medicine and Agriculture as professor of animal behavior and\nwell-being and professor of animal sciences, is used to sharing her workspace\nwith companion animals. The same cannot be said for millions of Americans now\nworking from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Croney offers some thoughts about benefitting from and\nadjusting to new \u201cfur workers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the benefits associated with having pets at\nhome?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Companion animals are wonderful stress-buffers. It\u2019s well-documented that people who own pets, especially dogs, find them helpful under times of stress. They provide psychological benefits in terms of comfort, reassurance, and social support. This is particularly true with people who live alone with a companion animal. They are serving roles and meeting needs that many people are probably under-appreciating, not to mention the well-documented physical benefits they also facilitate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, in situations like this, it\u2019s important to remember\nthat our pets are able to pick up on the stress that we\u2019re experiencing. That\ncan definitely impact how stressed they are. Dogs are quite attuned to our\nemotional states and often respond accordingly. All of this emotional support\nthat our animals give us can therefore come at a cost to them. We want to pay\nattention to what they are communicating so that while they give us that great\nsupport, we can support them in turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are some of the best ways to support them?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since so many people are home now and because we will\neventually go back to work, it\u2019s important to set our companion animals up for\nsuccess by setting a routine for them. I\u2019ve been trying, imperfectly, to\nimplement this myself. Pets do better when they have predictable routines, and\nthis can help their people as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, if a dog knows when walks will occur, he won\u2019t add additional stress to his humans by asking for one every six minutes. We need to establish a structured routine they can learn, remember, and predict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, our pets need breaks from us from time to time. If you\nhave the opportunity to work in a separate room away from your pets, do so and\nmake sure they are well occupied during those times.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Dr.
Photo provided by Dr. Candace Croney of her cat, Bernie, and Havanese mix, Desi.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It is also important to simulate leaving the house to keep\nthem practiced at being comfortable with not having constant access to you.\nWhen you eventually go back to work, it won\u2019t set them up for success if they\nare suddenly deprived of constant attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need to understand that animals have individual\npersonalities. There are some pets who don\u2019t necessarily want constant\ninteraction. With us at home all the time, especially with larger families, we\nneed to make sure they\u2019re not being overstimulated. We should set up safe\nspaces at home where they can choose to retreat and have downtime.  Particularly for cats, a quiet and warm, dimly\nlit space is ideal for resting (that\u2019s not a bad set up for people who need a\nbreak, either!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can workers keep their pets entertained?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you can\u2019t give your pets one-on-one attention, it\u2019s\nimportant they have things that occupy them and that are safe for them to use.\nFor dogs, giving them high-value favorite toys and treats to keep their minds\nengaged is great, particularly puzzle toys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same things are important for cats. You can use puzzle\nfeeders and preferred toys that they don\u2019t get at other times. Give these at\ntimes that are particularly busy for you, where you need them not to be\ndisruptive. And remember to change out the items from time to time to make sure\nthey remain fun and exciting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019d be surprised how much enjoyment cats can get out of\nboxes and how creative dogs can be at offering new behaviors you can reward for\ninteracting with cardboard boxes. Imagine what they could do with all those\ntoilet paper rolls we\u2019ve been hoarding! Small pets like rabbits and rodents can\nbe greatly entertained by having food hidden in discarded toilet paper rolls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What should someone do if their pet isn\u2019t able to get\nas much exercise as they are accustomed to during this period?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think many people underestimate how important mental\nstimulation is to companion animals. If you are in a situation where they are\nrestricted in terms of opportunities for physical exercise, step it up with as\nmuch mental enrichment as you possibly can. You can be creative around the home\nby letting them hunt for their food, hiding it in different places. This is\nalso a good time to practice obedience and learn new tricks.  Use hallways, basements and other safe indoor\nspaces to practice recalls while playing fetch.  Depending on how much space you have, obstacle\ncourses can be set up, even just by rearranging a couple pieces of your\nfurniture (which can be exercise for you too!).  Cats can be entertained and exercised by using\nvertical spaces like shelves to perch and jump onto for treats, catnip, or\nfeather toys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked how her research team is adjusting to their new fur-workers, Dr. Croney said, \u201cIt\u2019s been great!\u201d  She asked her entire lab to share their interactions through their weekly progress reports and lab meetings.  Photos of their fur workers are included in the complete version of this story by Chad Campbell, of Purdue Agricultural Communication, which you can view by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Candace Croney, who holds a joint appointment in the Colleges of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture as professor of animal behavior and well-being and professor of animal sciences, is used to sharing her workspace with companion animals. The same cannot be said for millions of Americans now working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Croney offers some thoughts about benefitting from and adjusting to new \u201cfur workers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":8136,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[818,41,817,29],"tags":[143,145,1617,1587,123,8,26,1627,56,1616],"class_list":["post-8133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animal-welfare-science","category-faculty-staff","category-human-animal-bond","category-our-people","tag-candace-croney","tag-center-for-animal-welfare-science","tag-companion-animals","tag-covid-19","tag-cpb","tag-faculty","tag-featured-story","tag-fur-workers","tag-homepage","tag-social-distancing"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8133"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31828,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8133\/revisions\/31828"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vet.purdue.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}