By Rachel Peck

In the past year, we’ve highlighted on our blogs and social media the time spent working at home and its new challenges and advantages. A big part of it has been our pets. We have always been dog people – currently there are five “office” dogs, but with the additions of kittens and even chickens in 2020, we’re quickly finding ourselves outnumbered by our animals. In our opinion, these pets have been some of the real MVPs of the last year, prompting us to dedicate today’s blog to how much we appreciate all of them (even the chickens). In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, we want to list the ways in which we appreciated them this year – because no matter what, we don’t have to ask them to “be mine,” they always will be.

Thank you for being…
…the best coworkers. Once upon a time we left for work each day and occasionally we took you along. You got a taste for the office life and were always there to remind us to take breaks to give you a snuggle and a walk around the park. All that changed when we found ourselves stuck at home for the better part of a year. Gone was your visitor status, as you became an unwilling coworker. This was a job you didn’t sign up for – your human never left, stayed on the couch a lot, seemed really worried and felt a lot of sadness. Sometimes you were happy to have the constant company, the extra walks and pets, but a lot of times you missed your personal space. Now you know just how annoying your humans can be and how loudly they can chew their snacks.

For putting up with our walk breaks
On the topic of breaks, thank you for letting us take you outside for walks around the same neighborhood 20 times a day. We know we called it a mental health break, but you would rather nap, and we should’ve probably followed suit a few times.

For acting as living paperweights
Because who needs an actual paper weight (or even needs to read those files) when you have two kittens always willing to guard them? (We did have to draw the line on sleeping on the computer keyboard however…)

For being willing (read unwilling) social media participants
We couldn’t help it – it’s easy content! There are also more “national” animal holidays than we can count. At least we fed you many treats to capture your poses.

For interrupting every Zoom meeting
We definitely needed to be alerted to the mailman’s presence…at the same time every day.

Despite it all, the best part about spending so much time with our pets this year is being greeted every day with nothing but joyful exuberance for a new day. So, keep it coming, dear pets – we need it!

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