UPDATED 6/13/2014 – I added a third office buddy to the post. Michelle
Freelancers love their office buddy pets.
After I shared the story of losing Riley, our family’s fox terrier and my faithful office companion for the past 14 years, I heard from freelancers, writers and other work-from-home types about the office buddies in their lives.
I got so many stories, I wanted to share a few:
Stephanie Suesan Smith and Sandy the Australian Cattle Dog
Stephanie Susane Smith is a freelancer writer in Hunt County, Texas. She owns three dogs, but only one is her official office buddy, Sandy, an Australian Cattle Dog.
“Her tail is docked, as is common in this part of the country,” Smith says. “She wandered up when she was around eight months old. I live far out in the (country) and people dump dogs out here all the time. I brought Sandy into the house and thought I would keep her until I could find her a good home. Eleven years later, she is lying at my feet as I write this.”
Smith’s other two dogs, a three-year-old mutt and a one-year-old Catahoula, spend most their time outside. Sandy is different. She “runs out and runs back in, eager to be with me,” Smith says. “She knows my routine and gets very vexed when I am not in the right part of the house at the right time. She will try to herd me to where I am supposed to be.”
When it’s cold and Smith is writing, Sandy lies under her desk on an old piece of carpet. When it is hot, she stretches out on the wooden floor at Smith’s back. “In reality, she always has my back,” Smith says. “No one comes or goes from the house without Sandy alerting me to their presence. She stays right at my feet if I have visitors. Her only bad habit is barking when I first pick up the phone, as if to say hello, too.”
Who couldn’t love a dog like that?
Anne Forline and Bridget the Bunny
Southern New Jersey freelance writer Anne Forline volunteers with a rabbit rescue. That’s how she met Bridget, a severely neglected special needs bunny. Foreline calls Bridget her “officemate/proofreader/editor-
Forline took the rabbit the vet in March, shortly after rescuing her, but the bunny was so bad off “the vet basically just sent her home to die,” Forline says. “Well, two months, later, Bridget hasn’t gotten the memo that she is gravely ill.”
“She has good days and bad days,” Forline says, “but one thing is for sure: When I have to stay up late writing – which is almost every night – she is right on the floor next to me or trying to hop up on the couch. Right now, I am on the floor and she is burrowing behind my back….Do you think an editor would accept ‘But my bunny was on my laptop’ as a reason for missing a deadline?”
Forline has sold several freelanced stories about pets. “I am allergic to cats and have had two cat stories published and I have had (or about to have) stories published about dogs,” she says. “But no dice on my bunny tales.”
Two days after sending me this photo of Bridget, Forline wrote back to say the bunny was gone. “The picture that I sent to you was the last article that Bridget edited. She went to heaven tonight. My heart is very heavy.”
Pets can do that to us.
Jen A. Miller and Emily
New Jersey freelance writer Jen A. Miller adopted Emily when the Jack Russell terrier was four. Now she’s 12 and a half. “I got her about 11 months into freelancing,” Miller says. “I even moved apartments so I could get a dog. When I bought a house it had to have a backyard for her.”
If Miller works too long, Emily gives her a nudge to let her know it’s time to get up and go. “Walking her clears up my mind,” Miller says. “I keep early work hours so she annoys me until I stop in the late afternoon and sit on the couch for a break. It’s her break too – she loves snoozing on top of me.”
If your dog, cat, bunny or other pet is your office buddy, I’d love to feature them in a follow up post. Email me with their name, age and breed, what they like to do while you work and a funny work-related story, if you have one. If you’ve got a picture send that too, to wordcountfreelance@gmail.com.
This was such an endearing story. I should have dedicated Joy’s Guest post on my blog to you. I will certainly send over some Pics of Joy in the office of our motel. And Oh thank you so much for running the blogathon. I am getting so much out of the process.