Pet Pourri

In Noida,the multi-storey building of publishing house LB Associates is the playing ground of Ginny,a Doberman,and Ronnie,a cross between a German shepherd and a Labrador. “The dogs live in the office day and night,petted and pampered by the staff during work hours and bathed and walked by the guards and office boys in the mornings,” says Linda Brady Hawke,publisher,LB Associates.

The vast interiors of LB Associates are a world away from the cosy room from which Chrysalis functions,yet both places are marked by a similar energy and movement around the canines. Employees,despite work pressure,seem friendlier with one another and smile more often. At Chrysalis,staff members Nidhi Chauhan and Mansi Jain have their eyes peeled on the computer,their hands flying over the keyboards,as the golden-haired Pomeranians Pogo and Tangy watch them with a Zen-like expression from the workplace shelf,right next to spiral notebooks.

At LB Associates,which publishes Creature Companion and organises a pet trade fair every year,employees pack in a snack for Ginny and Ronnie in their lunchboxes. “Several members of our staff were not dog lovers when they joined,a few were even petrified of dogs. Our advice was: ignore them and they’ll leave you alone. After a while,however,everybody begins to like them,” says Rutaksha Rawat,assistant editor,Creature Companion. Ginny and Ronny are kept away during important official meetings but never chained.