Be Not Idle

Memo to everyone: Neither dogs nor cats are children.  As lovable as they may be, taking them to work will not teach them to apply themselves more in (obedience) school so they can follow in the footsteps of their Old Man (or Old Lady, as the case may be).  To do that, you will need to “engineer” your pet a la the Underpeople in Cordwainer Smith’s excellent stories. 

Yes, yes, I know that “Take Your Dog to Work Day” was originally conceived as a way to encourage people to adopt unwanted animals. But really, I think it would be counterproductive. When I worked in Cubicle Land(tm), the last thing I’d want was a pet after comforting my co-worker crying because our manager’s dog had killed and eaten hers.

This segues nicely to a clip on WUSA (Channel 9 in Washington DC). The blonde babe in the sunglasses is my cousin Anne. She loves her dogs (or “brown dogz” as she calls them) but knows they’re not kids.

http://www.wusa9.com/video/default.aspx?aid=62191&storyid=73 037