Benefits of dogs in the workplace

NEW YORK (FOX5NY.COM) - Are you tail-wagging excited when you arrive at work? No? Well, Pizza is, as are the dozens of other canines of employees at Huge in Brooklyn where a dog, like Fozzie, has their day every day.

Huge is digital creative agency and a serious place of business that does everything from product design to marketing to business strategy. Born in Brooklyn in 1999, Huge now has 12 offices globally staffed by more than 1,200 employees. And the company is as deliberate about workplace happiness as it is with productivity.

Instead of a bar cart, Huge has a dog-cart with treats. There's even an Instagram page: @dogsofhuge.

But make no mistake, there are rules to make this work and provisions are made for employees who might be allergic or simply prefer not to be around them. Dogs allowed here have to be potty-trained, leashed and genuinely people-friendly.

A study by Virginia Commonwealth University found that at companies that allow dogs, employees perform better and are less stressed. Happiness? stress reduction? Sounds like a match made for New York.

And yet when we looked for companies to highlight, aside from Huge in Dumbo and Fueled, a mobile app development agency that also has a co-working space in SoHo, the choices weren't exactly pouring in. Yet the benefits felt seem universal.

While being able to bring a pup to work is something some see as "very progressive," there's another idea many say workplaces should consider. And that's to allow children at work, especially when their moms are still nursing.

For now, having these four-legged kids at work seems like a victory. Real kids are a debate for another day.