Skip to content
How to Work from Home Effectively with Your Pets
Have you recently started working from home? While there can be many advantages to working from home (hello pajama bottoms!), there are also challenges to face, especially if you have new, furry co-workers.
Maybe Rex thinks he needs to speak up on every call, even if he didn't have any talking points on the agenda.
Image Credit: The Dogington Post
Or Simba thinks that your keyboard is the purrrr-fect place for a nap.
Image Credit: Mypixa.com
The silver lining is, regardless of how difficult of a transition it has been for you or your pets, it means that you’re getting to spend more time with your furbaby. While there are definitely more snuggles involved, spending more time with your pet could also mean that you’re noticing certain behaviors you otherwise wouldn’t. Did you know over 80% of pets suffer from some form of anxiety?
One of most common causes of pet stress and anxiety is change. Pets get used to routines and a certain environment, and when that changes, it can be a difficult adjustment for many cats and dogs. Our pets are also very good at picking up cues from their humans. This means if you’re stressed out and worried, your pet could pick up on that too.
If your pets are exhibiting signs of anxiety and stress during this time, know that you’re not alone, and there are things you can do to help!
What does it look like?
Pet anxiety comes in a variety of forms, but here are some common things that could be red flags:
- Barking every time someone walks by
- Incessant meowing
- Dog or cat being glued to you while you are trying to work
- Pets misbehaving while you are on a call
- Pets fighting with each other
- Pets wanting to play constantly
For additional details on how to recognize anxiety in your pets, see our recent blog post.
How can you help with your pet’s stress?
1. Set a New Normal
Pets appreciate routine. If possible, keep the same feeding schedule you had before the routine changed. Then set new routines for other activities and stick to them. For example, maybe you set up a quick walk in the morning, some play-time at lunch, and a longer walk when you’re done with work at 5 pm. Try to keep a routine when it comes to your solo activities as well. Take any short breaks and your lunch break at consistent times every day. Doing this will help your pets set expectations about your own behavior.
2. Activity
Plan activities for your pets. Since they’re not used to you being home during the week, take a couple of breaks specifically to focus on them and give them some attention. For the rest of the day, get a nice puzzle toy to keep them occupied. Taking an outdoor break for some vigorous exercise right before an important virtual meeting call could help wear them out so they settle down. This means less distracting behavior from your pets on conference calls! (Not to mention a boost in energy for yourself!)
3. Take some time for yourself
Don’t forget to take care of yourself as well. That means clearing your head and keeping your own anxiety and stress down. Take a break from social media and news. Try some meditation or relaxing yoga. Eat healthy foods and drink plenty of water. These things all go a long way to keeping your own mental health in check.
4. Try pet anxiety products that are proven to help
As a leader in the pet calming industry, ThunderWorks has a complete line of stress-reducing products. While any of these solutions work great on their own, they can work even better together.
Like swaddling an infant, ThunderShirt’s patented design applies gentle, constant pressure to calm many types of anxiety, fear, and over-excitement issues. In dogs, the ThunderShirt can help to reduce problem barking, pacing, drooling, and help them to feel much calmer overall. Rather than being glued to your side while you are trying to work, your dog might decide to take a nice snooze instead.
In cats, we've seen the ThunderShirt significantly reduce problem meowing, and makes the cat more calm, and less vocal overall.
The ThunderShirt has already helped millions of cats and dogs find a whole new calm.
Our pheromone diffuser is great for daily use at home to reduce anxiety and stress in your pets. This would be a great solution if you are noticing continuous anxiety, and you need help to find your "all day calm". ThunderEase also comes in the form of collars or collar clips for consistent anxiety in dogs.
Need some heavy focus time on a particular project? ThunderEase spray can be used for an extra boost of calm any time you need it. We've seen great results when combining the ThunderEase spray with the ThunderShirt - there is even a convenient patch on your ThunderShirt to spray ThunderEase.
Our calming chews and paw gel are vet recommended, and help your pet relax during stressful times. ThunderWunders are made in the USA, are drug-free, and promote rest and relaxation with natural ingredients like melatonin, chamomile, ginger, thiamine and more.
Many of our customers report that ThunderWunders are so relaxing, their pets will take a nap! So if you have an important call coming up, and you'd really like for there to not be any barking / meowing in the background, you should give ThunderWunders a try!
If you have any questions, we'd love for you to contact us and talk to one of our product experts. You can reach us at service@thundershirt.com or give us a call during business hours at (866) 892-2078.