MANY four-legged friends will be spending the day alongside their owners at offices around York, North and East Yorkshire today.

If you're taking part, we'd love to see your pictures.

Bring Your Dog to Work Day aims to raise money for welfare charities All Dogs Matter and Animal Asia, and has grown in popularity since its inception in 2014.But you can also select your own charity to raise funds for.

The event enourages employees nationwide to throw convention out of the window and invite their pooch to join them for some Friday fun in the workplace.

Not only is it great fun, but having your furry pal in the office is said to bring mental health benefits.  

Why should you take part?

Scientific studies show the presence of pets can help reduce stress levels in the workplace.

According to the event organisers, "increased job satisfaction, team co-operation and morale have all been reported in employees that spend the workday with their pets".

They add: "So in addition to raising funds, Bring Your Dog To Work Day is likely to boost the productivity and happiness of the employees within your company. And it means hundreds, if not thousands of pets around the UK can now go to work alongside their humans!"

Among those taking part is York veterinary group VetPartners after dog owners were allowed to bring their pooches to the office.

Casper, Freddie, Bella, Jessie, Charlie, Ronnie, Bear and Asher are spending the day at VetPartners’ headquarters in York.

Now in its sixth year, Bring Your Dog to Work Day is embraced by dog lovers and their employers.

VetPartners invited members of its central support team to buy raffle tickets to choose seven lucky owners to bring their dogs to work. The raffle has raised £203 for VetPartners’ chosen charity for 2019, Hearing Dogs for Deaf People.

More than 100 of the UK’s most respected small animal, equine, farm and mixed veterinary practices are part of VetPartners, which has 4,750 employees working in more than 450 sites, including its headquarters in Spitfire House, Clifton Moor, York.

VetPartners CEO Jo Malone said: “Our team really took Bring Your Dog to Work Day to their hearts and it was great fun for everyone. As a veterinary group, you’d expect many of our team to be pet owners so we had to limit numbers, otherwise the office would have been overrun by dogs.

“Raffling the chance to bring your dog in enabled us to raise money for a very worthy cause.

“Hearing Dogs for Deaf People trains dogs to alert deaf people to important and life-saving sounds, such as fire alarms, intruder alarms, oven timers and baby monitors.

“The charity’s dogs also provide constant emotional support and companionship, which is important as deaf people can often struggle with feelings of isolation and loneliness.”

Sally Whitehead, a team leader in HR, who brought in her Cocker Spaniel Ronnie, said: “She has loved coming into work today as she loves people and enjoyed everyone making a fuss of her.

“Hearing Dogs for Deaf People currently has around 500 dogs in training and has created nearly 2,500 working hearing dog partnerships, for both children and adults, across the UK, so it is such a worthy cause.”

Other dogs spending the day at VetPartners’ offices are Charlie, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, owned by Head of Finance Kerry Bradley; Jessie, a Lurcher, owned by management accountant Andrea Whitehead; Bella, a Labrador puppy, owned by Purchase Ledger clerk Alice Triffitt; Freddie the West Highland Terrier, owned by Payroll Manager Lorraine Worner; Bichon Frise Casper, owned by IT Service Delivery Coordinator Rebecca Mackin; Nixon, a black Labrador, owned by Charlie Kay in Data Analysis; Bear, a Labrador puppy owned by Farm Marketing Manager Sam Hopkinson and Asher, a rescue cross breed from Romania, owned by Health and Safety Manager Andy Holmes.

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