7 ms·

How My Co-founder's Dog Boosted My Productivity

102 points by WadeF 14y ago

bryanh 14y ago
I will attest to the fact that Tuna is an excellent pomodoro style timer. Every couple hours it's time to go outside, regardless of your mood or state of mind. I used to worry that I was getting sidetracked at inopportune times, but I've learned busy moments are great times to step away because you know right where to pick up when you return. YMMV of course.
- lostlogin 14y ago
  In regards to getting outside, don't do it regardless of your mood, do it because of it. Getting depression under control seems to be helped with a regular stint of outside. I don't know why, but give me a tool, preferably power driven, and I'm sorted. I might be mentally tired but Im rested and relaxed and will sleep.
smit 14y ago
Pretty cool. If a pet can help become more productive, every startup should get one ;)
ChuckMcM 14y ago
My experience has been similar, having a dog gets me up on a saturday when I might have blown it off and slept in, and forces me to take periodic breaks which keeps the blood flowing.
- arethuza 14y ago
  Our cats are pretty effective at waking me up - almost exactly as in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ffwDYo00Q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ffwDYo00Q [They leave other people alone as they know I am the Keeper of the Catfood].
namank 14y ago
I'm guessing you don't have kids! Taking care of another living thing can be wondrous for the self in so many ways!
- mansigandhi 14y ago
  Kids take up a lot more time than dogs. They prob don't increase productivity either :)
jmspring 14y ago
I work at home a fair amount and don't have a dog, but I do have a needy cat. He's indoor/outdoor (I have an office in my detached garage) and has the inate ability to realize I need to step away and take a break. When a hard problem comes up or I am super annoyed about a problem, he's there to encourage me to play with him. Timely breaks that reset your sense of well being can help a lot. The one thing about dogs vs cats in the work place, many people seem more allergic to cats than dogs (and cats generally don't travel as well).
elliottcarlson 14y ago
I love the energy that dogs bring to the office - we have anywhere from 2 to 5 in the office at a time, and sometimes it can be a bit hectic - but the positive vibe that a little dog coming by you for a quick pet keeps me going through the day.
webbruce 14y ago
Yeah I actually had the same exact experience.
- webbruce 14y ago
  I guess you'd have to weigh the costs of a dog vs your productivity gains in dollars.
  - billybob255 14y ago
    Dogs certainly bring a lot more intangible benefits other than productivity gains. If you're getting a dog purely for productivity it'd probably be best if you didn't.
  - sebcat 14y ago
    That's really not what you should be thinking about when considering bying a pet.
srbloom 14y ago
I like to think of dog training as programming an emotional computer. There are lots of similarities (breaking up problems into smal steps for one) and the payoff feels just as great.
mladenkovacevic 14y ago
I miss having a dog.. I've been considering volunteering to take my elderly neighbour's dog for walks every evening.
aashaykumar92 14y ago
You make some great points, but don't forget that Tuna was already trained...if you are to get a dog, or shall I say puppy, the training process will take a lot of dedication--this means time AND effort. Remember, the puppy won't come with a routine...you have to get him/her into a routine--yes, it sounds nice but it's not easy. Having a startup and raising a puppy together seem like a pretty tough combination, especially if this will be your first puppy. Once the pup is trained, though, you'll reap all the benefits as you did with Tuna--you just have to be very very dedicated during that first month. I don't mean to discourage you at all. I've had 2 dogs, pretty much raised the one by myself, and don't regret it at all but I did want to give that insight so it doesn't go over your head! If you have any specific questions about what goes into raising a puppy, feel free to reply here or email me at aashayk@gmail.com.
- minimize_me 14y ago
  You don't have to go through the process of imprinting a routine from scratch with a rescue dog, do you?
  - aashaykumar92 14y ago
    That really depends on the rescue dogs' condition.
    - ryan-allen 14y ago
      Generally their condition is decent. Good shelters tend to only re-home dogs that score well in sociability and training.
  - tillk 14y ago
    A rescue dog — unless maybe really, really old — needs to be challenged constantly. And by challenged, I mean — these dogs are/were rescue dogs for a reason. :) Challenges include games and tasks, and all that. These dogs need "work" to feel alive.
    - 14y ago
JDGM 14y ago
I love this, but I was a little disappointed it wasn't a joke article. Read the right (wrong) way that title has the vibe of a sarcastic HN-bait parody. Maybe the immense laughter I got from this a few months ago seeded the thought of HN spoofing rather deep in me! http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=193b767bbb3b0eb0d949d5924&id=0c3a567f95&e=5603c292b3 http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=193b767bbb3b0eb0d949d592...
- psionski 14y ago
  "Things I Learned Writing an HN Parody"... A bit recursive, aren't we?
  - JDGM 14y ago
    Pretty much the whole thing was gold IMO :) Discussion at the time, here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4621731 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4621731.
- endgame 14y ago
  I was seriously considering going to pastebin and writing up "How brushing my teeth boosted my productivity". Maybe also add a follow-up article on dental-driven-development.
dualogy 14y ago
> How My Co-founder's Dog Boosted My Productivity Well, this is some straight up @shit_hn_says material right there.
adrianhoward 14y ago
Just a generic #meto on this. We've got a couple of dogs (in fact - three ATM since we're caring for my partner's parents dog too currently). Nothing unsticks the brain better than a three or four mile walk. And pooches force you to have 'em. So you don't even have to figure out that your brain is stuck. I've lost count of the number of occasions that I've been going "yeah, yeah okay - I'll take you out" frustrated that it's taking me away from work - only to realise 10m later while outside that what I was doing was dumb and there was a vastly better approach.
pekk 14y ago
That's because you got a 10x dog, however. You should only bring on Alpha dogs with lots of Xs, or you might kill your company.
waterlion 14y ago
Another data point. A dog in the office destroyed my productivity and shot my stress up through the roof for the best part of a year. Loud animal, barking all the time. Dogs in the office aren't always a good thing and are about as far from a professional working environment as you can get.
jimfuller 14y ago
as one who is owned by a dog ... I will categorize this post under the 'bleeding obvious' epiphany ... cue 3 mths from now a new startup whose main product is 'puppies for productivity'. really folks, I mean this in the best possible way ... get a life (and a dog).
awjr 14y ago
I was extremely sceptical about dogs, having owned cats most of my life. 6 years ago we got a dog (Working line Cocker). Initial 6 months were hard, well she did eat the kitchen floor, but have to say she really is a positive influence for the family as a whole. If you work from home then I would strongly recommend you get one.
kayoone 14y ago
If you work from home that is. Most people work in an office in the city, where dogs arent allowed, or if they are allowed, going for a walk with the dog in the middle of the city isnt exactly fun unless you count collecting poop as fun and relaxing.
swalsh 14y ago
I have a blind dog that we rescued. Some days he decides he's going to be great. On those days it's wonderful walking. Frank Lyod Right once said that he doesn't design in the studio, he just draws there. I feel something similar when I'm on a walk with my dog on a good day. Of course good days are rare. You can take the dog out of the street but you can't take the street out of the dog. He's extremely stubborn, which leads to frustrating walks. It can be hard to think about code when you're fighting with your dog.
- ulisesrmzroche 14y ago
  Have you tried clicker training him? I highly recommend it. It's been super useful to me so far in just the past few days I've been using it.
btrautsc 14y ago
This is a great article & I'm a firm believer. But as some have commented, understand that this puppy will not come with a routine - you'll have to program it. He/she will be predisposed to certain times & activities, and you'll have to compromise on some & break others. I mentioned elsewhere in the comments that I have a new 5 month old chocolate lab... for the first 60 days, I rarely had quality sleep more than 3 hours, was constantly cleaning up messes, and was generally highly stressed/ borderline depressed due to my startup stress + the new puppy stress. Be aware - I believe in all of the benefits & more, but they do come with some hefty initial costs.
simonbarker87 14y ago
My West Highland Terrier is nearly 2 years old. We got him at 8 weeks and the first 6 months he took over our lives. When a pup he needed to go outside every hour, on the hour, 24 hours a day. Once he got past that stage it was time for puppy classes and training and constantly making sure he was behaving etc. We were exhausted for 6 months and this was the first 6 months of founding http://www.radfan.com http://www.radfan.com. Now he is older he still needs lot of walking, playing with and generally looking after BUT I wouldn't have it any other way. He is awesome, every day is the best day in the world for him. He's great to have around during the day and taking him for a walk and playing with him are the highlights of our day. He makes us laugh, he gives us something else to focus on apart from work and best of all he is free entertainment (if you exclude pet insurance, food and toys). When you buy a puppy you are buying the potential of what that dog could be, it is down to you to train and instil the correct behaviours in him. I think dog training (done correctly, clicker training with treats and positive renforcement) aligns very well with a technical/science mindset as I have found it really fun trying to debug why my dog does X when he should do Y and how to modify that in some way. If you can, adopt a dog though. It's rubbish that old dogs can't learn new tricks and so many dogs need new homes and more often than not, even with the most disobedient dog you can still skip the house training bit as that tends to be sorted unless they have had a horrific start in life.
stevenp 14y ago
We've got two dogs at turntable.fm: my chihuahua, Miss Cleo, and a corgi puppy named Newton. Having them around is probably one of the best things about working in our office. They're both well-behaved (although Miss Cleo does bark at the food delivery people to let them know she's in charge), and they add a lot to the fun atmosphere of the office. I also am extremely grateful that I can bring her to work with me each day, because I always felt bad about leaving her at home at past jobs, especially since startup employees tend to work long hours. The relief of not having to worry about leaving her at home actually adds substantially to my own productivity.

102 points by WadeF 14y ago

I will attest to the fact that Tuna is an excellent pomodoro style timer. Every couple hours it's time to go outside, regardless of your mood or state of mind. I used to worry that I was getting sidetracked at inopportune times, but I've learned busy moments are great times to step away because you know right where to pick up when you return. YMMV of course.

lostlogin 14y ago
In regards to getting outside, don't do it regardless of your mood, do it because of it. Getting depression under control seems to be helped with a regular stint of outside. I don't know why, but give me a tool, preferably power driven, and I'm sorted. I might be mentally tired but Im rested and relaxed and will sleep.

smit 14y ago

Pretty cool. If a pet can help become more productive, every startup should get one ;)

ChuckMcM 14y ago

My experience has been similar, having a dog gets me up on a saturday when I might have blown it off and slept in, and forces me to take periodic breaks which keeps the blood flowing.

arethuza 14y ago
Our cats are pretty effective at waking me up - almost exactly as in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ffwDYo00Q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ffwDYo00Q [They leave other people alone as they know I am the Keeper of the Catfood].

namank 14y ago

I'm guessing you don't have kids! Taking care of another living thing can be wondrous for the self in so many ways!

mansigandhi 14y ago
Kids take up a lot more time than dogs. They prob don't increase productivity either :)

jmspring 14y ago

I work at home a fair amount and don't have a dog, but I do have a needy cat. He's indoor/outdoor (I have an office in my detached garage) and has the inate ability to realize I need to step away and take a break. When a hard problem comes up or I am super annoyed about a problem, he's there to encourage me to play with him. Timely breaks that reset your sense of well being can help a lot. The one thing about dogs vs cats in the work place, many people seem more allergic to cats than dogs (and cats generally don't travel as well).

elliottcarlson 14y ago

I love the energy that dogs bring to the office - we have anywhere from 2 to 5 in the office at a time, and sometimes it can be a bit hectic - but the positive vibe that a little dog coming by you for a quick pet keeps me going through the day.

webbruce 14y ago

Yeah I actually had the same exact experience.

webbruce 14y ago
I guess you'd have to weigh the costs of a dog vs your productivity gains in dollars.
- billybob255 14y ago
  Dogs certainly bring a lot more intangible benefits other than productivity gains. If you're getting a dog purely for productivity it'd probably be best if you didn't.
- sebcat 14y ago
  That's really not what you should be thinking about when considering bying a pet.

srbloom 14y ago

I like to think of dog training as programming an emotional computer. There are lots of similarities (breaking up problems into smal steps for one) and the payoff feels just as great.

mladenkovacevic 14y ago

I miss having a dog.. I've been considering volunteering to take my elderly neighbour's dog for walks every evening.

aashaykumar92 14y ago

You make some great points, but don't forget that Tuna was already trained...if you are to get a dog, or shall I say puppy, the training process will take a lot of dedication--this means time AND effort. Remember, the puppy won't come with a routine...you have to get him/her into a routine--yes, it sounds nice but it's not easy. Having a startup and raising a puppy together seem like a pretty tough combination, especially if this will be your first puppy. Once the pup is trained, though, you'll reap all the benefits as you did with Tuna--you just have to be very very dedicated during that first month. I don't mean to discourage you at all. I've had 2 dogs, pretty much raised the one by myself, and don't regret it at all but I did want to give that insight so it doesn't go over your head! If you have any specific questions about what goes into raising a puppy, feel free to reply here or email me at aashayk@gmail.com.

minimize_me 14y ago
You don't have to go through the process of imprinting a routine from scratch with a rescue dog, do you?
- aashaykumar92 14y ago
  That really depends on the rescue dogs' condition.
  - ryan-allen 14y ago
    Generally their condition is decent. Good shelters tend to only re-home dogs that score well in sociability and training.
- tillk 14y ago
  A rescue dog — unless maybe really, really old — needs to be challenged constantly. And by challenged, I mean — these dogs are/were rescue dogs for a reason. :) Challenges include games and tasks, and all that. These dogs need "work" to feel alive.
  - 14y ago

JDGM 14y ago

I love this, but I was a little disappointed it wasn't a joke article. Read the right (wrong) way that title has the vibe of a sarcastic HN-bait parody. Maybe the immense laughter I got from this a few months ago seeded the thought of HN spoofing rather deep in me! http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=193b767bbb3b0eb0d949d5924&id=0c3a567f95&e=5603c292b3 http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=193b767bbb3b0eb0d949d592...

psionski 14y ago
"Things I Learned Writing an HN Parody"... A bit recursive, aren't we?
- JDGM 14y ago
  Pretty much the whole thing was gold IMO :) Discussion at the time, here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4621731 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4621731.
endgame 14y ago
I was seriously considering going to pastebin and writing up "How brushing my teeth boosted my productivity". Maybe also add a follow-up article on dental-driven-development.

dualogy 14y ago

> How My Co-founder's Dog Boosted My Productivity Well, this is some straight up @shit_hn_says material right there.

adrianhoward 14y ago

Just a generic #meto on this. We've got a couple of dogs (in fact - three ATM since we're caring for my partner's parents dog too currently). Nothing unsticks the brain better than a three or four mile walk. And pooches force you to have 'em. So you don't even have to figure out that your brain is stuck. I've lost count of the number of occasions that I've been going "yeah, yeah okay - I'll take you out" frustrated that it's taking me away from work - only to realise 10m later while outside that what I was doing was dumb and there was a vastly better approach.

pekk 14y ago

That's because you got a 10x dog, however. You should only bring on Alpha dogs with lots of Xs, or you might kill your company.

waterlion 14y ago

Another data point. A dog in the office destroyed my productivity and shot my stress up through the roof for the best part of a year. Loud animal, barking all the time. Dogs in the office aren't always a good thing and are about as far from a professional working environment as you can get.

jimfuller 14y ago

as one who is owned by a dog ... I will categorize this post under the 'bleeding obvious' epiphany ... cue 3 mths from now a new startup whose main product is 'puppies for productivity'. really folks, I mean this in the best possible way ... get a life (and a dog).

awjr 14y ago

I was extremely sceptical about dogs, having owned cats most of my life. 6 years ago we got a dog (Working line Cocker). Initial 6 months were hard, well she did eat the kitchen floor, but have to say she really is a positive influence for the family as a whole. If you work from home then I would strongly recommend you get one.

kayoone 14y ago

If you work from home that is. Most people work in an office in the city, where dogs arent allowed, or if they are allowed, going for a walk with the dog in the middle of the city isnt exactly fun unless you count collecting poop as fun and relaxing.

swalsh 14y ago

I have a blind dog that we rescued. Some days he decides he's going to be great. On those days it's wonderful walking. Frank Lyod Right once said that he doesn't design in the studio, he just draws there. I feel something similar when I'm on a walk with my dog on a good day. Of course good days are rare. You can take the dog out of the street but you can't take the street out of the dog. He's extremely stubborn, which leads to frustrating walks. It can be hard to think about code when you're fighting with your dog.

ulisesrmzroche 14y ago
Have you tried clicker training him? I highly recommend it. It's been super useful to me so far in just the past few days I've been using it.

btrautsc 14y ago

This is a great article & I'm a firm believer. But as some have commented, understand that this puppy will not come with a routine - you'll have to program it. He/she will be predisposed to certain times & activities, and you'll have to compromise on some & break others. I mentioned elsewhere in the comments that I have a new 5 month old chocolate lab... for the first 60 days, I rarely had quality sleep more than 3 hours, was constantly cleaning up messes, and was generally highly stressed/ borderline depressed due to my startup stress + the new puppy stress. Be aware - I believe in all of the benefits & more, but they do come with some hefty initial costs.

simonbarker87 14y ago

My West Highland Terrier is nearly 2 years old. We got him at 8 weeks and the first 6 months he took over our lives. When a pup he needed to go outside every hour, on the hour, 24 hours a day. Once he got past that stage it was time for puppy classes and training and constantly making sure he was behaving etc. We were exhausted for 6 months and this was the first 6 months of founding http://www.radfan.com http://www.radfan.com. Now he is older he still needs lot of walking, playing with and generally looking after BUT I wouldn't have it any other way. He is awesome, every day is the best day in the world for him. He's great to have around during the day and taking him for a walk and playing with him are the highlights of our day. He makes us laugh, he gives us something else to focus on apart from work and best of all he is free entertainment (if you exclude pet insurance, food and toys). When you buy a puppy you are buying the potential of what that dog could be, it is down to you to train and instil the correct behaviours in him. I think dog training (done correctly, clicker training with treats and positive renforcement) aligns very well with a technical/science mindset as I have found it really fun trying to debug why my dog does X when he should do Y and how to modify that in some way. If you can, adopt a dog though. It's rubbish that old dogs can't learn new tricks and so many dogs need new homes and more often than not, even with the most disobedient dog you can still skip the house training bit as that tends to be sorted unless they have had a horrific start in life.

stevenp 14y ago

We've got two dogs at turntable.fm: my chihuahua, Miss Cleo, and a corgi puppy named Newton. Having them around is probably one of the best things about working in our office. They're both well-behaved (although Miss Cleo does bark at the food delivery people to let them know she's in charge), and they add a lot to the fun atmosphere of the office. I also am extremely grateful that I can bring her to work with me each day, because I always felt bad about leaving her at home at past jobs, especially since startup employees tend to work long hours. The relief of not having to worry about leaving her at home actually adds substantially to my own productivity.