

How My Co-founder's Dog Boosted My Productivity - WadeF
http://wadefoster.net/post/47425174788/how-my-co-founders-dog-boosted-my-productivity

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aashaykumar92
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.

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mmariani
Unless his co-founder helps him a bit by letting Tuna stay with him and his
puppy for a while. Puppies learn much faster when they have an older dog
around so that they can copy their behavior.

I have an English Cocker Spaniel that once gave birth to three beautiful
puppies. What had taken me 1.5 years to teach to their mother took me
virtually no time to teach them.

It was incredible. And also, a lot of fun! :)

~~~
btrautsc
I am in the midst of this right now. I have a 4 y.o chocolate lab and my wife
surprised me with a chocolate puppy for Christmas. The 4 year old is amazing,
one of the most calm dogs I've ever had - and the puppy is picking it up fast.
Sure, she definitely wants to be up early, rough house more often, and is
still learning - but she is unbelievably more calm than other 5 month old
puppies I've experienced.

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JDGM
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=193b767bbb3b0eb0d949d592...](http://us2.campaign-
archive1.com/?u=193b767bbb3b0eb0d949d5924&id=0c3a567f95&e=5603c292b3)

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psionski
"Things I Learned Writing an HN Parody"... A bit recursive, aren't we?

~~~
JDGM
Pretty much the whole thing was gold IMO :)

Discussion at the time, here: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4621731>.

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bryanh
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
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.

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simonbarker87
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>. 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.

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adrianhoward
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.

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jmspring
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).

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ChuckMcM
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.

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arethuza
Our cats are pretty effective at waking me up - almost exactly as in this
video:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ffwDYo00Q>

[They leave other people alone as they know I am the Keeper of the Catfood].

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dualogy
> How My Co-founder's Dog Boosted My Productivity

Well, _this_ is some straight up @shit_hn_says material right there.

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pekk
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.

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

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btrautsc
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.

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elliottcarlson
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.

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

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waterlion
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.

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stevenp
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.

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

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swalsh
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
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.

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srbloom
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.

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awjr
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.

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kayoone
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.

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jimfuller
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).

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webbruce
Yeah I actually had the same exact experience.

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webbruce
I guess you'd have to weigh the costs of a dog vs your productivity gains in
dollars.

~~~
billybob255
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.

