Taz

Breed: Half chow chow, half golden retriever
Age: Six
Owner: Bob Savage, boatyard program manager at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, St. Michaels, Md.
Experience: “His full name is Tazmanian Devil,” says Bob. “When I first got him, he was a nightmare. All training was failing. And he was not approachable. He had a lot of baggage, probably caused by treatment from his previous owner. But he’s turned out to be a real sweetheart of a dog.”
Office Hang-out: Tethered to a twenty-foot-long rope tied to a desk in the front office of the museum’s boat shop. Says Bob, “People comment that it must be a lot of dog to have such a long rope.”
Company Benefits: Occasional boat rides; squirrel chasing in the museum parking lot; has his own staff I.D. badge
Best Day at the Office: Any day when there aren’t a lot of power tools operating. “On those days,” says Bob, “you can follow the leash and it’ll lead to a cabinet where he’s holed up. But other than that, every morning he’s at the Jeep begging to get in to go to the office. And he’s just as excited to go home, too.”

Woody

AKA: Pooh
Breed: Jack Russell
Age: Ten
Owner: Cristi Pasquella, fine artist, Sunrise Studios, Deale, Md.
Office Hang-out: Sleeping in a basket on Cristi’s desk or in her pick-up. “Some people ask if I put him on Valium because he’s so laid back.”
Professional Skills: “Occasionally, he’ll trot across my palette and get paint on his paws and track it onto to the chair and floor,” says Cristi. “Sometimes when he’s bored he’ll start growling at a cardboard box and jump into it and chew his way out.”
Work Ethic: “When I’m pulling into the studio parking lot, he whines because he’s excited—he knows where he is.”

Angus

AKA: Angie; Angus H.G. (H.G. stands for Hugh Grant, referring to Angus’s good looks)
Breed: Labrador retriever
Age: Four
Owner: Joan Leanos, owner of J.E. Leanos & Co., an Annapolis-based accounting firm
Office Hang-out: Under Joan’s desk. “He’s so quiet, most people don’t know he’s in my office until they hear him scratch,” she says. “A lot of times I’ll be on the phone with a client and have to hit the mute button so that I can tell him to stop itching.”
Company Benefits: Nancy Hammond water bowl, daily helpings of french fries from the office IT specialist, Roberto
Worst Day at the Office: The day Joan sent a company-wide email to all employees asking them to stop feeding Angus human food after a spike in weight. (She now keeps an unlimited supply of raw carrots at the office.)
Professional Assets: “This is the third lab I’ve had in the office,” says Joan. “I can’t imagine what it’s like not to have a dog under my desk in the middle of winter. I put my feet under him to keep warm.”

Zeus

Full Name: Zeus Musafa Swampthing Beardmore
Breed: Golden retriever, trained in mountain rescue
Age: Six
Owner: Jim Beardmore, head lacrosse coach at Severna Park High School, Severna Park, Md.
Office Hang-out: Behind the goal chasing stray balls; on four-mile runs with the team; in the weight room during strength training days. “His vet equates his fitness level to that of an Iditarod dog,” says Jim.
Company Benefits: Unlimited balls to chase, been cross-country four times with Jim to summer lacrosse camps—including a stop in Mexico to go surfing.
Experience: Knows twenty-five different commands, including how to retrieve lacrosse sticks, remove someone’s hat, and paw the water jug for a drink Worst Day at the Office: “Because he’s so well trained, he gets to go everywhere with me and doesn’t have to sit home alone,” says Jim. “The only bad part is that twice people have tried to steal him.”
Best Day at the Office: “He loved winning this year’s state championship.”

Saber

Breed: Chesapeake Bay retriever
Age: Nine months
Owner: Tim Morris, owner of T. L. Morris Seafood, Trappe, Md.
Office Hang-out: The walk-in cooler or under the canopy on the crabbing boat. “Wherever I go, there he is,” says Tim.
Professional Skills: Chewing out the plug of Tim’s waterbed. “There was water everywhere. I had to go buy a new bed the next day—and he didn’t get scolded a bit.”
Company Benefits: Swimming off the beach next to the shop; ice water on the boat; his own seatbelt in Tim’s F-250 pick-up.
Worst Day at the Office: The time he stuck his nose into a basket of jimmies and came out with one pinched to his nose. “You would have thought he was killed, the way he hollered,” says Tim. “He knows it’s the front claw that bit him, so he picks them up by the back fin now.”