Imagine this: you have just finished a long day of work and you just want the day to be over.
You are tired, spent, and just want to go home. But you still have some errands to run.
Begrudgingly, you start knocking errands off of your list. You pull up to your first stop, walk through the door, and a friendly dog walks up to you.
You lean down to pet it as it curls up into your arms, wagging its tail as you give it some attention.
Are you at a pet shop? The vet? An animal shelter? Nope, you are visiting a book store getting presents for your loved ones, or a spa looking to relax, or maybe even meeting with your attorney.
Across Seward and Saline counties, with a large number of local businesses, dogs hanging around in unorthodox places is not that uncommon of an occurrence.
“One of the advantages of being a small business owner is we can kind of set our own rules; wear jeans and boots around, and bring the dog to work,” Saline County Attorney David Solheim said.
On most days, Solheim does bring his dog to work as his 14-year-old rescue dog, Dozo, tags along with him in the office.
Solheim and his family moved to Crete seven years ago, and the decision to bring Dozo along came quickly after.
“He was having a hard time adjusting to his new house and would get barky and would be digging in the yard,” Solheim said. “He was just missing us, and so if we brought him into the office, we could avoid some damage to the house.”
But what started as just a way to make Dozo more comfortable turned into a way to provide comfort for clients, especially younger individuals.
“We have county attorney cases where we had child victims or child witnesses,” Solheim said. “A lot of them feel more at ease with the dog here.
“There’s a case that we’re prosecuting now involving three young children who were victims and witnesses in this case. They’re a family that has a lot of pets. When we met him here at the office and brought in Dozo, the tension just lifted.”
For some other business owners, bringing their dog with them to work is more than just having a companion. Shaylene Smith in Crete has been working in dog rescue for around a decade, which has created deep ties with her law firm.
“My family has been involved in animal rescue in some way, shape or form for about 10 years,” she said. “We didn’t start out with the plan of having a companion animal or dog here, but we were rescuing pups that needed some extra attention.”
It started off with a Samoyed named Keara that Smith had rescued from South Korea that had some behavioral issues.
“I didn't want her at home with our other dogs until we knew how that was gonna go on and what (her behavior) looked like,” Smith said. “So it started with Keara just coming down here with me those first few weeks and then people really enjoyed having her down here. So she came quite a bit.”
Smith has rescued dogs from all over including in Nebraska, emergency vet surrenders and many more.
Her benefit of rescuing dogs reaches far beyond the ones she personally saves as she has spent time working as an advocate as well.
“The Humane Society of Nebraska has a lobby day every year where they have volunteers and people that are interested in pet welfare legislation, come in and talk to their senators,” Smith said.
While not a rescue pup, dogs have been a staple in Carla Ketner’s bookshop Chapters in Seward.
“We had a golden retriever here for several years and then when she died, it was pretty sad,” Ketner said. “We had a lot of customers that would come in just to see her.”
About five years after the passing of their first dog, Ketner decided to start bringing her son's dog in. Fabio, the nine-year-old chocolate lab has become a welcome addition to the employee base.
“People loved (our golden) so much that I thought it might be a good idea to do that again, but most of it is I feel bad leaving him by himself (at home) all day and if he can be here with people, he’s happy,” Ketner said.
The people at Chapters also greatly enjoy having him around.
“Ninty-nine percent of people love seeing him and they want to give him love,” Ketner said. “A lot of college kids come in to see him because they miss their pets and they want to get a little dog love.”
Chapters is not the only retail shop in the area with fluffy friends running around, as Frank and Scout help to hold down the fort at Rose Refinery in Wilber.
Stephanie Krivohlavek adopted her Maltipoo Frank as a puppy and then quickly after that, adopted her giant schnauzer, Scout, from her brother.
Having her dogs in the refinery has impacted her business as she now sells toys and other products for dogs.
“A lot of our clients, the dogs are part of their family. The thing about me is if I find out something I like, I tell everyone about it,” Krivohlavek said. “When I started finding this stuff (for Scout, customers) were like ‘well where did you get it?’ And I thought,’then I'll just going to bring it in here and have it available.’”
Like all the other places, the dogs are a welcome guest for customers.
“People hang out with them while they’re waiting for their appointment,” Krivohlavek said. “Most clients love it.”
So if you are in the area and are looking for a place to hang out with a sweet dog to brighten your mood, these businesses have just what you may need to bring your spirits up.
