During the holidays, hopefully everyone had the chance to spend as much time as possible with their loved ones – and for many of us, that includes our pets. That’s why it’s hard to return to work, especially if our four-legged companion can’t come into the office with us. But just as we carry photos of our family members, we can also take a few heart-warming pictures of our dogs with us, which give us strength in everyday life. What’s more, as it turns out, even such a small detail can have a positive effect on the working environment.

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The average worker faces many factors at a systemic level that, one might say, fundamentally hinder wellbeing. For example, nowadays the “hustle culture” is becoming increasingly widespread, which could be described as “the glorification of extremely long working hours in the hope that someone will achieve their professional goals, while ignoring their health and their relationships with loved ones”. This mentality is almost natural for many people in the world of 21st-century work, so it is common for the work–life balance to be disrupted. At the same time, the rather harmful view that success and performance are the measure of happiness has also become quite widespread – and stress, either as a direct or indirect result of these, or even independently of them, becomes part of our everyday lives. Unfortunately, a picture of our pet can’t help with this, but when it comes to reducing conflicts and aggression between employees that are closely linked to workplace stress, it seems it may have a role to play.

The quality time spent with our dogs makes everyday life more beautiful / Photo: welovedogz.hu

Pets in the Workplace

There is a significant positive effect when employees are allowed to take their dogs to work.

Several studies have provided data that shows increased job satisfaction when employees bring pets to the workplace, the practice produces positive emotional changes and improves interpersonal behaviors. Part of the benefit of pets at work includes an overall reduction in conflict and aggressive behaviors among employees

-writes Stanley Coren, a contributor to Psychology Today.

Based on this, it might seem like an obvious decision to allow employees to have their pets present at work. Unfortunately, however, the situation is not that simple, because despite all this evidence, it is still relatively rare for employees to be able to take their dogs to work – often even in an office environment. Employers may have many reasons for this, from allergies to maintaining a safe working environment. What can someone do if their pet can’t come to work with them? They can take a picture of them! And this solution works surprisingly well, especially in the case of dogs.

This Is the Effect a Picture of a Dog Can Have in the Workplace

In a study published in 2025, Carey J. Fitzgerald looked for an answer to whether placing a photo of an employee’s own pet in the workplace could have certain benefits, primarily in the context of workplace conflicts. In the experiment, the potential effect of pictures was examined in an office environment and three situations were created – in one there was no picture, in another there was a random picture of a dog or a cat on the monitor, and in the third the participant’s own pet appeared.

Participants were given tasks that could trigger anger and aggression, and then they were examined to see how angrily and aggressively they would react to various (hypothetical) workplace situations.

Based on this, it turned out that those participants who could see a picture of their own dog “showed significantly lower levels of anger and were significantly less likely to respond with verbal or physical retaliation” than those who had no picture, or those who could see pictures of random dogs and cats, or those who could look at a picture of their own cat. A further experiment provided additional evidence for this result.

All in all, then, even taking a picture of our dog to the workplace can have potential benefits. This is also feasible in jobs that are not desk-based. It’s enough to set your pet as your phone’s wallpaper, which you can glance at, for example during breaks, if it’s not allowed at other times.

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