Is It Lunchtime Yet?

My husband and I are fortunate enough to run our own business, so we bring Coda to our office every day. You might assume we run a warehouse or maybe own a pet store. Nope. We work in a Class A building beside engineering companies and Realtor offices. Coda prances through the glass entrance and even rides in the elevator. Of course, Coda is all business on work days. Well, almost.

When Coda was a puppy, we knew taking him to the office had to wait until he stopped chewing table legs and nearby toes. Our employees are dog lovers, but there's a limit. The job requirements for Coda were straight forward. So once we thought he was a well-trained, quiet Labrador, we brought him in for an interview.

The interview consisted of letting Coda sniff the carpets, and staff. He was about five months old and still wiggly, but he knew his commands and responded to them most of the time. Early on, Coda charmed everyone. He sat for a quick petting, didn't bark at the UPS driver, and even flopped on a makeshift bed in my office. "He's a natural," we thought. I should have known it was too soon to order business cards.

At first I watched Coda like a hawk. He did well. The moment I turned my back, however, I heard, "He's got an envelope!" I peered out my office and saw Coda jumping around with a giant padded bubble envelope. Our reception area is a great circle track - great for a dog playing keep away. After several laps, I wrestled the envelope from Coda and dragged him back to my office. But it was too late. The real Coda was unleashed.

Coda bounded into cubicles and found sections of wall to nibble. He discovered where we kept the paper reams and was quite good at pulling out sheets and tearing them to bits. When we moved the paper, he moved on to trash cans. I was ready to give up and leave him home, but my husband was more patient. I seem to recall the words "Maybe the puppy will listen to his father." We still laugh about that.

It was a normal workday and Coda was lying quietly in daddy's office. At first I thought there was something to the old adage - wait till your father gets home. Then my husband asked, "Did the network go down?" The system was fine. So what happened? Can you guess? Coda had been quiet in daddy's office all right; quietly chewing through all of the network cords. They were in pieces beside Coda, now with a satisfied grin.

Coda eventually matured and is good at the office now. Once in a while he still steals an envelope and runs around as if longing for his youth, but mostly he plays with his toys and lets Grandpa take him for walks. It's a good arrangement, and it keeps Coda off the streets. Yes, there was a time when, well, we thought Coda might end up a gutter pup. Maybe it was when he literally ended up in the gutter.