WORKING LIKE A DOG: PETS FIND HOME AT WORK

Working a 40-hour week isn't unusual for Butch, the guard at Cape Paint and Glass, 15 N. Middle. What's unusual is that Butch is a dog.

The 10-year-old, 82-pound boxer was practically raised at the business, owned by John and Karen Baker. Butch goes to work every day.

"It's how I housebreak them," Karen Baker said. "That's why I did it when he was a puppy."

By going to the business every day as a puppy, Butch got accustomed to working.

"If we get in the car to go somewhere, he goes," she said.

Except when it rains or the family goes to the lake, Butch rarely takes a day off.

"He has to come to work," she said. "He doesn't think we can get along without him."

Usually Butch can be found lying in a patch of sun or behind his owner's desk.

One day when Baker had an appointment at the beauty shop and it was raining, she dropped Butch off in the shop's garage and let him into the office before leaving again.

"Our customer said, `I've never seen a dog with a chauffeur before,'" she said, admitting the dog is a bit spoiled.

Pets like Butch have become fixtures at some area businesses, and customers expect the animals to be there.

Such is the case for Graham Mendenhall, owner of Mr. Muffler.

His dogs Jake, a border collie, and J.D. (short for Jane Doe), a mixed breed, go to work almost every day.

"I've had customers that come by just to play with Jake," Mendenhall said. Many bring him tennis balls to play with.

"He's put a ball on the counter and rolled it into the waiting room trying to get someone to play with him," he said. "The kids enjoy him."

Mendenhall has been taking his dogs to work for 19 years so they don't get lonesome. Before Jake took over, Penny and Thor, both Doberman pinschers, went to the office.

Another employee, Johnny Newell, takes Newt, a 6-month-old blue-heeler to work almost every day. His dog stays outside while Mendenhall's are confined to the office area.

Going to the office is an important part of Thumper's routine. The 7-year-old Pomeranian causes a lot of trouble when he can't go to work, owner Vince Licare said.

"He likes to be talked to and get attention," Licare said. "He just follows you around."

Vince and Liz Licare, owners of Midwest Diesel Service at Interstate 55 and Nash Road have been taking Thumper to work since the dog was a puppy.

Bill and Linda Pratt, owners of Midwest Truck Sales on Nash Road, occasionally take their blue and gold macaw parrot, Sweet Pea, to work. But Roscoe, a 105-pound Doberman pinscher, lives at the shop year-round.

"We thought he was full grown when we got him," Linda Pratt said. "But he kept growing."

Roscoe isn't a fierce watchdog, because he's too friendly, his owners said. But he has frightened a few people.

"Our regular customers know he's a big baby," she said.

In addition to the parrot and dog, Bill Pratt also has a 180-gallon saltwater fish tank in his office.