Bring your dog to work - it's good for your health

Who doesn't like a furry friend hanging around? LA Times:

The
VCU researchers divided 76 employees into three groups: those who
brought their dogs to work, those who owned dogs but left them home and
those who didn't have pets. For one week, the scientists measured levels
of the stress hormone cortisol in samples of the workers' saliva and
used surveys to gauge their stress levels four times during a workday.

There
was no significant difference in cortisol levels among the study
participants. But by the end of the day, the average stress level scores
fell about 11% among people who had brought their dogs to work, while
they rose as much as 70% for members of the other groups.

The
researchers also observed "unique dog-related communication" in the
workplace, Barker said. During the day, people who hadn't brought pets
walked over to colleagues who had and asked whether they could take the
four-legged visitors for walks.