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Let’s face it, working from home has it’s distractions, whether it’s watching TV or hourly trips to the pantry, I know just how easy it can be to get distracted. Throw pets into the mix and it can be near impossible to work from home!
So how exactly can you keep your pets quiet when working from home? Are there any easy ideas for dealing with pets when working from home? Keep reading to find out more!
(Just a heads up a lot of people reading my blog are in the process of designing their own home office. If you want to save some of the painstaking time I did in designing my office, you can find my recommended products here)
Train your pet to stay quiet
Probably the biggest issue you have working from home with your pet is just the amount of noise.
Dogs and cats can dial up the decibels when they want to and you’d be surprised at how other pets like hamsters, gerbils and even lizards can make distracting noises when you are in the middle of a project.
One of the best things to do in this situation then is to train your pets to stay quiet.
Dogs and smaller dogs at that, are often the most guilty culprit when it comes to this so training your dog to bark on command can be an easy way of monitoring any distractions.
So how do you train your dog to bark on command?
- Get someone to recreate the situation that will cause your dog to bark
- When your dog barks briefly acknowledge it by going to the source of the noise then come back to your dog and grab its attention
- When your dog stops barking give it a toy or treat, then repeat each time gradually waiting a little bit longer to give your dog it’s treats
- When your dog is quiet you can then assign a command or cue so it will know to stay quiet
Feed your pet before you work
One of the biggest reasons you might find it so difficult to work from home when you have pets is because they are hungry.
I mean think about it, how often have you gotten restless or hangry after not eating for a few hours.
Now imagine you’re a cat or dog without any real impulse control and it’s no wonder that your pet might be trying to distract you.
The best way to do this is ensure that your pets are well fed before you start working – they will most likely tire themselves out doing so, and want to take a power nap giving you enough time to focus on work.
Try to schedule their meals so you go on a break at the same time as your pets too.
Lower the sound in your office
Sometimes you just can’t get around the noise or distractions coming from outside your home office that pets can cause.
The best thing to do in a situation like this is to soundproof your workspace or use things like noise cancelling headphones which should limit the amount of excess noise coming up.
This is good advice for anyone even if you don’t have pets as there is nothing worse than excess noise or sirens blaring past you when you are in the middle of a video call.
My recommendation for noise cancelling has to be the market leading Sony headphones which you can learn more about on my resource page here.
Exercise your pet for at least one hour
So I don’t know about you, but I could very easily stay indoors without getting much exercise for two weeks and feel incredible.
Pets… not so much!
A lot of the time, the reasons why pets are restless and distract you from working from home is because they haven’t been getting enough exercise or fresh air.
Try to take them out at least once per day and if your pet is on the large side like a big dog then you might need to opt for longer ( 2 hours minimum)
Dogs in particular can be quite difficult, depending on their size but hopefully the table below helps:
| Type of Dog | Amount of Exercise needed per day |
| Bichon frise, chihuahua, maltese, king charles spaniel | 30 minutes |
| Bull terrier, pug, english bulldog, cocker spaniel | 1 hour |
| Siberien husky, Malamute, Labrador retriever, german shepherd | 2 hours |
Taking your pet outside and getting some exercise will also force you to get some fresh air which has tonnes of benefits that us isolated remote workers can benefit from.
Keep your pet in the quietest part of the house
This is a super simple step but definitely works wonders and doesn’t require you to spend any money or invest any time.
Doing something simple like leaving your cat downstairs whilst you work upstairs can work wonders on helping you focus.
Now if you have a small apartment where there isn’t a whole lot of room to get away from your pet, then I would recommend soundproofing an area in your apartment for you to work from that should help keep any distractions at bay.
You can find my recommended soundproofing gear here.
Use play times to your advantage
Everyone needs a break when working.
Working from home this is more true than ever, with us tending to work for longer and harder than those of us based in a fixed office.
One of the best ways to keep your wellbeing up is to make the most of your play time with your pets.
Schedule this in for the middle part of your day where you can take a step back from the world of work and just enjoy some time alone.
Pair this up with going out and you may just find your wellbeing notching up just a bit.
Keep your floor free from cables, books and wires
The last thing you want to have to deal with when working from home is chewed up cables and computer gear but chances are if you have a pet it’s inevitable that this will happen.
Try to keep all your cables off the floor as your pet might cosy up under your desk.
Keeping this stuff out of there eyeline will help them just relax and let you get on with your day
“It’s estimated that there are 3.7 million permanent remote workers who own pets in the USA alone”
Make food and water available for them
What’s the old saying, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t feed it?
Whilst keeping your pets well fed is one thing, ensuring that they have access to food and water so they feel comfortable away from you is key.
Your pet relies on you, and sees you as it’s source of food, so you need to make them feel comfortable despite not working in the same place as them.
Teach your pets to stay quiet when your not around
This point is more relative to those of you who own dogs.
If your dog barks and makes a lot of noise, it’s likely it does this when you’re not around too.
Train your pet by leaving the room for a few minutes and then if they don’t bark give them praise.
This will help reinforce positive behavior and make your pet a lot more susceptible to being trained.
Give your pet time to be loud
Imagine if you were cooped up all day without the ability to talk – you’d probably be pretty upset right?
Giving your pet time where they can just be themselves and be as loud as they want will mean they are better behaved when you need to focus and not get distracted by your pet.
Building a solid schedule and routine will reinforce this as it will eventually become second nature to them.
Close your blinds and curtains
Any amount of visual stimulation is likely to rile up your pet ( think of your cat when you have a laser pen)
Dogs and cats are notorious for becoming irritable when cars, people or even the postman walks past.
The best thing to do in this situation is to avoid this all together by closing your blinds and curtains to make them feel safe and secure like they have their own territory.
Blackout blinds work best, with my recommendation being these ones here (link takes you to Amazon) having them be super durable where you don’t have to worry about your pet messing them up too much.
Create a pet free work space
Probably the most important point on this list is to ensure you have a pet free designated workspace.
So what are some essential itsm you should have? Well you can find my recommended gear page to find out my selections but to summarize:
- A standing desk (gives your pet enough room underneath without feeling like they don’t have enough room
- A chair
- A laptop
- Noise cancelling headphones
Now if you’re interested in setting up your own home office space, you’ve come to the right site with the following posts I’ve found to be useful for most people:
- Is working from home the new normal?
- Is working from home productive?
- Best way to set up home office storage
So what about your pet’s, where should you put them to ensure you have a pet free work space, luckily most pets have designated spaces they can relax in and so if your living accommodation is big enough I would go for the following (all the links will take you to amazon)
Keep your pets busy
Pets, like humans, get bored too and can often take out their frustration by trying to disrupt you.
By keeping them distracted and focused on something else, makes your life a lot easier and gives you the time you need.
The simplest way would be buying toys ( more on that in the next point) but even if you own a pet that can be quieter like a hamster it might be worth looking at something like a hamster wheel to give them a better quality of life.
Invest in toys
Toys can give you a brief reprieve when you own pets giving them something else to focus on apart from you. For dogs consider something like a chew toy or something that can distract their mouths for a bit.
Cats are definitely more chilled out but invest in something like a scratching post, like the one I listed earlier, that they can relax on when you’re not around.
Play static noise
Static noise and white noise can have a huge impact on your dog.
When you’re not at home the house will be completely silent making them more restless. Having something in the background like a radio or your TV will help them settle.
Heck you can even use the video below and play it on in the background as you get going
Try to come up with a behaviour schedule
A lot of people find journalling to be incredibly useful when they are trying to assess how well they are doing for their own self development.
Why not do the same for your pet.
If you find out that your pet misbehaves at a certain time of day, or the same day every week, coming up with a behaviour schedule will allow you to pull back and work out the reasons why.
Track this week on week and you will soon find you have a much better behaving pet.
Impart your scent
Did you know that dogs have over 300 million receptors in their noses.
Most pets have heightened senses when compared to people and so if you’re not physically present, they might be messing your scent.
Impart your sent on some of the items they use regularly or play with the meat or bones they will be chewing on to ensure you stay with them wherever you go
Block your pets views of property lines
Similar to blocking out your windows, if your dog can’t see any desirable features like other houses, cars or people walking past it is less likely they will feel alarmed and bark the neighbourhood down.
Your dog or other pets for that matter are trying to protect you at all costs and things that are man made can often seem unnatural to them so ensure that you put things into their perspective when you leave them in the house unattended.
Now if you’re interested in learning more about how your dog sees the world check out this article by business insider.
Keep your pets tired
So we’ve touched upon this one a few times but keeping your pets tired is one of the best things you can do to dealing with your pet when you work from home.
I mean think about it for a second, after a hard day’s work or gym workout, you just want to lie on the couch watching some junk tv.
The same is true for your pet and if you keep them tried enough they will just want to be well behaved and cosy up to you.
For birds, try to keep them out of their cage for a bit, dogs, take them on walks, cats, invest in a cat flap so they can walk whenever they need.
Hire a pet sitter
So if you’ve really had enough and just can’t focus with your pet when working from home, fear not – pet sitters will come to your rescue!
Now whilst dog and cat sitters are quite common you may have to pay a little extra for an exotic pet like a snake or lizard.
Try opting for free options to start off with , often facebook groups are my go to and you’ll often find someone closer than you may have thought.
Consider neutering
Whilst this is a very broad statement to make, often at times it is male pets that are slightly worse behaved than their female counterparts.
According to HIllspet, male cats before being neutered can spray urine but or act ill towards other people.
Now this is obviously a highly contested topic and will be a choice from owner to owner, but the option of neutering is available if your pet just doesn’t behave.
Give them room to use the toilet
Managing potty time for pets can be difficult at the best of times but the last thing you want to do is come out of your office on your only work break, to have to clean up the mess you dog just made.
Aim to potty train your pet if possible or give them the ability to go when is right for them and you will find you have one less, gross job to worry about.
Be patient
For a lot of you reading this post, working from home is something that is new for you.
Whilst Covid has made most of us permanent remote workers you also have to get to grips with setting up boundaries with your pet.
Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will good behavior from your pet, but being consistent and patient, like most things in life, is the key when it comes to dealing with your pets when working from home.
Which pets cause the most amount of disruption when working from home
The three pets that cause the most amount of distractions when working from home are cats, dogs and Birds.
Dealing with cats
Cats are usually pretty chilled out creatures but changes in their behavior might have been brought about from you being at home when you are usually at work.
The big thing cats tend to want is to go out so to save you any meowing, install a cat flap if possible to let your feline friend come and go as they please.
Dealing with dogs
Dogs are definitely the hardest animal to manage when working from home with each breed having their own unique challenges.
Luckily I’ve written a seperate blog post talking all about how to keep your dog quiet when working from home.
Dealing with Birds
Birds can be difficult when working from home if they are parrots or budgies with the latter tending to sing all day.
One of the ways in which you can help mitigate this is by getting them a bigger cage to fly around in with a lot of birds wanting to spread their wings even if they are housebound.
Which pets are the least annoying when working from home
Fish are the least annoying pets to try to manage when working from home with them being the guests and usually best behaved animals pet owners can have.
Just ensure you clean their aquarium regularly to ensure a happy life for them.
How to deal with pets when working from home when you live in an apartment?
Dealing with pets when working from home is a lot easier than being tied up in an apartment.
If you are considering a pet to bring in your apartment I would recommend either a housebound cat or fish of some kind.
The biggest takeaway from this article would be to try to carve out a pet free zone in your apartment.
Even if it’s the corner of a room for you to work in, aim to keep your pets items somewhere else giving you the space you need to work effectively in.
What do the stats say on working from home with a pet?
3.6 million remote workers work at home with pets. Around 67% of american households own pets and with there being 4.7 million permanent remote workers, a lot people are having to balance their work life whilst managing their pets bad behaviour.
Are there any benefits to working from home with a pet?
So whilst this blog post has mainly been dealing with how to manage working with a pet from home there are a number of benefits to owning a pet when you work remotely including:
They keep you fit
remote workers are notorious for becoming hermits and not getting enough exercise so owning a pet will get you out of the house
Reduce isolation
Another major issue remote workers have is isolation, especially if you work at home by yourself. Having a pet at home can make for a great companion and makes you feel a little bit more sociable in what can be an isolating affair
Lower your stress levels
Most remote workers are highlighted with their professions usually allowing them to work remotely.
With more and more people becoming work from home entrepreneurs stress and poor wellbeing can soon add up.
Pets are notorious for allowing you to destress and take not of the important things in life
They can boost your immune system
Pets spend a lot of time outdoors bringing in dirt and grime into your house.
Doing so means that you will likely be exposed to a lot more bacteria and virus than non-pet owners boosting your immune system to common diseases.
They are great on meetings
If you do have a pet and are in the middle of an intense meeting you can bring out your pet which will hopefully make any business negotiation you’re doing go through a little bit easier.
People love comparing pets with one another and it could give you a talking point in roles where communication is key, such as sales or customer services roles based from home.
Dealing with pets while working from home
So hopefully this blog post has restored your sanity and given you some actionable tops you can use to help working from home with your furry( or scaly) companion.
A lot of people reading my blog want to know what products I recommend for a home office/remote working. You can find out my recommendations here and learn how I make money whilst working remotely on the side here.
The content on this on this site has been written by Fehed Nicass who has over a decades worth of experience in sales and has worked remotely for the past 2 years.