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As some of you may already know, Sweet Leaf Tea Co. is a HUGE advocate of dogs in the office. Heck, we have at least two in the office every day.  Sometimes three. We used to have more, but they played too hard and caused a ruckus. Now we have a doggie schedule for each week to minimize these incidents.

The pups are great for company moral, stress relief, looking cute, and snuggling [See Below].

But it’s not just great for the awesome peeps that work here. It’s also awesome for the dogs. They get pets, attention, love, and fun all day long.

Between the 23 people that come into the office daily, we have more than 10 dogs that get to cycle through on the reg!

Today is a day that celebrates taking dogs to the office, “National take your dog to work day!”  It was created in 1999 to celebrate the great companions dogs make and to encourage their adoptions from humane societies, animal shelters, and breed rescue clubs. To learn more about the organization behind the day and more general information about “National bring your dog to work” day click HERE.

Here in Austin, there are several ways to adopt a pup in need.  One of my personal favorite organizations to adopt pets through in Austin is Austin Pets Alive! They rescue pets, that are perfectly healthy and able to be adopted from the shelters that are about to put them down. Then, foster them through a network of volunteers that can keep the animals until they are adopted.

Anyways, check out our pups that we keep close to our hearts here at SLT – HQ’s.

-@SweetLeafDanny

Name: Bayer Browne

Bayer has been a fixture at Sweet Leaf Tea since the early years (he was just a young pup when we moved into our first office in Austin, TX). He and his owner, Mike, live here in Austin, and enjoy long walks on the Greenbelt and swimming in Barton Springs. Bayer is a 4-year old Golden Retriever, and is a perfect example of how a dog should behave. Seriously, his is more considerate than most humans!

Bayer and Mike hail from the great town of Tyler, Texas. Mike’s mom gave Bayer to Mike when he was just a young pup. In this photo, Bayer is the little golden pup on the right, next to Art, one of his best friends.

Hours: Monday – Friday 8:30am- 5:30pm

Job: improve company morale. He truly makes you wonder why any company wouldn’t be dog-friendly. He greets each Tea’m member when they get to work in the morning.

Favorite place: Laying on the concrete floor by Mike’s desk, where he can watch everything going on in the office. He makes a point of saying hi to everyone in the office, sometimes getting your attention by putting his wet nose under your elbow or will simply take a nap at your feet.

Favorite flavor: TBD. He’s waiting on getting his picture on a label like Bess, another Sweet Leaf Tea canine. What flavor do you think would be best? Here are a few of our flavors if you’d like to give us your input.

Favorite thing to do at work: Get patted and in return make people feel loved.

Most memorable moment: The day that Mike taught Bayer to swim was one of the proudest in both of their lives. Check out the photo below of Bayer in the waters of the Frio River.

Best trick: It’s not really a trick, but this dog might just be the kindest creature on the planet.

Favorite toy: Bayer loves (or loved) the squeaky squirrel toy. He used to carry it around the office and would doze off with his head on it. Nowadays, you’re likely to see Bayer gumming on a tennis ball (and frequently falls asleep with it in his mouth).

Hobbies: Bayer is quite the outdoorsman. He loves going to the beach, boating on Lake Austin, playing tug-o-war with his canine pals, and pretty much doing anything with Mike. He actually learned to swim on a trip with Mike to the Frio River (see picture below), which is one of his favorite places in the world.

Post by Jessie Hall

I’m in my second week of my marketing internship here at SLT and it has been even better than the first week! I love that every day I come to the office there will probably be a new dog running around that I haven’t gotten to play with yet (I have to admit Oscar is my favorite so far).

In my experience you can tell if you’ll like an internship within the first few days and I know I will love it here. While I learn more about marketing I look forward to getting to know a great brand, play some ping pong and drink all the free tea I can manage to keep down.

My intern buddy is Eliza. I’ve only worked with her a few days but I already know we’re going to get along great. A few things to know about Eliza if you ever run into her at the office or at an event: she is crazy friendly, loves listening to oldies (this has become a daily routine with us haha) and is a traveling enthusiast.

We have already worked on a few projects since we started and each in their own way has been a great way of introducing us to the brand and what it’s all about. I can’t wait to see what else we get to work on this semester and the great SLT followers that we’ll get to interact with along the way.

I was pretty excited when I was asked to travel to Portland, Oregon for a photo shoot with the Portland Trail Blazers’ Channing Frye. Channing was a star center and power forward for the University of Arizona before being selected 8th overall in the 2005 NBA draft. Portland and Phoenix are both big emerging markets for Sweet Leaf, so Channing is a perfect fit for our very first sports endorsement. Plus, the C. Frye Foundation is dedicated teaching youth about healthy lifestyles – and we’ve got a soft spot for kids here at SLT.

I had always wanted to see Portland. Everyone told me how much it was like Austin and how well I would fit in. My whole trip lasted about 24 hours, but it was long enough to see that they were right. The city is split by the Willamette River. Folks kayak, fish, walk their dogs, and run around it just like Town Lake. It divides Downtown on the west side from a South-Austin-esuqe sprawl of shorter commercial and residential buildings on the east side. The biggest difference in my eyes was narrower streets – proof of a long-forgotten time before 4-lane traffic in every direction. It felt like an older version of Austin, founded and grown up a few decades ahead of schedule. I even stayed in a hotel that I can only describe as Portland’s version of the Driskill.

I checked in, cleaned up, and met with the photographer for lunch to discuss what we wanted to get out of the shoot. The deli was totally stocked with Sweet Leaf Tea and my cashier was from Austin (she noticed my SLT polo). On the walk back toward the hotel, we stopped at “The Rip City Uprise,” a rally celebrating the Blazers making the playoffs. It was pretty cool to see a whole city come out to support their team. I’ve known some sports fanatics, but this was a zoo in a public square smack in the middle of downtown. It was an insane mix of yuppies, angry hobos, high school kids from the ‘burbs, and townies. We caught a glimpse of Channing and the team through the voracious crowd and left to get ready for the shoot.

When we got to Channing’s place, we were greeted with a huge smile and a quick tour. His apartment was pretty impressive. It wasn’t gaudy, you could just instantly tell what kind of guy he was. Tasteful paintings and family photos on shelves and walls were accented by remote control cars and Guitar Hero controllers under coffee tables. Channing’s two bulldogs (<– click for video) are like Abbot and Costello. Lilly is tall, athletic and obedient. Milton is like an over-stuffed sausage. To him, words like “sit” and “stay” must sound like “drool” and “play” (but in a completely adorable way).

Instead of trying to describe Channing’s amazing view, I’ll just say, “Downtown, river, crane nests, foothills, island, two volcanoes,” and refer you to the picture. Wow! Speaking of pictures, it’s worth mentioning that we got some excellent help from our friends at Evrim Icoz Photography.

The most impressive part about the shoot was the man himself. Channing is absolutely one of the nicest, most humble and genuine people I’ve ever met. Not at all what I expected when I imagined meeting an NBA player. In between shots, I introduced Channing to the Double-Clap (<– click for video demonstration). I’m hoping he’ll use it before / during / after games and that it will catch on among players and fans… we’ll see. We got some great shots that day. It was a meeting that began with a handshake and ended with a big hug. In fact, with a wingspan around 7 feet, I’m certain it was measurably the biggest hug I’ve ever gotten.

After the shoot, the photographer and his assistant took me downtown for beers and to a place called Voodoo Donuts. I tried a Bacon Maple Donut that Anthony Bourdain featured on “No Reservations.” Truly the sort of thing you need to try once.

Even though it was short lived, it was a pretty great trip – one more reason to love my job. You had better believe I’ll be back to Portland, and you can bet I’ll stay a bit longer next time.

We love dogs at the office and actually love dogs too much here.  Dogs are always welcome but it got a bit out of hand with 7 dogs in one day so we now limited to two per day .  

It is always nice to see a four legged friend in the office when your having a bad day.
Just recently I noticed a poster behind my laundry room door that I’ve had for many years and it’s titled,
“Everything I know I learned from my dog”. They are very good lessons and the world would be a much better place if we followed them. I know I should….

Here they are:

 

• If you stare at someone long enough, eventually you’ll get what you want.
• If at first you don’t succeed, beg.
• Don’t go out without I.D.
• Be direct with people; let them know exactly how you feel by peeing on their shoes.
• Be aware of when to hold your tongue, and when to use it.
• Leave room in your schedule for a good nap.
• Always give people a friendly greeting.
• When you do something wrong, always take responsibility for it (as soon as you’re dragged out from under the bed).
• If it’s not wet and sloppy, it’s not a real kiss.