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Dog
It’s a dog’s life
Many medical experts say that stroking a dog is good for your health, and
at least three Charleston businessmen have taken that statement to heart.
Mark Ragsdale of Buck and Bass in Mt. Pleasant, Tom Chatburn of the
Tinder Box on Meeting Street, and Rick Jones of F5 Media in West Ashley all
have the distinct pleasure of taking their dogs with them to work.
Ragsdale has owned his golden retriever, Bailey, since she was a pup. Now
five years old, Bailey comes to Buck and Bass daily, greeting customers by
leaning heavily on them and looking for a pat or two. At 74 pounds that’s a lot
of lean.
“She weighed less until she started sitting on the floor all day,” says
Mark, who opened Buck and Bass three years ago and has had Bailey by his side
ever since.
“I was in Hilton Head at a store like this years ago and they had a dog
there. I thought that was pretty cool,
and decided if I ever had my own store I’d bring my dog in every day. I always
wanted to do that, but I had a suit-and-tie job before, in accounting, which I
hated. I don’t even balance my own
check book.”
Mark originally bought Bailey for hunting. “I had her responding to hand
signals and retrieving on command, but she’s gun shy, so I don’t hunt her any
more. I did have a woman try to steal
her once,” he adds. “She was coaxing
the dog into the back of her car.
There’s a ring of professional pedigree dog stealers around here, but I
guard her carefully.”
Rowdy, Tom Chatburn’s long-haired collie, relocated to Charleston from
Pennsylvania with Tom and his wife Pat.
The couple has owned the 11-year-old collie since he was “the size of a
squirrel.”
“He was born in New Jersey,” says Tom, who opened his store three years
ago after 25 years with Sears’ marketing department. “But he doesn’t bark with a ‘Joisey’ accent. We started bringing
him to the shop because we didn’t like leaving him home alone. He likes people
so much.”
Liking people has been an obvious business benefit. Customers at the
Tinder Box who see Rowdy lying in the back room rush to pet him. Children are
especially fond of his long, silky coat.
“It’s an ice breaker for new customers.
Many people think he’s a stuffed animal at first,” says Tom.
Although Rick Jones’s Fireboy is only five, he’s already retired. That’s
because Fireboy is an ex-racing greyhound who was made available for adoption
through Greyhound Friends of North Carolina, one of a number of nonprofit
greyhound rescue organizations that operate across the country.
Rick’s company, F5 Media, publishes The Gallery Guide and provides
Web page design and Internet marketing.
The 67-pound brindle greyhound’s job is to watch over the efforts of
creative directors Janice and Wendy.
“We’re a 21st -century company,” says Rick, introducing
co-worker Cinnamon as she bottle-feeds her three-month-old son John Ross at her
workstation. “Work patterns are changing, and it’s great to bring family and
dogs to work.”
Rick acquired Fireboy from Greyhound Friends last spring. “We have four
cats at home, and we were apprehensive about bringing [an ex-racer] into the
house, not knowing how they were going to act. I’d seen greyhounds at one of
the adoption ‘meet and greets,’ and they were all very calm and laid back. They
make great pets. Pretty much all
Fireboy does all day is lie around.
They’re big couch potatoes.”
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