Only it wasn't real - it was fake plastic poop. Dlott, who has held her seat in Cincinnati for more than 19 years and is a dog lover who used to bring her beloved King Charles Spaniels to court, says Spiegel was trying to startle her, but she found the entire incident quite comical.
The bathroom needs of their canines is just one of the many considerations facing lawyers who bring their dogs to the office, but it’s a minor inconvenience for those who couldn’t imagine heading to the office without their beloved pooches in tow.
Doberman’s Rule
“I love dogs and have always had a dog,” says Hillard Abroms, a Columbus lawyer for more than 40 years. However, he hasn’t always brought a dog to work with him, but an experience at work 18 years ago changed all that. A drunk client had come to his office, unannounced, along with her inebriated and gun-toting boyfriend.
“His .38 was pointed at my head,” says Abroms. Six weeks later, he and his wife adopted their first Doberman Pinscher. Abroms had always owned German shepherds, but the couple desired a breed with less hair.
Five-year-old Cohi is their seventeenth Doberman. “Cohi is the sweetest Dobi I have ever owned,” says Abroms. She is also well-trained. Not only has each of Abroms’ Dobis attended obedience training classes, Cohi is also equipped with a special device on her collar that alerts her if she tries to leave a designated area when she is outside.
She is so conditioned that even if the batteries in her alert system die, she doesn’t go outside her zone. “Just like with Pavlov’s dogs, she won’t touch the perimeter,” Abroms says.
Abroms says he enjoys having Cohi at the office so much, he is sorry he didn’t start bringing his other dogs to the office earlier. It also happens every legal assistant he has employed since he first starting bringing dogs to work have also been dog lovers. Abroms is so dedicated to bringing his canine companion to the office that a few years ago, when his legal assistant asked what would happen if she and the dog didn’t get along, Abroms told her he would help her find a similar job elsewhere.
Despite his intense devotion to Cohi, Abroms says the people who come to his office come first. For example, an opposing attorney “was enraged” when he came to Abroms’ office and discovered there was a dog there. Abroms says he respected the lawyer’s opposition to being near a dog and rescheduled the appointment for that attorney’s office.
If a client comes to the office and complains about Cohi’s presence, Abroms places the dog in an enclosed area. Still, despite her large size and imposing bark, Cohi is usually a calming influence on his clients, says Abroms. “I trust Cohi with my five grandchildren, but I don’t necessarily trust my five grandchildren with Cohi,” he says.
Not Quite 1,001 Dalmatians
Tucson family law lawyer Reagen Kulseth doesn’t own 1,001 Dalmatians, or even that many dogs, but she is currently responsible for 11. Nine of the canines are hers and two are foster dogs.
Kulseth loves dogs so much she co-founded Savings Animals from Euthanasia, a non-profit organization that pulls dogs from kill shelters in the hopes of having them get adopted. Kulseth was a prosecutor for 12 years before entering private practice in 2004. In that first year, she had a law partner who didn’t want her to bring dogs to the office, so she moved to a different location.
Following that 2005 move, she started bringing dogs to work. Of her 11 dogs, Kulseth currently brings six with her to work, four of her own and the two canines she is fostering. The dogs are all small and get along well. Kulseth rents her office space but her landlord is fine with the arrangement.
In fact, he even made some cosmetic changes to the building to accommodate the dogs. Meanwhile, her secretary brings her mixed German Shepherd to the office, too.
New clients are surprised when they walk into Kulseth’s law office to find so many dogs in their midst, but very few have complained. “In the 11 years I have been doing this, only two people have asked for the dogs” to be removed from their presence.
Kulseth says her law office is decorated to feel like a welcoming home, and she thinks having the dogs around compliments that atmosphere. And, while none of the dogs are therapy dogs, per se, Kulseth says they often lend comfort to her otherwise emotional or distraught clients. Often, she says, the dog’s presence “helps get a dialogue started so clients open up easier.”
Another benefit of Kulseth bringing her dogs to the office was one she didn’t foresee. “I have had many people adopt dogs they’ve met here,” she says.
Courting Canines
It was by happenstance that Judge Dlott started bringing her King Cavalier Spaniel with her to court 19 years ago. At the time, when her housekeeper was unable to come to work and care for Dlott’s dog while she went to Court, the jurist felt she had no other choice but to bring her pup with her. Her dog was so cooperative that he soon became a fixture at the courthouse.
“When I tried cases, he often sat under the bench, with water, and no one knew. He never barked,” she says, noting the breed is known for their quietness. Soon thereafter, she met a woman who bred King Cavalier Spaniels, and the two went into business together. That’s when the judge adopted her second King Cavalier, and then brought both with her to court.
“They knew when the elevator doors opened. They came with me when I would go see someone in the building. I walked them every day,” so they got used to their surroundings at the courthouse, she says.
Unfortunately, an extended illness kept Dlott and her dogs away from the courthouse for three years. When she finally gained her strength and returned to the bench, the dogs had aged and “had gotten used to being at home.” They died within four months of one another three years ago.
Dlott quickly adopted another King Cavalier, but doesn’t bring this one to court daily as she did with the other two. She’d like to, but because she and her husband employ someone at their home who brings his King Cavalier to their house, she has chosen to leave her dog at home.
However, Clementine, whom Dlott named after Winston Churchill’s wife, does accompany the jurist on the rare weekend the judge needs to go to the courthouse. When she was bringing her dogs to work, she found she wasn’t the only person who enjoyed their company.
“People came to my chambers and just melted when they saw them. Lawyers even brought them dog biscuits,” she says. And, just like a King rules his land, Dlott’s King Cavalier Spaniels ruled the courthouse, so to speak. Although dogs are banned from federal courthouses (other than for medical reasons), Dlott brought her dogs to the courthouse without fear of retribution.
“Other judges kidded me. There is a law banning dogs in Federal buildings but since judges are in charge of the courthouse, I wasn’t breaking the law,” she says. March 23 was National Puppy Day, a day to celebrate the special bond between puppies and their owners while encouraging the adoption of puppies and the destruction of puppy mills.
Tami Kamin Meyer is an Ohio attorney and writer. She is a lifelong dog lover who owns three dogs she rescued from varying circumstances.