The Alu-Cab team includes designers, welders, engineers, marketers, machinists, bean-counters and dogs. And while some of their eating habits need work and they’ve occasionally messed on the carpet, we don’t judge the bean-counters too hard. We’re a team, despite some of our teammates’ shortcomings. There’s just one thing we insist on, anyone joining this team must love dogs.
Yep, there’s no arguing who the Alu-Cab MVPs are. Our dogs join us at the office, come with on trips and while they’re caught sleeping on the job almost daily, they still add the most value.
Walk through Alu-Cab HQ and you’ll see our founder Jeremy’s Scottish Terrier Odin following him about like a shadow. Stan’s fancy French Bulldog Bowie doesn’t walk the workshop floor, he gets carried around like royalty. Misty is a mixed breed who only comes to life at lunchtime. Her role? QC on everybody’s leftovers. Then they say that people share characteristics with their dogs and there’s no prizes for guessing who Jakes belongs to. The Alu-Cab CEO Warwick and his Staffie are both built like brick outhouses, probably because they share a diet that consists exclusively of game meat they’ve hunted.
Kyle’s dog looks like a Dachshund but identifies as Jack Russel. Dax only visits us on rare occasions. When he does he leaps up on desks, sticks his snout into coffee cups and sips up the dregs. Then he’s even more hyper than usual. The zoomies are cute but only in small doses.
Some staff choose not to bring their dogs to the office. Our local dogfluencer Dylan doesn’t let his pitbull Rocco get out of bed for anything less than a photoshoot. And Jamie and Lehan have highly trained Belgian Malinois that can go from tool to weapon with a command. It’s one thing throwing a stapler across the room. We can’t risk Lehan sicking his boy Joe on someone when he crashes out.
CAMPING
Because we’re a nice bunch we don’t only subject our dogs to the office. We also look for any excuse to take them on camping trips with us. If you’ve ever driven for two hours with a dog’s head on your shoulder or set up camp with one curled up near the fire, you already know that they don’t just come along for the trip. They make the trip.
People who travel with their dogs make up our community. And while a few outliers choose cats, Chase we’re looking at you, for the most part it’s all about the dogs. A dog makes every awning you open, every rooftop tent you pitch and every camper you park at the end of a trail better. Whether they’re in it, under it or next to it. Show us the perfect campsite and we’ll show you how a dog makes it better. Don’t take it from us. Just ask Lewie and The Rover’s Orla. She’s travelling the world with her dog Lewie and shares some tips on How To Travel with Your Pet in the link.
CULTURE
Dogs are not the exception here. They’re part of the culture.
A good way to find out if a prospective employee is the right fit for us, is using the interview process to discover whether they’re comfortable working with dogs or not. If not, well, that’s a red flag and fortunately for them nobody is forcing them to work here.
It’s not a mascot situation. Dogs create a positive work environment. And while we didn’t set out to build a company where dogs come to work as a matter of course, it’s just what happened over the duration of building our brand these past 25+ years.
Something we’ve noticed is that the very same traits that make a good dog is exactly what makes a good teammate. Here’s what we’ve learned…
They don’t fake anything.
A dog doesn’t posture. It won’t nod along in a meeting while quietly disagreeing with everything you’ve said. If a dog is happy to see you, their whole body says so. If something’s wrong, you’ll know about it in seconds. There’s no politics with dogs and most teams would be unrecognisable, in a good way, if everybody operated the same.
They read the room before you do.
Dogs pick up on tension, stress and mood shifts long before anyone’s said a word about it. Ours have wandered over to muzzle someone’s leg on a bad day more times than we can count. Long before that person had said anything was wrong. A good team needs more empathy, which is sometimes noticing something before someone tells you.
They show up the same, every single day.
No grudges carried over from yesterday. No cold shoulder because of how the last conversation went. A dog greets you with the same full-body enthusiasm whether you had a brilliant week or a miserable one. The ability to reset, show up present and not let old friction colour the next interaction is something we can all learn to do.
They rest properly, so they can work properly.
Watch how your dog can go from a deep, total, unbothered sleep to fully alert and ready to go. They can switch on the second there’s something to do. No half-measures. Most of us are worse at both ends of that than any dog on our team.
They mark the disagreement, then move on.
Two dogs will have it out over something and a moment later they’re lying next to each other like nothing happened. No lingering resentment, no rehashing it a week later. Conflict resolved at the speed of the actual conflict, not dragged out according to somebody’s ego.
Loyalty, for them, isn’t a mood.
It doesn’t fluctuate with how the day’s going. It’s simply the baseline. That’s a rare trait in people, and probably the single biggest reason why it’s so much easier choosing a four-legged best friend.
So this International Dog Day, we’re not doing a giveaway or a gimmick. We’re just doing what we always do, bringing our dogs to work, taking them on the road with us and building gear that works for both ends of the leash. Because if you’re going to go somewhere, you might as well take your best friend along for the drive.