NZ Top Office Dog 2023: Taupo terrier Terry is assistant quarry manager at Atiamuri Sand and Pumice. Photo / Jaie Wilson
NZ Top Office Dog 2023: Taupo terrier Terry is assistant quarry manager at Atiamuri Sand and Pumice. Photo / Jaie Wilson
Forget corporate office blocks, this year’s Top Office Dog, South Waikato terrier Terry, is working from heavy equipment and outside in the fresh air.
Terry, a 7-year-old Jack Russell cross smooth fox terrier, works as “assistant quarry manager” at Atiamuri Sand and Pumice with his dad, quarry manager Jaie Wilson, who has taken him to work since he was a puppy.
Jaie says he is overwhelmed and really impressed about “his little mate” winning the nationwide competition.
“My general manager [Sam Atkinson] up in Auckland asked if she could enter Terry in the competition, so I said yes, thinking nothing of it. I didn’t think he could actually win, but he is a special character.”
Sam says Terry is a morale booster and has been awarded employee of the month several times because he takes his job very seriously.
“When he arrives at work, he likes to do a site inspection and checks ... there were no trespassers of the pest variety overnight on his turf. Occasionally, he stumbles across a possum and ... we have a chase across the quarry,” she says.
“It is so amusing to watch — he really does think that he is the quarry manager, not his dad ... [Terry] particularly likes driving machinery, his favourite is the articulated dump truck that weighs 40 tonnes and is about a million times his size.”
“He comes hunting with me and is happy to go for a ride on anything, four wheelers, boats, machinery ... ever since he was a puppy, he always wanted to be with me.”
Jaie says he has been breeding Terry, whose genes can be traced back to his grandmother. “He’s a third generation ... I’m getting close to getting him a girlfriend because he has good genes and a nice temperament,” Jaie says.
The annual NZ Top Dog competition, run by Frog Recruitment, is now in its eighth year and received almost 400 nominations in three categories. Apart from the Top Office Dog, the competition crowned New Zealand’s Top Dog with a Job and People’s Choice.
The Top Dog with a Job award went to conservation dog Wink, a 6-year-old heading dog from Invercargill. Wink has only one eye, but he detects pests and weeds that can destroy the habitat of native wildlife. The People’s Choice Award went to Dunedin border collie Beau, who works at a daycare.
Frog Recruitment managing director Shannon Barlow says this year’s entrants and winners reveal the unique value that dogs add to a workplace.
“It’s well researched that dogs in the workplace have a positive impact on mental health and morale and can improve productivity and reduce absenteeism.
“[Dogs with a job] are vitally important to our economy because their canine abilities help to control pests in our regional parks, secure our borders from biohazards, or perform search and rescues to save human lives.”
Meanwhile, Hamilton office dog Mila, who we wrote about earlier this month, made it into the finals but missed out on a trophy. Wink, Terry and Beau each trotted away with a $1000 prize package, including dog food, trophies and barking rights.
