Do you have a pet-friendly workplace? Or maybe you want to try and create one?

Now's the time, as Ballard-based pet insurance company Trupanion is holding a competition from June 21 last week (which was bring your dog to work day) to August 31 to find out who has the best practices for a pet-friendly environment.

The field will be narrowed down to five finalists, who will each receive a Trupanion Pet-Friendly Workplace Seal of Approval along with goody bags including toys, treats and resources for each office pet. But among those finalists, only one can be the best. The grand prize winner will receive $5,000.

According to Trupanion, a recent survey by the American Pet Products Association found that 73 percent of pet-friendly businesses said pets created a more productive work environment.

"As a workplace that has been pet-friendly since the very beginning, Trupanion has consistently seen increased employee morale and retention," said Dr. Kerri Marshall, Chief Veterinary Officer at Trupanion. "We look forward to celebrating other pet-friendly companies around the country with our Pet-Friendly Workplace Seal of Approval and hope to encourage even more companies to follow suit."

Contest rules and entries can be found at http://trupanion.com/pets-in-the-workplace. Entrants can upload photos to accompany their entries.

Entries will be accepted up to Aug. 31. Winners will be announced Sept. 16, 2013.

If you're wondering, Trupanion is pretty serious about the pets-in-the-workplace idea. Their office has 250 employees and 90 dogs and cats -- a 3:1 human-to-pet ratio.

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