Can you keep a desktop pet at work?
Yes, in most jobs, as long as the pet stays out of the way when it matters and your company has no rule against the program it runs in. The two questions to settle first are what shows up when you share your screen, and whether you are allowed to install things on the computer you use. The rest is settings.
What shows up when you share your screen
Whatever is on your screen is shared, and the pet counts. Where it appears depends on what you share.
- Sharing your whole screen shows everything, so a pet that walks across the desktop or the browser walks across the meeting too.
- Sharing one window shows only that window. A browser pet lives inside the tab, so it shows if you share the browser. A desktop pet sits in its own layer and usually stays out of a single shared window, but not always.
- Full-screen presentations are the one place a pet is most noticed and least wanted.
The fix is the same in every case: hide the pet before you share, or pick a pet that hides itself in full screen. Pawsome Family has a Hide in full screen setting, which steps the pet out while a video, game, or presentation fills the screen and brings them back when it ends.
Meetings and calls
In a video call, the pet is not on camera. It is on your screen, and nobody sees your screen unless you share it. So the pet can keep walking through your meetings, and the people on the call are none the wiser.
The exception is a call where you share a tab or your screen to show your work. See above.
Company computers and company rules
This is the part worth checking before you install anything.
- Can you install programs? On many work computers you cannot, or you need a password you do not have. A browser extension is often still allowed, because it installs inside Chrome rather than on the computer. Some companies manage Chrome too, and block or approve extensions by name. If the store button is greyed out or the extension vanishes after install, that is why.
- Is there a rule? Some workplaces have a written list of what may run on company machines. If yours does, ask. A one-line question to IT is quicker than a one-line note from IT later.
- What can the pet see? A pet that appears on every page has to be allowed to run on every page, and Chrome shows a broad warning when you install one. Read the privacy section of the listing before you put a pet on a computer where you also open work systems. We explain the warning in what “Read and change all your data on all websites” means.
- Whose computer is it? If the computer is shared, or belongs to the company, install the pet only in your own browser profile, and only if the rules allow it.
Keeping it out of the way: the four settings
Before you keep any pet at work, make sure it has these. You will want all four within a week.
- Hide on this site. For the one tool where a pet walking past is not welcome, such as a dashboard, a ticketing system, or anything a customer might see over your shoulder.
- Pause for a while. For the hour of a presentation or a focused stretch. A pause with a time on it is better than a switch you have to remember to turn back on.
- Hide in full screen. So the pet leaves when a video, game, or presentation fills the screen, and returns when it ends.
- Size. Smaller is easier to live with on a laptop screen.
In Pawsome Family, all four are in the toolbar menu. Our help page on why your pet isn’t showing in your tabs shows where each one is, in case you forget what you turned on.
Does a desktop pet help you focus?
We do not claim it does. A pet on your screen is company, not a productivity tool. Some people find a small moving thing restful. Others find it a distraction and turn it off at two in the afternoon. The honest answer is to try it for a week with the settings above and see which you are.
A pet that knows when to step out
Pawsome Family turns 1 to 5 photos of your dog or cat into a small animated pet that walks, sits, and naps along the bottom of your Chrome tabs. It stays out of the way: it rests in tabs you are not looking at, keeps to the bottom edge, and has the four settings above. See an example german shepherd.
One pet is free for 30 days, with no card needed.