With more than 40 restaurants that welcome dogs, nine off-leash dog parks, miles upon miles of dog-friendly trails, and even dog-specific food carts and menus around town, it’s no wonder Bend is known as “Dog Town, USA.” The city of Bend has more than 12,000 licensed dogs, many of them on the go daily and intricately woven into the lives of their humans. Lots of them even go to work. We loved on a few such dogs while talking to their humans.
Rufus, an “assistant” in the parts department at Bend Honda
If you’ve ever stopped at the parts-department counter at Bend Honda, you’ve no doubt been greeted by Rufus, a handsome boxer who’s just over a year old. He regularly goes to work with his human, Jeff Smelser, 40, who works in the parts department. One of Smelser’s coworker’s dog had a litter of puppies, and Smelser fell in love with Rufus. However, the puppy couldn’t stay home alone while Smelser worked all day, so he started hanging out behind the counter at Honda.
“I got the approval from everybody up top, and he’s been a good boy ever since,” Smelser says. “Customers love him. He hangs out here all day, and we go for walks and lunch, and he plays with everybody at work. He’s a good little stress reliever for everybody here.”
Rufus is a hit with both customers and staff alike, says Ian McGarigal, the front counter parts advisor, and Frank Wood, the manager of the parts department.
“He’s just got this amazing energy to have around,” McGarigal says. “He’s always in a good mood, and if you’re stressed out or down in the dumps, you just have to spend a few minutes with Rufus, and you’ll feel better.”
Adds Wood: “He’s a very mild dog. He doesn’t bark. People love to come feed him. Sometimes, he’ll be out on the couch (in the waiting area), just hanging out with customers and watching TV. The GM loves to come hang out with him, and the sales managers always come and see him. He’s a very chill dog, and he’s so good for morale.”
Polo, the unofficial “owner” at Absolute Horse
Years ago, Abbie Block was on her way to watch friends play in a polo match near Yakima when she spied a lonely little soul on the side of the road. The tiny Australian Kelpie was all alone, but found a forever friend in Block.
“She was about five weeks old,” recalls Block, 43, owner of Absolute Horse in Bend. “She was next to a corn field, in the middle of nowhere. I was trying to find a polo match, found her, and then found the polo match.”
Polo, now 14 ½, spends her days lazing in the sun coming through the windows of the tack store, popping up to say hi to anyone who comes through the door. With a lustrous, soft coat, people always want to pet her, and she helps them as they shop around the store.
“She comes to work every day. We say that she owns the place,” Block says. “She’s at the store all day long. She loves greeting people. Most people either want to take her home or buy her. She’s a very big attraction here.”
Now that she’s getting older, she tends to eke out every last minute of sleep before she heads to the “office” for the day.
“When she was younger, she’d jump up and out the door she’d go,” Block recalls. “Now, she kind of sleeps in and waits until I’m really ready to go. But if she doesn’t come to work for a few days, she definitely mopes around the house because she knows she hasn’t been there.”
And Polo’s workday doesn’t end when the shop closes for the night and they head home to Tumalo.
“Since we have property and animals, we go out and do our chores, and she cruises around,” Block says.
Chipper Jones, official office dog at Arrowood Development
In the downtown Bend office at Arrowood Development, a firm that designs custom homes, Chipper Jones, a 13-year-old adorable “little terrier mutt,” peeks out from under Amy Oatman’s desk. Oatman, 53, controller at Arrowood, adopted Chipper as a puppy from the Humane Society of Central Oregon. While he used to stay at home while Oatman and her husband were at work, “he’s too old to hold his potty, so he’s a working dog now,” Oatman says with a laugh.
Buster Posey, 5 ½, the other dog in the Oatman family, which includes son Garrett, a senior at Mountain View High School, stays home during the day while Chipper goes to work. The Oatmans are avid baseball fans, hence their pups’ names. Larry Wayne “Chipper” Jones Jr. is a famous former third baseman for the Atlanta Braves, while Gerald “Buster” Posey III is a former San Francisco Giants catcher. Chipper spends his days snoozing under Oatman’s desk at Arrowood, with the occasional jaunt outside to do his business.
“Chipper is the only dog that gets to come all the time. He’s our full-time office dog,” Oatman says. “He’s super old, so he doesn’t care if he ever goes for a walk again, but we go outside a couple times a day and walk around, and he loves to pee on all of the bushes.”
Champ, salon ambassador and unofficial therapist
Jacquie Venable, 38, is a Bend hairstylist who specializes in weaving hair styling and color services with relaxation techniques to provide a holistic experience. She runs her business from a homey private suite. Champ, her cuddly 8-year-old Boston-Pekingese mix, has offered his unofficial therapy services to Venable’s customers at the various salons she worked at in Bend before settling into her own space.
“I think what prompted him coming to work with me is my pug, P-Town, who would go to the salon with me occasionally when I was in Portland. People were excited to have a dog at the salon, and it had a calming effect for them,” recalls Venable. “When I started bringing Champ with me, I just noticed a change in clients when Champ arrived. You have a cute puppy in your lap, and it was just a good vibe. He has a kind of presence that also became calming for me, and that was a priority. He became like my emotional support animal and helped me be calmer in my own environment. I think Champ does a really great job of, well dogs in general do, but Champ especially, helping the nervous system regulate. And he’s pretty darn cute, too.
“People really love having a dog in their lap,” adds Venable. “Even yesterday, I had a client who was feeling really emotional and was struggling. She even commented, ‘I wish I could have Champ in my lap today. That would help.’ Having him around takes everybody’s nervous system down a couple notches, and that’s the exact vibe that I’m trying to create. It’s why I moved into a private space and what I’ve always been trying to provide, where people can show up as they are, like who they are, and in whatever outfit or mood or form they need because we all need to be able to be accepted just like we are.”
This article appears in Central Oregon Pets Spring 2026.
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