A Dog's Eye View: A Canine's Thoughts on How to Improve Your Working Life

Meet Parker, a happy, healthy, and thoughtful Hungarian Pointer—better known as a Vizsla. Parker has spent years observing his humans, and in A Dog’s Eye View he offers a series of lighthearted observations and thoughts about human behavior at both work and play. Parker sees so many unhappy people struggling with unnecessary stress and other manmade problems as they try to live and work happy and productive lives. Vizslas are smart, fun-loving dogs, but poor Parker has endured many hours of listening to the problems humans suffer through at work and throughout their careers. Parker leaps up each morning to run and play and enjoy his humans (and his niece, Reign, and her daughter, Katie)—and Parker would like everyone to enjoy and appreciate their work. Why can’t people leap out of bed each day like he does and go to work for another fun-filled day? Parker has advice, tips, and sharp-eyed counsel.

In chapters such as “Barking Mad,” “Gotta Scratch That Itch!,” and “My Bones Are Aching for Bones,” Parker provides insights into communications, leadership, ethics, respect, and payment and reward systems. How and why do we act the way we do at work? Why do those in charge act the way they do? How much does self-awareness matter at work? How much are we worth? Does loyalty matter?

Parker offers amusing and thought-provoking anecdotes from the animal kingdom and provides real solutions for improvement. Parker knows that the workplace can be a pleasant place if only humans might change some of their perspectives by re-thinking how they work—and how they think about themselves and others.

Animals have so much to teach us humans—if only we are prepared to observe, listen, and learn.

Barry Stanner is a retired business manager. He was born in North London, where he spent his formative years. Barry's first job in 1963 was as an indentured apprentice instrument maker with the Cambridge Instrument Company. During his five-year apprenticeship he attended the University of Enfield, where he received his engineering certification. He spent six- to eight-month rotations in each department of the company. Barry gained a great deal of experience in how each department operated and functioned. He also acquired an understanding of the different resources, types of people, and skills required for each department to be successful. Barry joined the American based company, EG&G, in 1976. The company provided advanced scientific instrumentation to the nuclear research industry. He held a variety of management positions during his 28 years with EG&G, including Managing Director of the UK operations, a position he held for over 10 years. In 1997, he relocated to the divisional headquarters in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, as Vice President of Sales and Marketing. In January of 2003, Barry formed a subsidiary company in the United States on behalf of his friend and company owner, Juergen Stein. The new company, Target Instruments, designed, manufactured, and distributed hand-held nuclear radiation devices for the homeland security market. Based in Oak Ridge, the company grew quickly and was soon the market leader in the United States. The company was later sold to a larger corporate organization. Barry became a citizen of the United States in 2011-some years after meeting and marrying his best friend, love of his life, and soul mate, Pamela. They live with their three Vizsla dogs, Parker, Reign, and Katie, alongside Merlin, Pam's Paso Fino horse, in beautiful East Tennessee. Barry still likes to travel to the United Kingdom to visit his son Michael and husband Andrew; daughter Joanne and husband Matt; their wonderful grandchildren, Ethan and Henry; and Barry's greatest life buddy, his brother John and his wife, Pauline. Barry and his family (including Parker, of course) can be reached at: barrystanner@gmail.com.

Steven Friedlander has worked as an editor and a writer for almost four decades-first in New York City on a variety of magazines and parody projects (including Avenue, Home Video, and the internationally famous parodies Playbore, The Post New York Post, and Off the Wall Street Journal II), later for many years at Whittle Communications and The Edison Project in Knoxville, Tennessee, and, for the past 15 years, as CEO of A3 Creative Group, an education-focused communications and marketing company. He was, for five years, the editor-in-chief of Cityview, Knoxville's city magazine. He is also a lecturer at the University of Tennessee in the School of Journalism and Electronic Media teaching the Magazine Industry Workshop. Steven Friedlander has edited magazines, books, annual reports, white papers, brochures, posters, and newsletters; overseen strategic communications, marketing, and public relations campaigns; produced events on Capitol Hill; and developed websites, videos, and DVDs.

Debbie Allen was raised in Ohio, graduated from The Ohio State University in Art Education and earned her master's degree from Lincoln Memorial University. She currently teaches art at an intermediate school in Maryville, Tennessee. Her work includes commissions of animal portraits, book illustrations, and has a line of greeting cards. She enjoys painting a variety of art from her farm and travels which sells in local stores. You can find her work on Instagram at grey_ridge_designs and on Facebook at Grey Ridge Designs. She is married with one grown daughter and currently resides in Maryville, TN.