In honor of National Take Your Pet to Work Week, Truckstop.com surveyed customers (professional truck drivers) about their pets and found that taking their pet on the road was a key benefit of their profession.

In a survey conducted earlier this year, Truckstop.com found that more than 67% of U.S. professional truck drivers were feeling the pressure to work longer hours and 55% worried about where the trucking industry was headed in the near future, when discussing their concerns associated with the driver shortage. 

According to a more recent survey conducted by Truckstop.com, professional truck drivers travel with their pets on the road more often than not (56%), with 66% of those respondents saying it’s for companionship and 19% for emotional support.

Truckstop.com customers Mary and Johnny Gaskins’ Yellow Labrador, Oscar, was rescued from the trash outside of a breakfast restaurant in Vanceboro, North Carolina when he was only six weeks old. 

“It was love at first sight, and I couldn’t believe someone could do such a thing to an innocent puppy,” said Mary Gaskins. “We take him everywhere – he has improved our way of life. When you’re on the road, it’s stressful and you’re sitting for hours on end. Oscar forces me to get out of the truck while at rest stops and walk and helps ease the stress brought on by what can be a very stressful job. We may have saved him, but it turns out he saved us.”

Customer Kristy Kramer is a freight broker based in Warren, Michigan and her miniature Golden Doodle, Baylee Jean, not only sits quietly with her in her home office during work hours, but is a therapy dog in training. 

“Baylee Jean has given my son and I a new life,” said Kramer. “My son has epilepsy and ADHD - Baylee can sense when he needs comfort and will lay on top of him to create the feeling of a weighted blanket. I was inspired to get her certified as a therapy dog because of her natural instincts to comfort and after seeing how dogs can brighten the day of those in recovery facilities.”

Additional survey findings show that most professional truck drivers surveyed (54%) said they would reconsider their profession if they could not take their pet with them on the road. Truck drivers who bring their pet on the road for emotional support are most likely to reconsider their profession if they couldn’t travel with their pets (64%).