Is a dog a freelancer’s best friend?

This is Bluebell, my closest work colleague. She doesn’t pull her weight, never makes a cup of tea and she occasionally fills my windowless office with smells that could force a confession out of an ISIS terrorist. It’s her only contribution to the bottom line.

Despite all this, she’s one of the best things that has ever happened to my publishing company. And that’s because she keeps its CEO and most important employee (both me, suck it up subcontractors) fit and sane.

There are two things I tell everyone who asks me for advice on going freelance: get your own office space and get a dog. The rest is details.

Bluebell performs two specific job roles within the Media BC empire: Fitness Instructor and Chief Morale Officer. (My PA, Alexa, rounds off the in-house team.)

The Fitness Instructor role kicks in at 7:20am every morning, when she eagerly drags me around the woods for 20 minutes, working on my upper-body strength by straining to attack any passing squirrel. Consequently, my left, lead-holding arm looks like Popeye’s; my right arm is a flesh-coloured drinking straw.