THEY say a man (or woman’s) best friend is their dog and for Jo Lucking this is certainly true.

Jo, 35, who runs Twisted Treats, in West Mersea, missed having her pooch Dolly around during the day when she went to work.

So she decided she would start to bring the rottweiler to work with her at the cake and home bakes shop she runs in Yorick Road.

And bringing her dog to work has also had added benefits - with customers just as enamoured with Dolly as Jo is.

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It comes as a study by the Metro Bank found nearly half of UK consumers admit they deliberately go into a shop because of its in-house dog .

The research found dogs can very much be a customer’s best friend, with 81 per cent of respondents to a survey saying they have returned to a shop to see a dog again.

Jo admits she can see why business owners would bring their dog to work - and why customers love it.

She said part of the reason she started taking Dolly to work was because she missed having her around during the day.

She said: “Dolly quickly became a massive part of my family and leaving her behind while I went to work just wasn’t something I wanted to do.

“It turns out my customers love her just as much as I do – many have followed her story through my social media channels and are ecstatic that she is finally here.

“She is so well behaved and loves interacting with the customers on a daily basis.”

Though there is an emotional draw to having a dog become part of the business, canines give accountants some commercial comfort too.

Metro Bank also found that half of UK customers admit they have purposefully changed their route to visit their local shop dog, and 79 per cent have spent more money in shops because a dog is inside.

Major retailer Wilko has heeded the statistics, announcing shoppers can bring their pooches in store with more than 400 branches in the UK.

Jo added: “This experience has certainly opened my eyes to the value of having a dog in business both for team and customer morale and overall contributing to the bottom line – I hope other businesses consider doing the same.”