Should dogs be allowed in the office?

[TheRodent]

I rent office space for my freelance work. It is relatively cheap as it is a space that I share with two other people. My three children came to look at the office space when I first started renting and they just popped in for five minutes and then left. One of my so called colleagues reported me for bringing them into work, I never found out who. The trouble is that one of the people who shares my office has started bringing her dog in. He barks most of the time and has taken a dislike to me. He growls and bares his teeth and jumps up at me whenever I come in. The other day he had to be restrained as he wouldn't let me go out of the door. His owner implies that it is all my fault as I smell of cats, I have one, well groomed cat. She also says that I have no right to complain as I brought my children in. Apart from the fact my children only made one short visit and dog comes in every day, none of my children barks non stop, growls and bares their teeth at people and they don't jump up at them either. People from other offices in the building have complained about the barking but the people running the offices have taken no action. I have not been back to office since this took place and I am trying to work from home again in the meantime. This is not a dogs Vs cats rant. Any advice?

Our office building (city high rise, we lease some floors) has become dog friendly.

It is bloody ridiculous. Our company is still considering it but just for a couple of days a week, if they do decide to allow there is a huge list of "rules". Dog must not disturb anyone else, must be obedience trained appropriately for office environment, must not be noisy, kept on lead at all times, must not be a trip hazard, be clean and groomed, owner must have liability insurance which covers the dog in the workplace to cover injury or damage, dog owner must supervise at all times, dogs not allowed in canteens etc etc etc.

They have already raised it with the building management what the procedures are for fire escape if hundreds of people are exiting down several flights of stairs what happens to the dogs as they are a trip hazard/likely to be stressed.

The mind boggles at who would even want to bring their dog into a city office.

She has decided that her dog’s aggression is your fault because you smell like your cat? Gaslighting much?

I had a phone call from DOG'S owner and she said she can't understand why DOG is so hostile towards me as he is not like this with anyone else, not strictly true he barks at everyone. Anyway he told her he is very sorry. I asked her to hand the phone to him so that he could apologise personally -- there was a silence then she said "Don't be facetious" to which I replied "Thank you for ringing, goodbye" and ended the call. After a great deal of pondering, I made the decision to terminate my rent agreement. I was using the office less and less anyway and since the arrival of DOG and I was quite frankly scared (wimpish I know). So, yesterday, BH Monday, I went in to clear my things as I knew nobody would be in my office. I met a bloke on the stairs who is one of the original renters, the offices only opened four years ago, and he told me that he used to bring his King Charles (now deceased) in and other people sometimes bring their dogs in. He also told me that it used to be understood that dogs had to behave and be kept under control although there is no reference to dogs at all in the rental agreement. He said that tolerance of children was lower because somebody held a children's party in one of the offices and left a mess in the office and the communal areas, again not referenced in the rental agreement. I explained that I had shown the children my office at around 6.45pm when I knew it would be empty (we are allowed access to offices up to 11pm) and he agreed that it was hardly the same as having a party. He also commented, somewhat cryptically, that "A toxic element seems to be creeping in recently" and that he was thinking of leaving. All in all better off out of it don't you think?

YANBU

i absolutely detest the new trend for treating dogs like theyre a body part that must be taken everywhere and expecting everybody else to be fine with a smelly slathering mutt in a professional setting. I took my kids to a hairdressing appointment and had to leave because as we were waiting the owner’s dog was being a horrible pest sniffing my kids’ hair and nothing was being done about it

Heaven forbid you speak out or have allergies or phobias!

Im so happy to WFH now. A dog friendly workspace is my idea of hell and in my last workplace people would bring them in and stand grinning inanely as their annoying “fur baby” stuck its nose in people’s crotches, and if you did anything other than dawn over their pet you were considered a misery guts

Yeah, I'd say so. Not worth the aggro. If you change your mind in the future, just rent somewhere else.

No, they stink up the place and some people have phobias and allergies.

Our office/building does.

You need to provide proof that the dog is insured and neutered before they are allowed in.

Our office allows small dogs in (creative industry, 50 or so employees). If anyone ever had an issue though, work would stop it.