Dogs in offices

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RANT: I do not understand how or why it became acceptable for people in office jobs to take dogs to work. A workplace is no place for pets. Get a dogsitter or don't have a pet or change job. I don't want their hounds near me i don't want their hairs on my office chair. Am I being unreasonable to think the starting position should be no animals in offices? Rant over.

More calmly, I have 2 reasons that I want to avoid dogs - a severe allergy plus a previous dog attack leaving me generally nervous and stressed around dogs. Work is aware of my allergy and now office returns are being discussed, some measures are in place to minimise my exposure.

But what if that weren't the case though and I just didn't like them? Is it for the individual to check if there are animals in the office before they accept the job? Or should employers disclose in job ads?

Of course I exclude guide dogs/hearing dogs or similar.

AIBU to think the default position should be no dogs in offices?

Oh my god I would absolutely love to work in an office with dogs or be able to bring my own in. I think it's ace. Never even knew it was a thing. Where can I get one of these jobs?

Dogs in offices are ubiquitous in the Army, just about every office has at least one. They’re great stress busters.

@BashfulClam

Bloody love our office dog. She’s the best friend of our Director and business owner. She’s really well behaved and just has a mooch and then lies in her ‘spot’ then stares at everyone at lunchtime. She cheers up my day with her daft wee furry face.

See it makes me feel ill when dogs watch people eat. Why do owners allow this?! It's not cute, it's gross.

Offices and dogs don't mix. One of the clients dogs chewed through the phone cable. Fucker.

My DD’s school lower school had a dog. It was a trained therapy dog and lived and worked with the school therapist. That dog went through training similar to the training for a seeing eye dog in terms of learning not to react in crowds and appropriate behavior when working vs when not working. The school parents association paid for the dog and training for teacher and dog.

I wouldn’t be able to take a job at a workplace that allowed dogs in general. My allergies are just too severe. I’m sure we could work something out to keep me safe if a coworker needed a support dog, but a single trained support animal is very different than a pet free for all.

See it makes me feel ill when dogs watch people eat. Why do owners allow this?! It's not cute, it's gross
Makes you feel ill?
An animal, looking at you.
The horror!
She didn’t say the dog was sat head on knee, drooling slobber over everyone, just that it looked at people eating!
What an odd thing to find ‘gross’.

@FrangipaniDeLaSqueegeeMop
I'm confused. Why would a dog watching you eat make you feel ill? there only looking at you?

Ahhh I love dogs at work. So calming

@TheDiddlyGang yes a dog staring while I eat makes me feel sick. Especially as they are usually panting, or doing that 'feed me' look. Would it really be so hard to not have the dog around as people eat?

I was raised with dogs my whole childhood and they were never allowed in the room while the family ate dinner

We’ve taken our dog into offices - we were on holiday but needed to do a day’s work and the office was happy to have our dog join us - not exactly his favourite way to spend a day but for him better than kennels or a dog sitter - I don’t think YABU but we were glad we had an option - and our dog is not a proper dog - he’s a whippet.

I love dogs. I have a dog. But I also realise that not everyone is like me so I agree with you op. What if everyone brought their pets in to the office, dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, snakes... That'd go well 😄

I absolutely love dogs, I think they should be able to go everywhere, I hate that they are excluded, I would rather not go to a place where dogs were not allowed. I think it's the future, dogs will be able to go wherever we go , why not they should have every right to . I am not a cat person but I wouldn't deny them a place in the world or the office.

A lot of the staff in my husband's office have dogs and the rule is as long as the dogs get on they're happy to have a dog friendly office. He says usually in the afternoon the dogs have a mad dash and chase round like loons bit it lasts a few minutes.

They take the dogs to meetings and group walks at lunchtime.

We've actually put off getting a dog ourselves at the moment because he's still working from home and we would want to social the new dog as a puppy there do it's used to the environment from a young age.

@BashfulClam

Bloody love our office dog. She’s the best friend of our Director and business owner. She’s really well behaved and just has a mooch and then lies in her ‘spot’ then stares at everyone at lunchtime. She cheers up my day with her daft wee furry face.

This is my experience of dogs in workplaces. General delight.

It’s usually only small companies where the boss has a well behaved dog. It’s the kind of thing you can see from company websites, from the interview etc. Don’t like it don’t work there, I’d say.

I must admit that this is a totally alien idea to me! I've worked in larger offices for years though. And in retail..

I scared of dogs tbh had s couple of bad experiences when young.

What would happen if the dog was a st Bernard or one of the ones with a bad reputation ? And yes I know it's the owner etc but still people are more nervous around some.

Would it be ok to bring a baby or child in? That might be more useful to a lot of people!

What happens if they piss in the office or fight or fuck etc?

I find this just bizarre tbh!

Is this all local things or are they coming in on trains buses etc?

'I absolutely love dogs, I think they should be able to go everywhere, I hate that they are excluded, I would rather not go to a place where dogs were not allowed. I think it's the future, dogs will be able to go wherever we go , why not they should have every right to'

It would be way more helpful esp to women to bring children in!!

My husband used to take the dog to work sometimes. It allowed an excuse for junior people to just drop in to say hello and was very good at setting a less formal office culture.
My daughter is a GP and occasionally her dog to work, although the receptionist tried to keep him with them rather than in her room. Patients generally loved it.
My son is a military officer and keeps his dog with him most of the time. It’s quite common to do so in the forces.

I don’t think it’s a new idea at all. Lots of schools, hospices and care homes have dogs. Even hospitals let them in to visit.

To be honest she was in my interview room whilst I was being interviewed.

@FrangipaniDeLaSqueegeeMop she dies by beg as she’s well behaved but she likes to see what people are eating and as the breakout area is a huge part of one side of the office and it’s open plan what would we do with her? Lock her in a room? Her water bowl is also in the kitchen so we like her to have access. She just sits beside us all looking at food but the rule is that we don’t feed her.

@BashfulClam I really don't see why it would be so hard to put the dog in another room while people ate. Assuming the water bowl isn't nailed to the floor, it could go in the room too with the dog.

I find this blind belief that everyone is overjoyed with a dog in the place quite narrow minded TBH. I feel so sorry for people who have dog phobias or allergies and have to put up with this.

How come cats in the office aren't a thing?

And also what if the dog is very lively or aggressive?

I find this all just get weird.

And they should be able to go everywhere?

Hospitals- operating theatres, workplaces which have cleanrooms, research labs, dangerous occupations, and so on.

@NiceGerbil yes it was bad!
I couldn’t help but wonder why the HR team hadn’t even mentioned that dogs were regularly in the office.

I'd be having day-long puppy cuddles and not getting much else done!

And also what if the dog is very lively or aggressive?

Then the employees should jolly well enjoy being knocked to their feet by the fur baby as their owner shouts "it's ok, he's friendly" - or does that just happen in parks

Hospitals can only have guide/therapy dogs but to infection prevention issues AFAIK

Generally when the owners at my dog friendly workplaces are in meetings they leave the dog to chill or snooze under their desk.
But this only works for well behaved and trained dogs!