Dogs in offices

[ApplePenPineapplePen]

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?

I love dogs and have owned several.
But I agree dogs in the work place are a risk and can cause so many issues .

For a short while I worked in a packing warehouse on guy had a very quite old well behaved Jack Russ, this pooch never left it's owners side and slept under his work bench .
Then someone eles got a dog and started bringing it in , it was a Doberman pup it chewed , peed, stole food, barked and general got in the way . On day it snapped at a member of staff ( didnt make contact only due to the quick reactions of the lady he tried to bite ) the management them said the doberman could no long come on site , the owner kicked up a huge fuss and said if his dog couldnt come then the JR should not be allowed.

Fortunately the management sided with the Jack Russells owner and allowed him to stay but it was a close thing at one point, and created a lot of animosity from months afterwards.

I work in a petrol station. My boss picked up her Yorkshire Terrier puppy just as the first lockdown started (was ordered beforehand). She's been here for at least 40 hours a week since and everyone loves it, it's even turned me into a dog person after never having one in my life before. I'm sure that all of the contact she gets has led to her being a much more socially acceptable and well behaved animal and the only alternative would be for her to be left at home by herself which in my eyes is a far worse situation.

She doesn't make any noise at all (unless I deliberately chase her) and it gives me something fun to do in-between customers, it's made lockdown so much more bearable than it otherwise would have been. I have regulars that just pop in to see her and give her treats even if they don't need to buy anything.

She's the best shop dog you could ever ask for.

People who don’t like the smell of coffee surely avoid the coffee area, those who don’t like lifts take the stairs

I've never been in a workplace where coffee is wandering about everywhere and getting under people's feet. Also coffee can't bite you and not many people have a crippling phobia of coffee

Perhaps if the whole world didn’t want to shut everything down or rule out every difference for fear the odd person might not like it, we’d have a more tolerant society

Or...Perhaps if the whole world world didn't insist on pushing the dog loving rhetoric on everybody else, and took steps to understand why those with fears or allergies would struggle in a place they have a right to feel safe and protected, we'd have a more tolerant society

Our office doesn't allow dogs but our office in the US does. The dogs have to pass a behavioural test before getting a pass to be allowed in the office. All the dogs sit quietly by their owners chair or under their desk.

@Wearywithteens

“I'd much rather have (well behaved) dogs in the workplace than miserable dogs left at home all day.”

Typical dog owner response - of course those two choices are the only ones to take into consideration - not that other human colleagues might not want to be around dogs...

Indeed.

I'm more of a "what other people do with their dogs during the day is not my problems" kind of person. I also think if you're at home so infrequently that a dog can't be left on its own at hone it's probably not fair to have a dog

One of Dh's colleagues got a dog during the first lockdown. There was chat of going back to the office last summer but didn't happen due to local cases but she assumed she'd be allowed to just take the dog in. When she was told no she emailed everyone in her section moaning how unfair it was, DH and two other colleagues replied it was unfair to them if she'd been allowed as they were all allergic. She took the huff, resigned and now has a job 500 miles away and left the dog with her family 🤷🏼‍♀️

'Perhaps if the whole world didn’t want to shut everything down or rule out every difference for fear the odd person might not like it, we’d have a more tolerant society. '

So while there is plenty of evidence about job opportunities/ discrimination around class, race, sex etc in loads of workplaces.. The main thing is to focus on exclusion of dogs :/

What happens in the event of an evacuation in a high rise building?

What is the impact on trains, tubes, buses etc at rush hour of adding dogs into the mix?

I get it for a shop where the owner brings their dog. That sort of thing.

But across the board?

On this thread there has been

A person who said a new employee left after a week (who could have left a perfectly good job) because they really didn't like dogs (and so presumably it wasn't something they knew before they started)

Another indicating they would sack someone who wasn't keen

And another who used the dog as a means for employees down the ladder to pop in and have a chat with them (which will advantage dog lovers over others, whether that's conscious or not).

I wouldn’t have a problem with a well behaved dog and have worked somewhere where a member of staff used to bring in a dog that was lovely and mostly slept all day. However the boss also used to bring his dog into a different area and it was a nightmare, very big dog which although friendly used to bark and terrify another member of staff that had to be in the same office. It also once ate her purse with £100 in it which didn’t go down well 🤣.

I think the problem is that people don’t seem to realise when their dogs are dicks. I know I wouldn’t take mine into an office as she’s not well behaved enough but some people just think the sun shines out their dogs arse no matter how badly behaved they are and expect everyone else to find them adorable too.

'All the dogs sit quietly by their owners chair or under their desk.'

That can't be much fun for the dogs, day in day out...

Can anyone tell me what happens in the event of an evacuation from a high rise building?

I think the problem is that people don’t seem to realise when their dogs are dicks

This is very true. I was not long ago when I visited a friend and her untrained lockdown puppy started climbing onto my head as I sat in the sofa...as she smiled on and said he's such a good dog that she doesn't even need to go to puppy classes

@NiceGerbil

Can anyone tell me what happens in the event of an evacuation from a high rise building?

I imagine like with guide dogs they just have to be taken out by their owner on a lead and hope that no one trips over it

I'm convinced that I didn't get a job I went for because I didn't make a fuss of the Chief Exec's dog when I walked into her office for the interview. I hate dogs so completely ignored it. To be fair to her, it was an animal charity so maybe not the best place for me!

Never know this happen.

Ever.

I am finding it hard enough working from home with my dogs in the house, I really wouldn't want to bring them to the office!
I have a large dog and she is the placid well behaved one but people cross the street sometimes when they see her coming.
I don't blame them she is big and it's not that irrational to be nervous of a large animal.
I know she won't do anything but they don't.
It would be very unfair to bring her in to an office full of people some of whom are going to be scared of her.

Just no. I'd be that person who'd leave a job if I thought there would be dogs in the same room as me. No no no.

I feel the same about kids in the office. My colleague brings his toddler to meetings, we get hardly any work done in between all the running around trying to stop her destroying the place.

It's better than people bringing their kids in though...

At one point I'm sure our office had more dogs than staff. It got a bit chaotic. I like dogs don't get me wrong but it seems that the dog owners can bring their dogs in because doggy day care is expensive and they don't want to fork out for it. Yet I have to pay £1800 in nursery fees because I'm not allowed to bring my kids in...right....
Thankfully I now wfh.

Surely a person who had a guide dog would not be expected to walk down the stairs in that situation? They'd go in the fire lift?

I'm surprised that's not what happens in other buildings with lots of floors

Wouldn't the equality act 2010 apply?

Allergies / Phobias - disability discrimination ?
Cultural / Religious objections - race / religion discrimination ?

For fully trained, essential working dogs e.g. guide dogs, you figure out a solution for allergies etc but where there's no specific need for the dog to accompany the human...?

@NiceGerbil

'All the dogs sit quietly by their owners chair or under their desk.'

That can't be much fun for the dogs, day in day out...

I mean, they get walked multiple times during the day by their owners or people borrowing them for a walk, and there's a designated dog yard for them outside. My point was just that they're not bothering anyone while in the office itself. These people all adore their dogs, they're definitely living good lives (I don't have a dog myself)

I'm about to put my phone down and so to sleep but I have a pen, I have an apple, uh! Apple pen, I have a pen, I have pineapple, uh! Pineapple pen, apple pen, pineapple pen, uh! Pen pineapple apple pen.

I'll have to chuck some whalesong on Alexa to get that out of my head, OP

This would be my worst nightmare!

I‘m not really into dogs and dislike the way they invade my personal space. Cats don’t do that. It makes me heave a bit when they smell (most dogs are smelly...! I think the owners often can’t smell it).

I don’t bring my children to the office so I don’t understand why people think it’s acceptable to bring dogs to work.

The exception is animal focused businesses/ organisations eg agricultural college where dogs are welcome clearly is appropriate