Now expected to walk my bosses dog at lunch.

[Rose785]

My boss started bringing her dog in maybe once a week. She works through lunch so she can leave work an hour early. I like to walk at lunch time. She asked if I could walk her dog and I genuinely didnt mind to begin with. But now she's bringing her dog in 3 or 4 times a week and now just expects me to walk her dog on my lunch break. I am a very busy mum so my only time to get my steps in is during my lunch and I find the dog annoys me by constantly stopping to sniff and slowing down my pace as well as picking up the poo which isnt my own dog is unpleasant!!! I finally said no when my boss asked me the other day and she was like oh please just a quick one! And it's now just irritating me that I have to walk her dog on my lunch when I just want to be on my own and decompress from being a busy working mum. it's getting to the point where I am thinking of possible ways and lies of getting out of it.
AIBU to feel this way. And if not any advise. It is my boss and I love my job but it's getting to me now.

I was going to suggest this. Take the dog and have a lunch break.

It's not because you're a 'busy working mum' that she's BU. This would be an unreasonable ask of ANY member of staff during their lunch break. It's like she's added another duty to your workload - do you even get paid during your lunch break?

You need to stand up for yourself. Say no and mean it. I wouldn't want to walk a poor dog at lunch time during this heat anyway.

The cult of the dog has gotten out of control. There’s even a group of local dog owners who want our local kids playground to be halved to make way for a dog space. Their reasoning is because some dog owners have mobility issues so it gives dogs a space to play. My view is if you can’t walk the dog then don’t have the dog.

A lot of these people bought dogs during the pandemic and now people are being asked to return to the office they can’t cope. But this isn’t the OPs problem to solve or small kids who need outdoor space.

I’d say this !

Unless you actually want to be paid to walk her dog ( and from your post it doesn’t appear that you do), please don’t listen to the advice from posters telling you to ask for payment, she very well may take you up on it.

Tell her the truth like you put it in your post.

I wouldn't. My lunch breaks were often for errands, but sometimes just for eating lunch, relaxing and getting away from work. It doesn't really matter what you use your lunch break for - but it definitely isn't for walking your boss's dog if you don't want to!

And if you take the advice to walk her dog during your working hours,, you need to get her to agree which of your work tasks you no longer need to do, to free up an hour a day ( or five hours a week) to do this. And get that agreement in writing and agreed by HR so there is no come back on you at any point.

Working her lunch and leaving an hour early is against employment law.

Either way, just say what you said about the slowing down and the poo.

Are you me? There are 2 dogs in the office next door to our workspace and they go bananas any time anyone breathes comes to the door - which is very frequently.

You need to say no via email. If she's giving you tasks to complete in your lunch break then she's not giving you a lunch break and is actually breaking the law.

Tell her there are plenty of dog walking firms that will do this for her and you will not be walking her dog as the poo 💩 is just disgusting.

You could:-

Claim the lunch time as overtime…….you're working in excess of your contracted hours. In addition, tell her that as you’re walking someone else’s dog on a regular basis you need to abide by local authority regulations and have to have insurance which you will be billing her for. And finally, tell her that you will be charging her £10 for every poop that you have to pick up (costs could vary on this).
By setting down terms and conditions she will probably think it’s not worth the hassle and take her dog out herself……..Her dog ……Her responsibility!!!

It's a bit of a cheek to ask you to walk her dog so often during your lunch break. I wouldn't mind taking the dog for a walk but in addition to my lunch break, so I could do my own thing during my break. Tell her you'll take twenty minutes of firm's time for dog walking (if that would suit you).

Walking your bosses dog takes your unpaid lunch break from an unpaid lunch, to unpaid work. You’re therefore entitled to take the dog for a walk - now that’s considered one of your duties, and then take your lunch break afterwards (or vice versa) you get my gist.
Working time regs define a break as uninterrupted time away from work and workstation.

Edit: dogs boss 🤣 changed to bosses dog.

Just say no and if she asks again say that you’re not willing to spend any part of your lunch time picking up shit. She’s a cheeky bastard

Tell her you need to run errands on your lunch break and it's becoming too inconvenient.

I might offer to take dog for a walk on company time or continue to walk dog at lunchtime but get to leave an hour early to make up for not having a proper lunch break.

Isn’t it too hot to walk the dog at lunch time where you are anyway? It’s 30 degrees here

Don’t wait until she asks you again. Tell her at the next opportunity that going forward you won’t be available to walk her dog on your lunch break.

This is exactly what I would do.
I think offering to walk the dog during working hours suggests you don't have enough work to do already.

I would have an honest chat with her on a day she doesn’t have the dog. That way she can’t guilt you into it for that day.

ETA
I wouldn’t offer to walk it in work hours- if it’s anything like my job you’d still have the same amount of work to do but in less time. I also wouldn’t work through lunch to leave early - you want to walk and have a break, which is better for efficiency so don’t change your behaviour due to her being cheeky.

She’s saving money on a dog walker

Don't do this, there's no need to. You're an adult. You say, sorry I don't want to, if you want to give a reason then do: I want to power walk, and get steps in, not stop for your dog.

I once had a job where my boss would bring his dog to work, leave her at my desk and then go out on client visits all day.
I loved that dog and didn't mind walking her at all, however I had hardly any work to do so I could take the dog out during my working hours and it felt like a nice break from the office.
Your situation sounds different op, if you don't want to walk the dog you need to say so.

Obviously best to just tell her the truth and explain what you have here - “I’m really sorry but I won’t be able to walk Fido anymore because…need to get steps in but the dog keeps stopping, time to decompress etc.” , write it in an email if hard to say in person.
Alternatively, just say “can’t walk Fido today as I need to pop to the post office” then the next day you need to pop to M&S and try something on, etc etc. So basically every time there’s a reason of some kind why the dog can’t come, until she gets the message/stops expecting it.

I agree with others that if she wants you to do the job of walking her dog as part of your duty you need an actual uninterrupted lunch "BREAK" on top. Otherwise just tell her you need to have your lunch break free to relax not to take on her chores. Xx