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'm going to have to stop walking Fido after today. Honestly, apart from the fact that it means I don't really get a lunch break, every time I have to pick up his shit I feel like vomiting.

This.
The absolute cheek!

If you are spending your lunch break walking her dog I’d want to get the time back at the end of the day.

This. always.
and ask for it in contract too 🤣😉

No need for elaborate excuses or lies. "No, this is the only time in rhe day I have to get my steps in, and she stops me. You finish early, I don't" Just factual. Then "no" on repeat.
Do it now, or the dog will also come to you, pleading, at lunch time, if the habit sets in.

It's not the OP's job but I think giving a list of dog-walkers underlines that this is a done-deal in the messaging, so I would offer or even attach a list to the email.

Say you are going to the shops, running errands or started running in your lunch break. This is your time. Offer to take the dog in your work time if she's still keen you take the dog.

Tell her you will walk her dog when you get back from your lunch break.

And if she says anything say you are legally entitled to a lunch break and if she wants you to do work for her then it needs to be part of your working hours, not your break.

I suspect she will not want you to do it any more!

Walking dogs is a big ask imho, if you’re not a dog owner

I look after my (not immediate) familes dogs on regular basis ..but I have a rule that I won’t walk them . So I will go round let them out for 30 mins play in garden and wee break. I’ll house sit if dog is poorly. I’ll go round to feed them. I’ll do pretty much most things. But not walk them

i gave 4 reasons when first asked years ago

1. i do not want to be responsible for any accident like dog getting run over
2. i dont know that dogs will obey recall from me and I am not wanting to get panicked because I loose them or knackered cos I have to chase them to get them
3. i will not pick up dog shit and carry it back to a bin. I’ll change their kids/GC nappies, but dogs? Nope.
4. i do not have public liability insurance needed if the dogs in my care created damage or harm. Ok, highly unlikely as they’re all soft as old boots, but none the less I’m not going to take dogs into public domain, their own insurance would cover this for them as owners. Not me.

So, I’d be saying I’m not going to walk dog anymore. I’d use point 4 as starting point, then list other points too. End with “and besides which I hate dog poo and it makes me feel sick having to pick it up for you “. And laugh nicely .

if she gets stroppy, then you say you are not contractually engaged to do it, your lunch break is not company time and is unpaid. Just becuase she chooses to work her lunch breaks doesn’t mean she can offload her other non work obligations onto staff under guise of “helping out” her business . She needs a paid, insured contract with professional dog Walker who has skills and inclination to do this job for her.

This reminded me of the dog at Tatler magazine who was taken out for a walk by the intern and ended up dead in a revolving door accident 😱

Just googled it, Alan the dachshund. OP, you do not want to end up in this situation!
news.sky.com/story/twitter-dog-tatler-alan-killed-at-vogue-house-10457756

She is using her position of power to get you to do something you don’t want to do. I’d say that’s akin to harassment / bullying in some kind of way. Speak to HR about how to handle it.

Could you see if you could gain a longer lunch break to account for walking her dog? 🤷‍♀️

I would explain what you have said in your OP and then add that you are very happy to walk the dog for an hour or half an hour before your lunch hour.

This and I’d tell her doggedly that you will no longer walk the woof.

Is it not too hot for a lunchtime walk at the minute, for the dog? Don’t would be cruel to bring it out at that point.

by the time it cools down, she may have found a new victim and you have couched it in a “care for the animal” way

You just need to keep saying no. Your lunch break is unpaid and you are entitled to free time. She cannot tell you what to do during that time.

She was probably paying a dog walker before, so you will be saving her a fortune if you walk it 3-4 times a week.

She needs to leave it at home or walk it herself

Ugh shit like this is why I don’t ’go above and beyond’ at work, I would’ve said no the first time because I’m not picking up dog poo!

Cheeky Fucker. Your boss is getting 2 free hours out of this. Is she's going to bring her dog to work she needs to accept she can't work through her lunch. You doing this favour means she gains an hour by finishing early, and gains another hour where she doesn't have to walk her dog each day. So she's gaining 2 hours a day while you're losing one hour. One lovely hour a day of freedom where you get to let your mind wander and have no responsibilities. But instead you're being hindered and held up by a dog.

Nope. I'd making any excuse whatsoever why you can't do this. A sprained ankle to start with, and just sit in the staff room one day reading a book. Next day because you've got to rush to a shop to return an order and you know what that shop's like.....theres ALWAYS a big queue! If you're not brave enough to tell her NO then just be very enthusiastic and positive about her dog will LOVE to have her accompanying him on his walk, and leading her on the route you usually take, and showing her all his favourite sniffing places. Just be very positive and ridiculously enthusiastic about her walk and she won't be able to complain.

What a fucking pisstaker.

I would be direct and put it on an email in case she turns nasty - the dog is reducing your own use of your lunch break as you have to stop/sniff instead of getting your exercise and you have to shit pick which is disgusting when it’s someone else’s dog. You can say you were happy to provide an occasional bit of goodwill when it was once a week or less, but now that it’s 3/4 times per week, it’s impacting you personally and you are providing a regular unpaid service rather than an occasional favour

She’s using you for her own errands to increase her personal time - literally by stealing your personal time.

expect pushback. That’s the hallmark of a cheeky fucker. Which is why you need all of the above on an email, in case she takes it out on you and you need to go to Hr.

Poor dog.

This. And worse, she is using her position of power to get you to do unpaid, personal work for her so she doesn't have to do it herself. I am not in the UK but your worker protection laws seem more worker-friendly than ours (in the USA) and it seems unlikely that what she's doing is legal?

You aren’t being paid for lunch hour and she’s also not paying you for walking her dog! Present her with an invoice for all the hours you have walked the dog as you’ve missed out on using YOUR free unpaid time! £25 per hour minimum is what dog walkers charge plus however many poos they pick up. Point out the disparity in that you aren’t being paid by the company or her for lunch and dog and and tell her to either stop bringing her dog in and go back to paying the person who she will have been paying before or do it herself!!! She will be saving £££ having you take the dog for a walk! Who else do you think was doing it before? She clearly thinks you’re beneath her and she’s saving herself ££ by using you - and using you she is! Get annoyed and get your invoice sorted!!!

The "trend" is so that people can have a dog but avoid daycare or dog walker fees, surely?

Agree that you need to stop making excuses and be upfront.

You didn't mind walking the dog as a one off but it's becoming a regular things and it's now encroaching on your lunch hour. I'd also be saying you don't like picking up dog shit then eating lunch!

She's taking the piss and you need to point that out.

Say thats fine.. Take your hour lunch, then take another hour for the dog walk!!!