Time off work when your dog passes

[Arabiannights01]

I just think that I love my dog more than most humans and when it is her time to leave, I will be a distraught- mess for a while, I don’t think work will want a sobbing mess in front of customers. There should be a system where you get some kind of compassionate leave imo.

Maybe a day, but I can’t see the justification- I’d rather be busy than sitting there missing them.

Suppose your pet of choice is a hamster with life expectancy considerably lower than a dog. You’d be needing leave every couple of years for when it dies.
when my cat died, going to work took my mind off it. Use annual leave.

Oh now you've opened the damn... seven for me. And no, we don't do we?

I really sympathise by the way. And someone will be along in two minutes to tell me that I am competing in the lost baby olympics even though I have shared this previously to try and help others.

I know how it feels and you have my entire sympathy. It sucks.

We're not taking about grans though, it's about pets. I'm all for employers giving compassionate leave when family members etc die but extending that to pets goes too far in my opinion.

Well that is terrible and must have been unimaginably hard for you.

Of course. You book annual leave.

I mean I COULD physically say her name but I would start crying so it was easier not to say it
and no I wasn’t mentally well because I was grieving, not just her but everything else she had got me through and trying to work out what I would turn to now, what my hobby would be, how I could keep friends without being able to face being around horses etc etc
it’s an entire lifestyle rather than just a pet

My work gave me two days when my dad died and that included the funeral. I can’t see them going for pet bereavement leave.

Why just dogs? What about cats and Guinea pigs and other animals? My friend was absolutely devastated when her Guinea pig died. She used to carry him everywhere with her when she was at home. She even took him to the park and the beach! So, should she get compassionate leave too? Hamsters, for example, only live a couple of years. That could be a lot of compassionate leave if you have a few. How would you prove that your mouse/gerbil/hamster had died?

👏🏼

Just take it as sick leave. Why is this even a debate? You don’t get leave when a human passes either (aside from funeral /compassionate/ carer). It depends how you feel. You could lose a close relative and feel nothing.

So sorry for your losses.

I never said she was a pet. I wasn't trying to diminish your grief.

Well we’ve had an employee lose the same grandparent TWICE! Local authority!

I definitely think you should be allowed a day of if your cat or dog dies, they are family members.

I suppose if you’re distraught over loss of a beloved pet then you could take a bit of sick leave ? A boss might even say take a couple days sick leave ..??

Many people don’t get extra time off when they lose a human family member.

Oops!😅

I agree with this

Then you phone in sick or take it unpaid. I say this as a dog owner that has had three dogs die over the years.

I wouldn't be able to work if I lost my dog, I have no kids, no parter -it's just me and her. I also work as a therapist so need to be in a state to manage my own emotions appropriately, I guess I'd just take annual leave for a couple of days.

Well if I get one day per pet, I'm sure I can have the budgies each die off twice this winter, that gives me over a month of extra holiday.
I get confused enough over their names so I'm sure my line manager won't remember.

I work with someone who went off sick for sometime (a month+) after her dog died, she lives alone and the dog was her family, she was worse than someone losing a parent or something. Even now 2 years on (she got a new dog straight away while she was off sick) she still gets upset over the dog. She's had quite a bit of time off over the past few years, stress, mental health etc, we work somewhere with a good sick leave policy, once you've worked there 5+ years or so you can have up to a year off on full pay.

I'm not sure there should be a specific leave for a pets death though, if you are too unwell to work you use sick leave like my colleague did, people could be claiming they've lost a pet to save leave and lots of pets don't live for that long so it could easily be an annual thing!

But that's not a marker. People absolutely should get time off when people die. A very good friend of mine died suddenly and unexpectedly. Thankfully my workplace had enough compassion to give me time off, even though there was no official policy.

It isn't a race to the bottom.

It's perfectly reasonable to say people should be given time off for a pet death that affects them. And people should get time off for human deaths too, regardless of the relationship.

Well they should and for their cats and dogs.