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.

When my dog died overnight of congestive heart failure I messaged my manager in the a.m. and she wrote back "Please, take all the time you need. You just lost a member of your family." She's so kind and understanding.

I took one day (I live alone and the dog was my MAIN family member) but appreciated that my manager wouldn't take umbrage if I'd needed more time.

How do you make it work though? What’s the basis of the leave?

Take annual leave.
I understand that some people love their pets.But. In no way is losing a pet comparable to losing a child, a sibling or a parent.
Also there is no funeral to arrange, probate to sort, property to sell, belongings to sort etc etc
Bereavement leave is to help with practical arrangements as much as anything else.

I phoned in and said that my dog had collapsed and I needed to go straight to the vet.
I went in the day after , everyone was sympathetic and kind , I didn't think they would be.

I was on annual leave when my dog had to be put to sleep but there’s no way I would have been able to go into the office. I was sobbing like a baby and stayed with a friend for a few days as the house was so empty without him.

I don’t think we should get pet leave but no one should judge us taking time off for our pups dying.

I think everyone is different, and grief comes in many forms. I had to take a few days leave when my dog was PTS. It was traumatic and I work in a high pressure job with people. I would have been no good to anyone . It would have been nice to have some compassionate leave but I didn’t even think about that at the time . I just wanted to be at home and was happy to use annual leave if needed. Talk to your manager and explain the situation . It will be their discretion whether special leave is granted or not.

My dog is nearly 14 so obviously I don't expect her to be around for too many more years. For me, any amount of time off I take would depend on how the end came about.

If she became ill in the middle of the night and needed emergency surgery, I wouldn't be going to work that day, and possibly not the next day either, depending on how it went. If she was old, frail and in constant pain, I'd take the day off before she's put to sleep to spend some time with her, then assuming it happened in the afternoon, I'd very likely be at work the next day. I'd take any time off as annual leave, personally. I'd still be devastated, but able to get on with things.

Compassionate leave is usually capped anyway so why not use it for a pet if you feel you need it.

When my first cat died, I took half days each afternoon and just sobbed my way through each morning in the office. Compassionate leave should be at your discretion for who and what is important to you

Where do you draw the line? If someone keeps fish, do they get compassionate leave every time a guppy dies? How about stick insects?

But that leave isn't statutory it's something the employer has decided to do

The OP wants there to be a law that says employers have to give compassionate leave if a pet dies. As far as I'm aware there is no such law if a close relatives dies so why should there be one for an animal dying?

Imagine being an employer with this kind of nonsense. I say that as a devoted dog mum.

Really? Be upset of course, we all love our pets, but compassionate leave! It's a no from me.

There's no comparison between that and losing a dog or cat or horse.

I'm a teacher and for obvious reasons, we can't get leave of absence easily. I got 3 days when my Mum died, 2 when my Dad died. I couldn't go to my friend's funeral, even unpaid. So if this were to be a thing I genuinely don't know how schools would manage because you could have several pets die in a short amount of time and then you'd have to buy in extra supply or ask teachers to cover. Parents complain about supply as it is.
Very tricky.

I've had many different animals for most of my life. Loved and cared for them, never had a day off when they died, although there were tears.

Now I have my 1st dog, he's a few years old, I was surprised the different level of love and attachment you have for a dog. They are pretty child like with their playfulness and the ways in which they interact with you and the true love they show. They become so deeply dependent on your care in a way other animals don't. I know the level of grief will hit a lot harder when he goes. Fingers crossed we got many years together before having to worry about it.

Yes, or worse. Sadly, there are people that bad.
I did work through pet loss, but I actually made a couple of mistakes (not major ones) so maybe I should have taken time off.
A lot of places will offer it in certain circumstances, if you're normally good and reliable, some of my colleagues took it.
It's a fact that some people are closer to their pets than any humans, and would be more upset by their death than the deaths of relatives-whether anyone wants to believe that or not, so I do respect it.

I took a week off years ago when my dog died. I called in sick because, due to the grief, I wasn’t able to function.
Obviously didn’t tell them that was the real reason as so many people just don’t understand or don’t get it.

Welcome to my world, being childless in a business full of parents. The amount of time people take off because their kids pick up every bug going, while I pick up the slack!

I think you're a bit delusional. My horse was due to be put to sleep at 1pm. I went to work in the morning, left for 3 hours and went back to the office in the afternoon. My choice. Otherwise it would have been annual leave.

My dog died suddenly before I left work one evening and I took the next two days off work.

I also did the same when my very beloved cat died - I loved her more than my dog.

My boss very generously allowed me to take this time off, but I was very highly valued by him; he really depended on me.

I have heard it all now.

I suppose people don't understand the trauma of putting an animal to sleep. It's awful to have to kill something you love or to have them killed unexpectedly.

IME smaller animals are easier than horses. I had to kill my horse last year. I happened to be on leave on the day and WFH the following day. I cried so much I was physically unable to make tears for a couple of months. I had to use eye drops (prescribed by the optometrist) because I had dry patches on my eyes from lack of tears.

For those who don't know, horses crash to the ground and move around a bit once down. Horses aren't meant to crash to the ground, so it's awful to experience. The vets are lovely and spend 20-30 minutes running you through what to expect and how it will proceed. Once the horse has died you need to deal with the 500kg+ body. None of it is a quick process.

I always take a few days leave after losing an animal as I am really no use to work. I don't believe in paying people for less than 100% effort.

Some places I've worked have generous packages which include settling in days for new pets and time off for lost pets. To horrify people here I took 3 months off when I last got a puppy - that was long service leave. It was the best fun, 3 months of puppy snuggles.

When our dog died, very traumatically and prematurely, my husband's manager gave him time off. He's a dog person so he knew what we were going through. There was no way my DH could have worked; we were both too distraught.

I don't know that it's realistic to think that provision could be made within most companies for pet bereavement leave though. From the flippant comments here about mayflies, guppies and imaginary dogs, it is obvious that it would be open to abuse. It probably needs to remain a discretionary thing.

I lost my dog last year. My employer insisted i take the day off for putting her to sleep, and the next day off to grieve.

Do people get paid for this time? Thankfully I work from home now (and my son is rarely ill), but when he was settling into nursery and got every bug going, any time off was out or annual leave