Dog policy at work

[Americaherewecome]

Does your employer have one? Do you have any experience of writing one?

We need one for our business; any suggestions gratefully received.

TIA

I like dogs (don't have one) but you only experience of a dog in the office isn't brilliant. The dog was old and very smelly. He had to be taken out every few hours for obvious reasons. That was quite a chore because his back legs collapsed every five minutes. He belonged to someone senior to me, with whom I shared an office. When she went to see clients, I took him out. The smell in our office was truly awful. Please add a clause about dogs needing to be shampooed 😊

Ugh. The dog policy for an office workplace should just be: "No dogs.*" And I say that as a devoted dog owner.
I was WHF until I retired recently, and my dog was a brilliant colleague. His job role was to get between me and the electric fire, so that my legs didn't get overly cosy. But I would never ever have expected to bring him into the office.

*EDITED TO ADD "except assistance dogs", of course.

We used to have the dog of our CEO in the office.
He went for the postie who would bring the post into the office.
CEO said he was only being friendly.
Royal Mail refused to deliver to the office.

No dogs unless service

My child’s school decided to get not one, but two school dogs last year. I didn’t actually mind until one time I went to nip into the school office about something, to be greeted by a sign saying ‘please do not disturb, the dogs are asleep in the office’. I thought that was beyond taking the piss 😡

Service dogs only

a company that does anything else is just setting itself up for problems. A decent portion of the population is allergic to dogs. Those people can’t go work in a pet store or a vets offices, but should be able to seek employment in most spaces.

If a company has a service dog or two and a person with an allergy in the building, that can likely be managed with planning and communication. Everyone will need to have assigned zones and paths. Bringing in multiple dogs for fun is just going to end up with the company effectively discriminating against an employee with a disability.

I would sincerely hope that if anyone at work has an allergy to dogs, that there would be a complete ban on dogs being brought in to the office. Likewise if anyone suffers from a phobia.

Employers have a duty of care towards their staff when it comes to health & safety, and physical & mental wellbeing.

We have a dogs in the office policy. I am usually home based but went in today, and it was lovely to have two brilliantly behaved dogs pottering about.

Work is for working

There is no reason for dogs to be there

This. The only policy should be no dogs except service dogs.

I have worked in an office where dogs were allowed. People cannot be honest about their feelings on this so don’t assume everyone is on board with it. At my office there was a vocal minority who were very pro and a quiet majority who weren’t very keen.

There were quite a lot of anti dog comments behind people’s backs and the smell caused some problems as no one wanted to say to one owner that their dog was really smelly.

I always felt a bit bad for the dogs because they were resented by some people. I haven’t had a dog for a long time but I wouldn’t have brought my dog to the office.

I love dogs, but I'm sick of them being everywhere! I saw one the other day in a restaurant that has those igloos for special occasions. I felt sorry for anyone going in after this couple and their dog if they have an allergy!

⬆Exactly this. If my DS2s future workplace started allowing dogs, he’d be out of a job since he can’t be in a room with one and remain breathing.

www.allergyuk.org/living-with-an-allergy/parent-pathways/18-25/workplace-support/

Thank you all very much for taking the trouble to post a comment. I have read them all and it makes very interesting reading. I can feel the strength of opinion from some of you; I respect that and it has given me another angle to consider.

Honestly, unless your company makes dog toys or runs shelters or something directly relevant like that, just don't have dogs in the office. I wouldn't work anywhere that allowed them.

I’ve never heard of this. I don’t mind dogs but I definitely don’t want them in my workplace. I don’t see how it’s that much different from bringing a child into work and in most work environments that isn’t done, for obvious reasons.

I’d love it. When can I start? 🤣

https://www.davidsonmorris.com/dogs-in-the-workplace
Might be useful OP.

Why does a dog need to be in an office?!

Obviously excluding assistance dogs...

We have a dog policy. It includes various things like public liability insurance, parasite prevention, one dog per space, must be restrained (crated or kept on lead) etc. It also includes "courtesy" things - checking ahead of bringing in that colleagues that day are OK (we have a good idea of who is and isnt), and cleaning (all desks must be wiped down, floor vacuumed etc. At the end of the day) and we have one office which is kept dog free.

People love it on dog days - staff and clients. We work in the wellbeing sector and staff dogs certainly help when working 1:1 with clients, particularly those who are very anxious. I'm frequently asked if I can bring mine in with me!

Excellent. Thank you very much.

I work in the small office in a small care home and take my dog in with me when I work (3 days per week), the staff are all dog lovers so no problem there - especially the matron, and the residents absolutely love him - the ones who sadly have dementia remember the dog more than some of the staff.
I asked permission before I brought him in at all.
He's 9 so not a puppy or boisterous, very rarely barks and is always on a lead secured to a desk.
No problems here at all, but can appreciate that I'm lucky to be able to take my dog to work with me, but he probably offers more emotional support to the staff and residents who really love to see him each time he's there.

He doesn't go in certain areas, and the residents specifically walk/wheel up the corridor to see him which helps their daily walking!!
FWIW visitors bring their dogs in too to visit residents and we have pat pet/assistance dogs in to visit the residents sometimes too if that makes a difference.

Oh and we are in a rural setting too. My dog is introduced as the mascot!!

I worked in several offices which allowed dogs. No formal policy. One of the people I managed brought their dog in one day and it barked at all the other dogs so I told her she needed to take him home and not bring him in again (which she was in agreement with).

We had someone start who didn't like dogs so there was a massive shufty of folks to clear out one of the offices of anyone who brought dogs in and a note put on meeting agendas that dogs could not attend.

Generally the dogs were popular and made the office environment nicer for most people. But there weren't many of them and (other than the one I asked to leave) they were all impeccably behaved.

I think some of the tighter restrictions some people have posted would have been good to have in place.

What on earth are you on about? This is simply untrue, I know lots of Muslims who own dogs .

I wouldn’t take the opinions too far, MN is renowned to hate dogs.
Your question wasn’t about whether someone likes dogs in the workplace, it was about policy.

There’s an assistance dog in our building and everyone loves him. We can’t give fusses as he’s ’on the Job’. Everyone I work with has a dog at home. So I’d take MN with a pinch of salt. A big pinch at that.