Dogs at work?

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A few years ago I would have said yes. However, since I met my husband I have an appreciation for keeping pets out of public places. He has a severe dog allergy, so if his coworkers brought even one dog to work, he wouldn't be able to stay. That isn't fair to him.

On the flip side though, I'm really, really grateful that my boss allows me to bring in my (caged) tiny sick foster kittens occasionally when I have ones that need force/bottle feeding every 4 hours. I made sure to ask all of my coworkers about it first though.
 
My husband owns a gym and its strictly a personal training studio so there isn't alot of people working out on their own. He takes our dog with him to work a few days a week to keep the dog active and not just laying in his pen while we are all at work during the day. All of his clients love our dog and I think it makes a difference too if the dog is well behaved and doesn't bark alot either.
 
I think whether or not it is appropriate to bring your dog really depends on where you work and who you work with, as well as your dogs behavior level. Allergies and fear of dogs are big issues for some people, so you'd want to ok it with everyone before even considering it. You want to make sure your dog is well behaved enough not to dig in the trash, knock people over, bark, or potty indoors, etc.

Beyond that, I think having a dog at work is a welcome distraction for a lot of people. If you brought the dog everyday, I'm sure they'd fall into the routine and would not hinder productivity. Bringing the dog occasionally is more of a distraction as you have an excited dog surrounded by excited co-workers, but it does make for a fun work environment and 'happy workers work harder'.

I work in a hospital kitchen so bringing any animal is a definite no. My dad generally works in a backwoods shop repairing stuff for a landscaping company. If they didn't already have several dogs out there, I'm sure he'd love to bring ours. The dogs that live there though are not too friendly with other dogs.

I so want to work for Google! They get to do so many fun things...a lot of work too though.
 
My husband went to see the cardiologist last week and the doctor's dog is considered an employee at their office. When I walked into the office, I saw the dogs picture on the wall with 'Pet Therapist' printed underneath it, but didn't think anything about it, figured it was some sort of joke. My husband was called back to the room and about 20 mins later the doctor opened the door and the dog walked in first. I'm talking a 80 lb yellow lab, not a small dog at all. I was extremely surprised, but the dog was absolutely amazing. I couldn't really pay attention to the doctor because I was too busy playing with the dog. I still don't know how it's legal to have a dog in the office either, but I wasn't going to complain, the dog made me feel better that day.
 
I agree that it depends on the dog and the work. When I worked a normal hour job, I would have loved to bring Lila to work with me, as I know it's tough on the dog to be sitting home alone for 8 hours.

I used to work at an aquarium and occasionally me and my coworkers would bring our dogs into work. Obviously they had to stay down in our office area and didn't walk around the open aquarium by the guests and animals. I know Lila loved smelling around though, as the whole place smelled like animals.

But like stated, some people have allergies too, so that could pose an issue. And some people are scared of dogs for different reasons.
 
threewingedfury said:
\I still don't know how it's legal to have a dog in the office either, but I wasn't going to complain, the dog made me feel better that day.
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Well it might actually be a therapy dog.. but I think of it like this. Cafe A and Cafe B both offer the same service. Serving food. Cafe A serves a chocolate cake with nuts on it. Cafe B serves chocolate cake without nuts. Customer Joe is allergic to nuts and asks Cafe A if they can serve the cake without nuts. Cafe A says its not possible because its already in the cake. But Cafe B has chocolate cake without. So if Customer Joe wants chocolate cake he is going to have to go elsewhere.

Each Cafe offers a service if the customer doesnt like it they can go elsewhere. Same with the dog. The Therapy dog is offered there as a service. If a person cannot tolerate the dog then they can find another doctor.

As for coworkers... Normally when people apply for jobs Company XYZ, they say once a month we do this and its something we are not willing to change. If you are not ok with this you are welcome to apply elsewhere. This happened to me when I applied at a doctors office. They told me that they pray together every day 3-6 times a day during the work hours. They started the day with prayer, left for a break with one, came back from breqak with one, stopped in the middle of the day to pray, and they even said they would try and get their patients to pray with them. They said this was a requirement of all employees. Prayer to me is a personal thing and I never try to push religion on ANYONE. I didnt like what they had to offer so I left to find a job elsewhere. At least they told me at the interview!

I would totally love to bring my babies to work with me but I work at the grill and its not healthy. LOL Actually I dont really see anyplace where the dogs can be in the casino.
 
Melissa said:
Well it might actually be a therapy dog.. but I think of it like this. Cafe A and Cafe B both offer the same service. Serving food. Cafe A serves a chocolate cake with nuts on it. Cafe B serves chocolate cake without nuts. Customer Joe is allergic to nuts and asks Cafe A if they can serve the cake without nuts. Cafe A says its not possible because its already in the cake. But Cafe B has chocolate cake without. So if Customer Joe wants chocolate cake he is going to have to go elsewhere.
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For the sake of argument here, I'm assuming this isn't a therapy dog. Let's face it, at least 95% of dogs that people take to restaurants, work, etc aren't service/therapy dogs (which is an entirely different story).

In your example, what if my husband and I are enjoying our coffee at Cafe B and then someone walks in with their precious poochy. We are forced to leave. That isn't fair to us, as paying customers. This has happened to us more than once, in places that dogs aren't typically there. Sure, we expect that at Petsmart, but not when we're out to eat or at the store.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE LOVE LOVE dogs and I've had them my whole life. I'm just uber sensitive to this issue now. It's like people don't even care how their choices might really negatively impact others. My husband had a coworker who thought it was cute to bring in her new puppy frequently. Thankfully he's a nurse who knows how to deal with his allergies, but even then it almost landed him in the hospital since it triggered his asthma.
 
Tiatrack said:
For the sake of argument here, I'm assuming this isn't a therapy dog. Let's face it, at least 95% of dogs that people take to restaurants, work, etc aren't service/therapy dogs (which is an entirely different story).

In your example, what if my husband and I are enjoying our coffee at Cafe B and then someone walks in with their precious poochy. We are forced to leave. That isn't fair to us, as paying customers. This has happened to us more than once, in places that dogs aren't typically there. Sure, we expect that at Petsmart, but not when we're out to eat or at the store.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE LOVE LOVE dogs and I've had them my whole life. I'm just uber sensitive to this issue now. It's like people don't even care how their choices might really negatively impact others. My husband had a coworker who thought it was cute to bring in her new puppy frequently. Thankfully he's a nurse who knows how to deal with his allergies, but even then it almost landed him in the hospital since it triggered his asthma.
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I think you missed the point of my explination. It was about the employees bringing in the animal. And in your argument, Cafe B isnt offering the dog as a service. Customer Jane walked in with Fido and has no connection with Cafe B. Where as the doctor can be offering the dog as a service.

What you are arguing is an ADA issue, not a job that allows its employees to bring in their dog which is a totally different thing.
 
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