You think you see it all on this forum but here (I think) could be a new one! We are likely to have a trial period to give employees the option of bringing their dogs to work - an office building (40 or so workers) within a rural setting (community doggy walking at lunch break!). This could be contentious issue at our place and I'm feeling the vibes already! Has anyone had experience of this, how they handled it and would be willing to share their experiences and control measures they put in place and how effective they were? Many thanks.

Hi Dave,

I have worked in dog-friendly offices before (I took my dog to work for 4 years). The way we approached it was a registration form which included details of the dog, insurance etc, there was also a section where colleagues and line manager signed to agree. All dogs who were involved in the scheme had to be data-tagged and a reader was held on site.

We also had a generic risk assessment, terms and conditions etc.

There are some issues in hygiene, but include cleanliness and hygiene in the T&C's.

You need to check that no-one has an allergy to dogs or a genuine phobia. And, since this originated on Friday, is it restricted to dogs or can any pets come in?

LOL,

In Your Humble Opinion It Is!!

Take you don't work for any vets then ;)

Dare I say it......... There's quite a few dogs working in my workplace who haven't, but should be Risk Assessed!!

That was a "light blue touch paper and stand well back" type of comment!

I'm not sure what this says about me Bluenose but the sight of two dogs humping in my bosses office would make my afternoon!

Many thanks for all the replies and the humorous asides. As I said it is a sensitive issue at our place and whatever happens will I suspect will be deeply divisive but it can be trialled. Personally I wouldn't bring my dog to work but that's because being a labrador it would have its nose in anything resembling a food source (trough, fridge, bucket etc) at any given opportunity!! Time to do a risk assessment I think - thanks again.

My only experience of this idea was a few years ago, one of the night admin staff took her dog into work "to keep her company" (?) the shift was for a week and nobody seemed to mind - the dog stayed under the desk and came out only for her teabreaks etc.
However, a couple of days after the shift had ceased - the day staff complained of bites - after investigating the problem it was found that the carpets in the area of her desk were infested with fleas!
Needless to say - the dog stayed at home when the shift pattern came round again!

But that's also the issue MaxPayne - not everyone thinks it is a dumb idea and ultimately it's not my decision to make, I can only express my considered opinions and advise.

No, it would be classed as a dog having a crap, no one slipped tripped or fell.

When I was in the Army all senior officers brought their dogs to work when in barracks and even brought them on the Battalion 5 and 10 mile runs! When I worked for the MOD as a civil servant senior officers always bought their dogs to work so civil servants started to. However, all had to provide proof of inocculations etc. All had to sign that they understood that any damage caused by their dog to carpets, furniture etc would be paid for. A sign had to be put on all office doors if there was a dog in the office. Throwing toys for the dogs to chase in office areas and corridors was banned. I do know that in some places the unions objected to dogs at work and they were banned in some government offices. My view is they should not be brought into work, but if they are then all staff must agree and strict controls must be in place.

We allow dogs at our work place due to some staff having to work odd / long shifts and dog care is a genuine issue for them we do the following:

Having a dog on site is a privilege not a right and is for genuine cases.
Permission and the ultimate decision rests with the director.
Dogs must be insured for public liability.
All dogs must be kept in our dog room If there owners do not have a private office.
The dog room is an air conditioned office with cages for the dogs to go in if they wish there own space only sociable dogs are allowed in the dog room with a maximum of 4 (our 4 get on very well)
If owners have a private office they have a stair gate across their door and no one but them can enter their office, any meetings etc are conducted in our training or board rooms.
All dogs must be kept on leads around the building.
Any aggressive or excessively noisy, or excessively smelly dogs are not allowed.
If the dog is not happy in the situation they are not allowed.
We have a strict agreement regarding welfare,Walks etc we reserve the right to call a vet and treat if nessersary / owner can't be contacted.
we hold vets details, insurance details, innoculations etc and microchip details.
I have done a full risk assessment and at our site it works well.

Yes we have staff who don't like dogs but they do not have to come into contact with them at any point in their day. We find the staff who are able to have the dogs here are very careful to stick to the rules so they dont loose their privalege and we have never had any fouling issues as each owner is responsible for their dog and if one is ill,or caught short they clean it up immediatly.

Hope this may help.

This thread has made me think of a hundred and one reasons why I wouldn't take my dog to work. Most of them regarding her temperament. Being a border collie she has a natural tendency to want to round everything up. I wonder if she'd make a good fire marshal?

We had an incident report once when a "PAT" dog brought in for some of our service users to pet, pounced on some medication that was inadvertently dropped and proceeded to eat it with some gusto. Panic ensued with phone calls to the local vet and the poisons unit to establish if there were likely to be any adverse effects. Thankfully not - but the dog slept peacefully for a good few hours afterwards.

More likely if you work in Wrexham after todays news reports, one might suggest