I've started working with a new client that has a swanky office downtown. Today while I was there, I notice two "office dogs" mostly roaming around. One was a Boston Terrier and the other was a longer haired husky looking dog. Both dogs belonged to different people, were older, well behaved, and only had minimal interaction with each other. When I asked about it, they said they have an open policy on bringing dogs to work. They hadn't had any issues with bad behavior or dog aggression. They said the only problem they'd had was that some of the dogs weren't as house broken as they'd like. They laughed and said it seemed like all the dogs liked to poop in one guy's office. It was a joke because apparently he was often the office "bad guy" in politics.

This is the kind of office that has sofas in many of the individual offices and the "conference room" was basically two sofas, 4 over stuffed chairs, and a coffee table. During our meeting the dogs separately came in a couple times, sniffed everyone and kept moving. It was kind of like have a Therapy Dog come visit. Everyone seemed to enjoy having the dogs around.

Obviously, my 5 month old Aussie is way to young to introduce to an environment like that. Way, way, way too many distractions. I'd be spending all my time dealing with her and almost none of it actually doing my work. However, I could envision one day that Suzzie would be adjusted enough to mostly ignore the other dogs and just hang out with me where she was supposed to. Of course, I'd have to take breaks during the day to keep her mentally challenged. Maybe an extended game of "find it" or something.

Anyway, how much is this situation like or dislike the infamous dog parks? It seems you'd have to be careful about introducing your new dog into the office environment to control/supervise interactions between dogs. However, due to the limited people at work (like 50 total or so) and the limited number of dogs (there were only two there today) it seems more controllable than a dog park. These two dogs weren't really controlled at all. They mostly went where they wanted. The good news is that both dogs were older and more mellow.

Anyone have experience with situations like this?

I've taken my dog to work for better than 40 years.

DFrost

I believe the last Friday of this month, June 26th, is Take Your Dog to Work Day for the U.S. I've already put in a request with one of our VPs here at our corporate office to see if our President will let everyone bring their dogs to work that day!

http://www.takeyourdog.com/

 Quote: David C.Frost

I've taken my dog to work for better than 40 years.

DFrost

LMAO

 Quote: Doug Alcorn

Anyway, how much is this situation like or dislike the infamous dog parks? It seems you'd have to be careful about introducing your new dog into the office environment to control/supervise interactions between dogs. However, due to the limited people at work (like 50 total or so) and the limited number of dogs (there were only two there today) it seems more controllable than a dog park. These two dogs weren't really controlled at all. They mostly went where they wanted. The good news is that both dogs were older and more mellow.

Anyone have experience with situations like this?

It is, and it isn’t. If this is an established office and the employees are fairly limited in number it would feel to me to be more like my friend’s dog or maybe my father’s dog coming to our BBQ. A limited number of dogs that are known as far as temperament and attitude that are around each other on a very regular basis.

The issue with the dog parks is the high number of unknown dogs with unknown training that all attempt to establish a rank. This is a huge issue ad you have NO idea what may happen.

Obviously, one would assume that if there were conflicting doggie personalities or a dog that is lacking in training, the offending dog would be asked to leave.

The only thing that would bother me is the bonding that may develop with wandering dogs, and the chance of non-doggie people (or really just anyone) doing something to my dog that I am not comfortable with; correcting or hugging or some other such thing that I don’t allow. I would just keep my dog with me (and both of mine would prefer that anyway&hellipthe way you have described.

 Quote: Doug Alcorn

Anyone have experience with situations like this?

My office allowed dogs but they stayed with the owner and were not wandering. I was surprised how relaxed the dogs were chilling out in their crates or laying under their owner's desk. Kind of what my dog is doing right now as I type . I think I would have tried it out since I could crate my dog but unfortunately before I was there two weeks the new building management banned dogs; rumor has it due to a housebreaking incident in the elevator

I've worked off and on at places which allowed dogs at work. All of them required the dog to remain with the handler on leash or be quiet in a crate. Dogs and owners that couldn't handle that didn't bring their dogs. There were also a couple of them that put size limits on the dogs that could come in, if the dog was too big to sleep under your desk they just thought it was a little too big for the office. They never allowed dogs to play (too noisy) or dogs to just wander about.

It was a great time for me when I was able to be with my dogs all day. I worked a behind the scenes type desk job a few years ago and my wee lad Booker was able to sleep on my desk next to the monitor on a crate pad. I know it's a little odd to run things that way but for the 4lb wonder dog it worked fantastic. One of the other perks of the wee dog at work was because he was such a quiet calm little dog there was really no where I couldn't take him so he attended meetings, went to events, and was able to go to the company gym with me. He was never really a distraction for me but rather an asset which made everyone around him just a little happier.

Best job I had though if I had to pick places I have been employed and was allowed to bring the dog was a golf course. It was one of those jobs I would do for free if I could though.

 Quote: jessicakromer

It is, and it isn’t. If this is an established office and the employees are fairly limited in number it would feel to me to be more like my friend’s dog or maybe my father’s dog coming to our BBQ. A limited number of dogs that are known as far as temperament and attitude that are around each other on a very regular basis.

Obviously, one would assume that if there were conflicting doggie personalities or a dog that is lacking in training, the offending dog would be asked to leave.

The only thing that would bother me is the bonding that may develop with wandering dogs, and the chance of non-doggie people (or really just anyone) doing something to my dog that I am not comfortable with; correcting or hugging or some other such thing that I don’t allow. I would just keep my dog with me (and both of mine would prefer that anyway&hellipthe way you have described.

Jessica just about summed up what would be my perspective on this. I took Oscar to my office (12 employees, 1 company dog, and occasionally 1-2 other employee dogs) pretty much every day from the time I got him (3 months old) till he was about a year and half. I always just assumed a very proactive approach and never let Oscar roam (I'm lucky, he never wanted to leave my sight anyway ), for myriad reasons - probably the largest and most persistent being that I didn't want him eating the copious amounts of food and food wrappers people threw in their trash cans every day. I had a bath mat under my desk for Oscar to chill out on, and I brought daily marrow bones (before I stopped giving them) or stuffed Kongs to keep him busy. I also had an excuse for a nice walk at lunch (don't think I didn't make up the time at the end of the day though ).

The only other constant dog in the office every day was the bosses Weim - a thankfully very submissive and sweet 2 year old that Oscar was normally completely uninterested in. Once in a while other people brought their dogs in, but I always kept appropriate doors shut and there was never a problem. I will note that Oscar went through a grumpy adolescent phase that prompted some serious new training on my behalf - all something we would work on in the home anyway, but because it was a workplace it was PARAMOUNT that no serious "incidents" ever happened. Overall, Oscar was a perfect gentleman and built himself a respectable reputation as being so quiet and well mannered, he was hardly noticed. Yes, I'll take some credit for that.

At some point, the bosses did decide to crack down on random dog days in the office and treated it a bit like vacation days - every employee was allowed 12 days a year to bring their pups in, preferably not at the same time. A number of "accidents" in the hallways, and a few barking contests in the customer service/phone reception area (neither of which had anything to do with MY 4-legged angel :grin, led to that decision, though it was definitely a case of a few irresponsible people ruining it for those who were making a great effort at keeping the dogs a non issue.

On that note, I guess I'd just say, from my own experience, that everything that applies to your handing and control of your dog in your own home applies ten fold when you're in an office setting. Know your dog and know your ability to avoid incidents - the office isn't the place to be testing things out, and the most success will come from rock solid temperament, good training and firm control.

~Natalya