When I was working in London I had my dogs in on a few occasions however we never had any formal policy. I personally think it’s great idea, I’d love to work in a dog friendly work place.

The only thing I could see as a barrier is individuals who are scared of dogs/those who are not keen on them?

You’d also have to apply a set of rules around the types of dog you can bring in – i.e. those who are well behaved, neutered etc.

I have read some stories about dog friendly offices whereby you bring in a set number of dogs each day i.e. not everyone brings their dogs in at the same time.

Maybe try contacting BrewDog as they have dog friendly policies?

Good luck.

Hi there Helen,

We are a pet/aquatic manufacturing company so have always had dogs allowed in the offices.  We don’t have a set policy but we do have some fairly experienced owners (given what we do) so have relatively few problems.

My observations are

1) know who your people are who are afraid/allergic/not fans of dogs and ensure that the dog owners do not impact them negatively.  It is really easy to forget that not everyone loves a dog and you don’t want to cause a worse working environment for others.  In one office space the manager is allergic so the employees with dogs don’t bring them in on the days she is working – just common courtesy really.

2) the dogs need to be house trained before they arrive and socialized with other dogs – otherwise bedlam can occur!  We have supplied dog crates so that dogs have somewhere to retreat from too many well meaning people!

3) make sure you have enough supplies for owners to clear up any accidents (believe me it will happen! )

Other than that, having pets in the office is a really lovely thing and enhances the working mood no end!  We do also have lots of calming fish tanks around as well – just don’t start us on the debate as to whether a fish can be a pet!!

Hope that helps

Rachel