Keep your dog out of my office | Hacker News Reader

Keep your dog out of my office

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35 pointsspcal30 comments

I feel the same way as the author.

The issue is that for a very large population of dog owner, it is simply unimaginable that someone wouldn't love their dog.

I have an anxious reaction to dogs also (bad experiences in my childhood), and I find the US absolutely terrible with the lack of consideration for people that don't like to be near dogs. There is almost a stigma that if you don't like dogs, you must be a bad person.

> I feel the same way as the author.

Here as well.

I am also tired of people trying to bring their dogs into all kinds of public businesses, like grocery stores and restaurants.

Makes me wonder if there is some Toxoplasmosis like thing that induces people to think that such a thing is acceptable.

I love dogs. My familly owned 4 of them, small ones, bigs ones, smart ones, dumb ones. All so cute.

Yet, they have no place in an office. They actually have no place in a city. Animals need space. They need to be able to be dirty, make a mess, make noise.

Cities are a place terrible for that. Work even more.

If you decided to get a dog, knowing what it implies, and it prevent somebody from working, you deserves to be fired.

>The dog sprinted towards me, barking its head off, scaring the everliving shit out of me, and I barely escaped by jumping out of the lead’s length radius at the last minute. I still have nightmares about it to this day.

Nightmares about a dog on a leash running towards you? This whole post seems like a rant of someone who simply had a bad experience with dogs.

We have an office dog and obviously you can only do it with well trained and well behaving dogs.

> well trained and well behaving dogs

Ever dog owner has the most well trained and best behaving dog.

And after it bites you, "it's strange because it's usually so nice".

Last year I interned at a company and the designated office had a huge black dog that smelled like a hobo in it (the dog belonged to one of the other 3 guys - no idea how his 2 colleagues can handle that smell).

I spent approx. 2 minutes in that room to introduce myself and then sat the remaining time (4 months) in the kitchen or at my bosses desk when he was away.

Since then I asked in every job interview about the company's dog policy.

This has nothing to do with dogs being in office.

It's just a rant from the guy because he had some bad experiences with dogs.

THe problem (regardless of office or not) is not that dogs are allowed, but rather dogs not behaving.

Replace dogs with children, plus with the added complication of allergies

Dogs in the office is a rather strange development.

Edit to clarify. Would children belong in the office? Does it matter if they're well behaved?

Children in the office aren't bad either, if they behave.

Really? We havent specified an age here, but would you want a crying baby, "mummy I'm bored", parents disappearing every 5 minutes potty training, and accidents. Toys lying around, your stuff being borrowed, being interrupted at inopportune moments by interested children, being told to moderate language because it isn't suitable.

I wouldn't count any of those as being examples of bad behaviour.

My point is, just the existence of a child in the office isn't bad. If it starts yelling etc. then it gets annoying.

Same with dogs. How does a dog that lays on his bed all day next to his owner bother you?

The dog isn't going to lay there all day, just like the child isn't.

And you're obviously thinking of a smaller dog and roomier office than I am, if that dog isn't still getting in the way.

>And you're obviously thinking of a smaller dog and roomier office than I am, if that dog isn't still getting in the way.

Except, you know, I have a big dog and he does exactly that. Laying on his bed all day.

Under your desk all day? Not expanding out to your neighbours desk or the walk way?

Obviously you have an unusually docile dog, and unusually roomy office.

Not really. Children are naturally loud, even when behaving. I don't want MORE noise in my office.

It has all to do with dogs in the office.

This policy of allowing dog is pushed by a majority that cannot understand that some of us simply don't like dogs at all.

>This policy of allowing dog is pushed by a majority that cannot understand that some of us simply don't like dogs at all.

Should we also ban roses, because some people don't like them? How about no meat at the workplace because it could bother vegans?

There has to be some kind of compromise by everyone if people want to share a place. Be it accepting that some people love dogs, hate roses,....

At the end, if the majority likes something, you are on the losing end in a shared environment at least (as bad as that sounds). One could also argue it is rather selfish that you want a shared environment to suit your needs only.

If something bothers you that much then you have to somehow find a compromise. Maybe you can sit away from the dog owner coworkers or something or create "dog areas" and "no-dog areas." (Another compromise, like I mentioned).

Did you just compare a dog with roses and vegan food in terms of annoyance?

I think we can all agree that dogs are obnoxious, take space, smell ,make noises, attack etc. Probably a factor a 1000 in annoyance

And for the record, I would not bring roses at work if it annoys one of my colleagues. Seriously those things are not even comparable though.

And for the record, you represent perfectly the dog owner that we all hate, that cannot understand that some of us are anxious around dogs. You think as if your dog must have all the rights and be treated as someone special

First of all, stop talking for others.

You hate dogs. Not we.

Second, I don't let my dog roam around and I am very well aware of people being anxious, but clearly you just hate on anything with dogs and are ranting here.

You can safely assume that there is a group he is speaking for.

> First of all, stop talking for others.

Take your own advice. Sure, you think your dog is no problem, but you can't speak for every other dog owner.

I'm sorry that you had a bad experience with dogs, but this is crossing into flamewar and even getting personal. Please don't do that on HN. It's enough to express your view and leave it at that.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

> How about no meat at the workplace because it could bother vegans?

That's already the case if your office is a WeWork.

> Should we also ban roses

If roses moved around, barked, and pooped on the floor, then hell yeah. Otherwise, that analogy sucks.

While we're at it, can we ban chewing with the mouth open in the office please?

Well, if you don't like dogs or other pets make your choice - go to another pet unfriendly office. Just like with allergy, if you're allergic to peanuts - stay away from them. Of course it will limit your choices and it will be hard to avoid cross-contaminations in public food chains. And it will also hurt your sense of justice - your zone of comfort will be much smaller comparing to others, that's unjust, isn't it? But that's life.

I like this better: If you like dogs, go hang out (or work) in places where dogs belong.

Agree, that's better. But what do we do then with the people who don't like them and still come there and complain?

I was referring to places like: the veterinarian, the Humane Society, or kennels (or even work-from-home).

If people complain about dogs being there, they are beyond help, lol.

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