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Comment by tombert | Hacker News Reader

We tried that for awhile at a previous job. It was fun at first, but there were two problems:

1) Dogs like to poop. A lot. Even with a responsible owner, if the dog runs around the office frequently, they would poop, and someone would step in it, and that is gross.

2) Dogs like to bark. Most dogs are fine, but occasionally there would be one that wouldn't shut up and get them all started.

After a few months, they got rid of the policy.

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Huh. I worked at an office with dogs for ~4 years and never experienced pooping or barking problems or heard rumors of such issues.

The biggest problem we had were allergies. There was an eventual compromise with dogs only allowed in specific conference rooms that had air purifiers running.

I think the pooping mostly stemmed from it being a pretty big office, and a non-enforcement of "keep your dog near you". Maybe with better policies it wouldn't have been an issue.

Yeah, I have dog/cat allergies and it can be terrible, depending on the dog/cat.

Unfortunately, based on my very limited experience, most pet owners don't want to properly train their pets, and these are the consequences of lack of training (assuming these pets don't have a specific mental disorder).

If you ask experienced dog trainers, they would all tell you that pooping and barking can be fixed with proper training for pretty much any dog.

Sounds like yet another reason to have private offices.

Like dogs, some people just don't shut up, and once two people are talking, the rest often don't see much reason to stay quiet, since the silence has already been broken.

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