Can employees bring their new puppies to work?
Allowing an office manager to bring a new puppy to work creates an awkward management position where saying no feels difficult. Practical issues like potty training combined with liability concerns make daily office attendance disruptive, forcing business owners to weigh staff happiness against workplace productivity.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1saying no citing insurance or liability reasonsDid this help you?
- 2permitting a brief one-time visit just to show off the puppyDid this help you?
- 3offering work-from-home days or negotiating alternative arrangementsDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“My admin/office manager just got a new puppy and wants to bring puppy to work.”source ↗
“Frankly, I don't like to be in the position to say 'no' to something like, can I bring my pets to work?”source ↗
“While he's adorable, I think for liability and practical reasons (potty training) you'd rather they not bring the puppy in”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 6Is it normal for a nonprofit to ask employees for donations?
- 4How to handle fake emotional support animals in restaurants
- 2How to play with multiple pets without one hogging all the toys
- 7Can a first year teacher ask for time off?
- 9Why do I resent my dog after having a baby?
- 5How to stop family from forcing me to rehome my cat