How to Tell a Co-Worker Not to Bring Their Dog to Work

In case you didn't realize, many adults are afraid of dogs. Before you blow me off by saying, "I know," please let me explain.

Sometimes when someone is bitten by a dog as a child, they carry that fear with them into adulthood. The only real difference is that a child who's afraid of dogs will openly cry, yell, and run away; whereas an adult would be more likely to suffer in silence. Please be sensitive to the feelings of others. It's also possible that your coworkers may have an "irrational" fear of dogs. And by "irrational" I mean that there's no one incident that caused the phobia; they're just afraid of dogs.

If you're bringing your dog to work, remember that no one is asking you to "cure" your co-workers' phobia with your own version of exposure therapy. Your insensitivity is not appreciated and not professional.

When you bring your dog to work, you're triggering pet allergies.

You know that some people are allergic to dogs, or even pet dander in general, so that's probably why you made the sweeping statement, "No one's allergic to dogs, right?" the minute you brought your dog in.

Let's presume that you would refrain from bringing your dog to work if someone had a severe allergic reaction right in front of your eyes. I know that you're not trying to actually hurt anyone.

But here's the thing: some adults who are not willing to admit to having a fear of dogs will instead say that they are allergic. For them, it's a civilized way of saving face. The implied conversation would be:
Co-worker: "I would absolutely enjoy your dog's company if it didn't threaten my health."
You: "I'm so sorry. I didn't realize that I put you in such a position. It won't happen again."
See how genteel that is?

To reiterate: This is not about you determining an acceptable level of allergic reaction. This is about you willfully complying to company policy.

When your bring your dog to work, other employees stop working.

Yes, there are people in the office (store, factory) who love your dog just as much as you do. Certain co-workers will stop what they're doing, run over and do all kinds of ga-ga-goo-gooing over your dog. But you see, they're not supposed to stop what they're doing, because what they're doing is their job.

This is not appropriate in the workplace. Again, you and your co-workers are supposed to be working, not playing with dogs.

Please, save your personal interests for your personal time.