A number of employers in Luxembourg now allow dogs, particularly in tech, consulting and some of the newer offices around the Cloche d'Or and the Kirchberg. It sounds like the perfect solution to a long working day, and for the right dog and the right office it is.
It is also the arrangement most likely to be withdrawn after one bad week, which is why the preparation matters more than the enthusiasm.
Before you ask
Three permissions, not one. The employer's policy, which may exist formally or may be a manager's discretion. The building, since a lease or a co-ownership regulation can prohibit animals regardless of what your employer thinks. And your immediate colleagues, who include people with allergies and people who are genuinely afraid of dogs and will not say so in an open-plan meeting.
Ask about the practical details at the same time: which entrance, which lift, whether the dog may be in meeting rooms, the canteen, the kitchen, and what happens if somebody complains. Written answers are better than assumed ones.
Remember also that dogs must be on a lead in the common parts of buildings, in lifts and in car parks open to the public, so the office may be relaxed while the route to it is not.
Your colleague with a dog phobia has the same right to a comfortable workplace as you have. A dog kept on a lead, out of walkways, and never allowed to approach anyone uninvited is what makes both possible.
The honest test: is your dog suited?
Suited: an adult dog that settles for long periods, is not noise reactive, greets calmly, is house-trained beyond doubt, does not guard food or space, and is comfortable with lifts and hard floors.
Not suited, at least not yet: puppies and adolescents, dogs that bark at every corridor sound, dogs that follow you room to room, dogs that cannot be left in a meeting room while you present, anything reactive to strangers or to other dogs, and dogs still learning to be alone.
A dog that cannot hold a settle for an hour in your flat cannot do eight hours in a strange building full of movement. The preparation is the same either way: build a settle on a portable mat at home first, which is the single most useful office skill a dog can have.
What to take
- The mat, always the same one, which becomes the dog's place anywhere
- Water and a bowl, plus a spare towel
- A long-lasting chew for the first hour and for meetings
- Poo bags and cleaning supplies, including an enzyme cleaner for the accident that should not happen but might
- A house line or short lead to keep the dog near your desk without tying it to furniture that moves
- A plan for where the dog goes during a call, a presentation and lunch
The first day
Come in early, before the floor fills, so the dog meets the space rather than the crowd. Walk it properly first, thirty-five minutes with real sniffing, not ten minutes around the block. Set the mat down under or beside the desk, out of the walkway, and reward the dog for lying on it, several times, in the first hour.
Do a short day. Two or three hours is a successful first visit, and leaving while everything is still going well is what makes the second visit easy. Stop the greetings from becoming a parade: people will want to meet the dog, and a queue of ten colleagues in the first hour produces an over-aroused animal that then cannot settle.
Take the dog out every couple of hours, briefly, on a lead, and always to the same spot. The building's entrance is not that spot.
Managing the ordinary day
Feed at the usual times and not from the desk, or you will have a dog that learns to work the room at lunchtime. Keep the mat rule absolute: nobody feeds the dog, nobody disturbs it when it is lying down. Watch for signs of stress rather than waiting for noise: panting in a cool room, an inability to lie down, yawning, lip licking, following you constantly.
For meetings, either take the dog with the mat into the room, if it is settled enough, or leave it in a quiet space it already knows. Do not improvise a new location for the first time on the day of an important call.
And be realistic about your own attention. A dog in an office is another responsibility during a working day that already has enough of them. Plenty of people try it twice and conclude that a midday walk at home is a better arrangement, which is a perfectly good conclusion rather than a failure.
When it does not work
Stop bringing the dog if it barks at the floor, if somebody has complained, if the dog is visibly stressed, or if you spend the day managing it rather than working. Withdrawing voluntarily is better than having the policy withdrawn, and it keeps the door open for a later attempt with a more settled dog.
The alternative arrangement is not a downgrade. A walk in the middle of the day at home gives the dog its own quiet flat, its own bed and its own routine, with a break in the absence and a report so you know how it went. For most dogs and most offices in this city, that is the better version of the same idea.
General information for dog owners in Luxembourg, not veterinary or legal advice. For your own dog, ask your vet, a qualified behaviourist or your commune. How this journal is written and checked.
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