How do I win this dog's trust?

• I just started doing contract work in a small office a few times a week, and one of my co-workers brings her adorable Australian Shepherd (~1 year old) on Tuesdays. From day one, this dog has been very threatened by my presence, and unless she is restrained, she will attack me whenever I walk across the office. Are there any things I can try to help ease this awkward situation? First of all, I'm trying hard not to take this too personally. I'm not a dog owner, but am friendly towards dogs. I'm told that the dog has only behaved this way toward the mailman and a former dog walker who carried her baby in a sling. (two-headed monster) Other pertinent facts: • I have been in the office three times with the dog. • I am a woman, in an office with 5 other women and 2 men. • I have a soft voice, with a gentle manner. • If I am accompanied by another co-worker, the dog is less reactive. • I have two cats, but am told the dog does not have a problem with cats. • The dog is from a breeder, and does not have a traumatic past. • The dog is about 30 pounds. • We have progressed to the point where the dog will come over to my desk on her own, a few times a day, and I will feed her biscuits, which she takes from me and eats elsewhere. • I have not tried to reach my hand out and pet the dog, ever. • Usually when I walk within 10 feet of the dog, she will growl, then bark. • If not restrained by her owner during the barking, the dog will usually attack me, rearing and clawing my thighs, nipping me with her teeth, but so far not any vicious biting. I am not afraid of this dog as I would be with a true attack dog, just really perplexed, and want to stop being such a threat to the dog! So far, the dog's owner has tried: • Hugging me (on day one) to show that I am a friend. • Giving me biscuits to give to the dog. • Feeding treats whenever I move about the office, to distract her and try to change her emotional state. • Restraining the dog when things get out of hand. • The owner is truly apologetic, and must feel worse than I do! So far, there are tiny signs of progress, but at the end of the day it seems to all devolve into a mess and the dog still tries to attack me when I try to leave the office because the door happens to be within 10 feet of her! What can I do (or not do) to win this dog's trust?

• Answer:

  Sciatrix: its a small 30lb dog who randomly attacks people. Someone, as a reflex because they don't expect to get attacked by a dog at work, is going to smack/ shove/ knee that dog away unthinkingly when it jumps on them. And get very angry. The owner is an idiot to have the dog there and is probably incapable of training it not to be aggressive. First: Sure, someone is going to react badly to this dog at some point, and that makes it a liability. No issue with that--people react the way people react to surprising and upsetting situations, and the owner of the dog needs to be prepared for that and keep the dog restrained so it's not likely to cause an issue. What I took offense at was encouraging the OP to behave aggressively to the dog, which I honestly and truly think is likely to get the OP bitten. My first goal for the OP is to avoid a dog bite, regardless of what the owner does (which is not entirely within the OP's control). Being as calm and nonthreatening as possible is the best way to avoid a dog bite until the situation with the dog is under control, whether that be removing the dog from the office or dealing with the reactivity. I agree that the dog should not currently be in the workplace. However, from the OP it straight says that the OP is the only person in the workplace the dog reacts to this way and that the OP has only interacted with the dog on three occasions thus far. That tells me that the owner is apparently trying to work on this before giving up on it. There are a couple of other comments in the OP ("if not restrained," "owner is truly sorry") that back this perception up. Now. If it was my dog, I'd remove the dog from the situation until I could figure out what was going on. But from the sound of the OP, this does not sound like this is a common problem with this dog, and I don't fault the owner for taking some time to go "!!! I can't figure out what is going wrong!" rather than immediately removing the dog from a situation where it had apparently been fine for some time before. (Or rather, I think it's an understandable human impulse to go "!!! This was working so well, can we fix it so it continues to work?" especially if the OP is indicating that they would like to help fix the situation with the dog--which seems evident from the text of the question.) Which brings me to my second point: like it or not, the OP is very new, and has joined a really small organization. I can see not feeling confident going "this dog that has been coming to the office way before I joined, who has been totally fine with EVERYONE else, has to go because it mysteriously hates me and me alone" as a new hire. When I made the comment about rocking the boat, I did it because I'd like to make room for the possibility that the OP is not concerned about their safety and is more concerned with building good relations with their coworkers. That's how I'd feel in this situation going from the behavior of the dog. I'm not the OP, maybe they feel differently, but I wanted to make room for that interpretation. That said, I totally agree that bringing the issue up to management is a good idea and that there needs to be an immediate plan to keep the dog from being loose around OP until the reactivity is solved, IF it continues coming to the office. Someone with authority in the office really needs to mediate here!