HOUSTON -- The Houston Police Department's K9 division officers are suing the city of Houston for what they say is unpaid overtime caring for their dogs at home, KPRC Local 2 reported Thursday.

Fifty officers filed a federal lawsuit claiming the city is violating the Fair Labor Standards Act by requiring them to work 40 hours a week plus additional time to care for their animals at home.

The complaint states the officers spend a significant amount of personal time to "groom, feed, board, exercise, and generally provide for the dog."

The city of Houston said it wants to work out a situation where the officers spend more time on the job maintaining the animals.

"What the city would like to do is have the officers spend more time during the regular work hours to take care of those animals to minimize overtime because these are tight financial times," said Arturo Michel, an attorney for the city of Houston.

However, those who represent the officers said factoring in that time into a normal workweek is impossible.

"The officers do a big part of caring for the animal at work," said Gary Blankinship with the Houston Police Officer's Union. "There's still an hour a day the officers spend at home caring for the animals."