Keeping your Dog in Apartments

Deciding you need to live in an apartment comes with certain responsibilities. If you have a dog  you will find these responsibilities increase.

The first thing you need to do is make sure you limit your search to apartments that allow dog ownership. This won’t be as easy as you think. There’s an enormous number of apartments available, but only a limited number of them let you have dogs living with you. Don’t even think about sneaking a dog into an apartment that won’t let you have one. You will get caught.

You should expect to pay for the privilege of having a dog staying with you. The amount the landlords charge for dog friendly apartments varies, but it can range from $10-50. This gets added to your monthly rent bill, it’s not a onetime expense.

Before signing your rental agreement, you need to be up front about the type of dog you own. It might seem harsh, but some landlords won’t allow certain dogs on their property. Most of the time this rule wasn’t created by the landlord, but rather the insurance company who deems certain breeds of dog’s as more likely to bite another human.  Some landlords will be happy to let a small dog live with you, but might be more skeptical if you have a large breed. You also have to be honest about the number of dogs you’re going to have living with you.

When you’re sharing apartments with dogs and other tenants, you have to be mindful of your dog’s behavior. It’s constant barking might not bother you, but it could be driving your next door neighbor up a wall. If you can’t keep your dog fairly quiet, you might have to consider different living situations.

Your dog will be coming into contact with other dogs, as well as lots of people. They need to learn how to control themselves and behave in public. Taking them to obedience classes where they learn basic manners and will develop a social life goes a long way towards making them a great apartment dog. When you come face to face with one of your neighbors, you’re dog needs to be under control and behaving themselves.

Be realistic about your dog’s ability to live happily in an apartment. Some dogs take to it, other’s don’t. Just because you have a high energy dog doesn’t mean you have to find a new home for them, but it does mean you need to be willing to adapt your daily schedule to make sure your dog gets plenty of exercise, even when it’s raining or snowing.

Since your dog will be living in such close contact with so many humans and other dogs, you need to make sure they are up to date on all of their shots.