Raising dogs in apartments.

I know there are people here who live in apartments and who have raised puppies or brought home rescue dogs in apartments.

First I want to say :hail:

and second I want to say :yikes: HOW DID YOU DO IT??

I'm a month into my first apartment experience (other than college dorm style apartment), and I have absolutely ZERO desire to raise a puppy in an apartment, or even bring home a dog from the shelter.

If for some reason Frodo kicked it before we moved out the only breed I could see myself even consider bringing home would be a greyhound or two. And they would be ones that were fostered and known to be quiet and non-reactive to sounds of any kind, lol.

I guess noise would be my main concern. How do you keep your puppies quiet enough that you don't get yourself kicked out? lol And I can't imagine potty training!

So yeah, pretty much I want to know how you handled it. Cause apartment life has seriously killed my puppy fever! (which is a really REALLY good thing )

There are a couple barky dogs in our complex, mostly they like to stand on their balcony and bark at other dogs or people outside. There is only little white thingy that I'd like to throttle, I swear her intent is to set Frodo off every time we are outside. Thankfully he rarely caves.

I raised Z in a second floor walk up. The complex wasn't ginormous and she was an awesome puppy so that helped a ton. Housetraining was probably the hardest - I got a LOT of exercise in our first two months or so until I figured out her schedule! It also really helped that there was a quiet neighborhood across the street so it was easy to go for long walks outside of the complex.

Heh, not much help... My place is just a two flat with a fenced yard, so our experience wasn't much different than having a house.

Probably would never have gotten Keevs if I was living in complex.

I lived in four different apartments with Luna.

When I got her, the girl who was fostering her lived in an apartment, so luckily I had a pretty good idea that she wasn't too barky. The first few days we lived in a place, she was a bit on edge and would bark at little things, but she'd stop pretty quickly when she realized it was nothing, and then after a few days she got used to the noises.

Thankfully I don't live in an apartment now with Keegan. I would not have gotten him if I hadn't been relatively sure I was done living in apartments. I'm in a rental house now and the thought of moving into an apartment with Keegan does scare me.

The WORST thing about living in an apartment was that you had to get dressed and look presentable EVERY TIME the dog had to go out to potty. My favorite thing about living in a house - with a lot of distance from the neighbors - is being able to go out in my bathrobe if they have to go out in the middle of the night.

I didn't think it was that bad.... honestly living with other people was far more difficult than raising in an apartment.

I'm a seasoned veteran when it comes to raising puppies in an apartment. Zero, Holden and Navi were all babies while I lived in my apartment, Pit was 6 months old or so.

My first question is how far up are you? I was on the fourth floor which made it a little easier than it could have been. When potty training an apartment pup, the stairs are your best friend. By the time Holden rolled around, I could sprint down the entire set of stairs to the parking area faster than someone could summon the elevator to my floor. Depending on the breed you might want, it may be easier to have some grass on your balcony for pottying, but I couldn't bring myself to do that. So basically with each puppy it was up and down 8 flights of stairs, puppy flapping around in my arms, every hour until they had bladder control. Long story short, you will be in great shape if you get a puppy!

Pit was the biggest noise problem in the apartment as he was afraid of everything up until he was almost 3 years old it seems. I had to practice constantly with him to desensitize him to apartment sounds like the elevator dinging, people walking by our door, people talking in the halls etc... I had Nbc0 be my noise maker while I treated him for silently listening instead of screaming and throwing himself at the door. The rest of the puppy crowd was easy as you could really control the noise levels from the get go before they developed bad habits.

So yeah. If I ever live in an a apartment again, it definitely would NOT deter me from getting a puppy.

Get a puppy! :rofl1:

I raised 2 of mine in apartments, from 8 wks old on. I guess I was lucky in that the complex I was at catered to pet people. They had converted most of their tennis courts into fenced in dog friendly areas and had lots of paved walking trails around the complex. I requested a 1st floor apt. When I couldn't get my boys outside I used a remote control car with a toy tied on top for them to chase, they were quite entertained by the car. Neither of the boys were really barkers, so that was pretty easy. The people above me made more noise than the dogs did.

Umm....I moved into a house, purely because I was frustrated trying to keep Lucy quiet in an apartment. We had a ground floor unit that opened into a patio with grass, so potty training was easy (Lucy came to us potty trained, but for fosters it was super helpful). The problem with a groundfloor unit is a LOT of people/bikes/trucks/school buses/etc go by at all hours of the day.

I lasted a year and a half after getting Lucy, and then I begged Zach to look into houses to rent!

I raised Arnold in an apartment and it wasn't terrible being a second floor walk up. I didn't love it.

I did however LOATHE having Arnold and Teddy (our chihuahua foster) in our 11th floor high rise. That was miserable. I would always forget, push off, or try to con someone else to walk him. I hated having to get fully dressed, take an elevator, a key, walk through a garage, and out into the small stinky pet potty yard. Yuck.

I vastly prefer having a yard, right now I wish even more I had a doggy door. Arnold was sick last night and the night before when Shamoo was and Denis and I took turns letting them out one at a time about 3 times. That sucks badly enough walking down stairs, talk about awful if I had to walk them outside on leash with real shoes, clothes, and try to remember a key, etc.

In day-to-day life I never found apt living that awful but if the dog is ever sick (or a puppy!) it was miserable, for me.

Yeah, that really sucks when you're getting up and dressed multiple times a night to take a dog out to poop. Especially when it's -30 out.

I have lived in apartments for the 11 years that I've had Solo and last winter added a Malinois puppy to apartment life. Yes, I am insane. My situation works well though because between me and my husband there's almost always someone at home.

The only thing that sucks now is that Pan can be reactive to people and dogs on "her" property (aka the whole apartment complex, parking lots, and surrounding area), and working on that can be incredibly challenging when you have zero control over the triggers.

I'm going to attempt to do the whole raising-a-puppy-in-an-apartment...we'll see how it goes! I figure if I can get Chloe to adapt, a puppy should be a breeze.

I'm in a complex, but not really. They are one story units, with four units on each side of the building (front and back) with parking right in front, so people shouldn't be walking back and forth outside my window all of the time as they can park right in front of their own door. The lot is small, and it is off a not-so-traveled street, so traffic should be at a minimum. You walk out the door and go to the end of the unit and there is a huge grass yard for potty breaks. (One of the apartments I looked at I liked, but turned down because it would have taken me AGES to get to small grass spot, and I didn't want to do that at two in the morning with a puppy. Not just because of how annoying that would have been, but for safety reasons.)

Chloe already goes out to the bathroom on a leash as our yard isn't fenced, so I'm used to throwing on a coat and shoes to take her out. I have no shame and will probably still walk her in my PJs with my hair like a crazy person even when I move. LOL

My one worry is that if Chloe will teach the puppy to bark at everything...and that I SO do not need. Luckily, the breeds I'm interested in aren't prone to being vocal - and if I adopted, I would be dang sure to make sure I'm getting one that is quiet.

My idea of hell. I don't want each wee to be a mission!!!

I raised Mia in an apartment..... It wasn't a very good idea but I had no idea Mia would end up so loud and destructive of a puppy.

I pretty much survived by spending literally 2+ hours of my day letting her run around off leash at the park.

I'm in a duplex/townhome now and still worry about sharing a wall although the lady next door swears she never hears my dogs bark, which is good.

I've raised a few puppies in an apartment. Yeah, it wasn't the best place for a puppy, but I'd do it again if I had to!

Rylie and Chloe spent their first 3 years in an apartment. Tucker lived in an apartment for only a few months. Rory and Emma grew up in our house which was much easier. No flights of stairs to run down for potty breaks!

I've had all my coonhounds and fosters in apartments... I guess I've just never known any differently? I feel like I can put any dog in an apartment lol

Maybe it's because I don't know any better...
then again, people think we are crazy for simply LIVING in an apartment 52 floors above the ground with dogs period lol

I've never raised a puppy, but the idea of an animal being "let out" into a yard or just stepping out my door to be outside is so foreign to me that I doubt it'll be that much of an adjustment lol

There are some plus sides

-It's a forced socialization. In elevators/in the building and around it alone your puppy will meet all kinds of people/dogs and even cats lol and be on floor surfaces from your apartment, to hallways, to stairs, to elevators.. sounds of people apartments, smells of everybody cooking and just all kinds of things for your pup to experience

- Bathroom time is always supervised and always re-enforced (so potty training comes easier a lot of the time) . By the time you have made your way out the door, down the stairs/elevator, through the lobby and outside, you are SO HAPPY to see your puppy go that you are ALWAYS throwing a party when it happens lol and of course, you are always there.. no way they are making that trip by themselves.

- Potty schedules are easier to determine. You might not remember every time you stepped out in the yard.. but trust me, you remember every time you made the journey out of your apartment to the potty place, and you REALLY REMEMBER each time your puppy actually went.

- I like to call it "forced bonding" Lol it's a term I heard at the dog park one day actually.. You and this puppy are stuck together in a small space. and like most people stuck together in small spaces, like college room-mates.. there is no avoiding each other or getting away from each other so ...you tend to spend a lot more time getting to know one another/being around each other and learning quirks/habits.
Sticking this puppy in a spare room or yard is not an option..so you are kind of on the fast-track course to you and this dog getting to know one another VERY VERY WELL.

- Say goodbye to the lazy/anti-social lifestyle and HELLO to being a city dog owner. It's an exclusive club. Your life of lounging around by yourself are over. For now on, you are OUT and AROUND where-ever you live, all the time. You have to be. Puppies go to the bathroom a lot and they need walks. Never noticed that park 5 blocks down? Starbucks down the street? Pond down the lane? now you do.

- You are no longer "Mr/Mrs.So and So." another perk of being a city dog owner. You are and forever will be "Max's mom" "Fifi's Dad" etc.. You will go to the park/play areas around the same time as other people and start to notice the same dogs/people.. get to know em.. because chances are, you guys are gonna be close lol It's an exclusive club but a loving one most of the time

- No need to worry about your dog/puppy wearing collars/leads inside. Even if he does door dash.. where is he gonna go? lol

- "Creative inside games" will become your specialty. Forget dog books or training DVDs.. you want to talk to some creative dog entertaining small space games.. talk to dog owners in apartments.
Boy do we come up with the craziest things to get our dogs to leave us alone when we don't feel like walking them or it's winter time with no yard to run in :rofl1:

Kong stuffers? We are usually Professionals. That's kid stuff.

I am talking about the RIDICULOUS games we come up with that A. involve staying inside and B. Don't take up a lot of space...

*500 toy pickup where we throw toys everywhere and ask the dog to retrieve each and put them in the toy box.
*Hallway olympics which pretty simply involves doing laps around the hallway as fast as you can before neighbors come out and ask WTF you are doing lol
* Mini fetch which involves finding the ONE longest length of space SOMEWHERE in your apartment (usually it involves sitting in your bedroom and throwing toys kind of outside towards the living room)

*Hide & Seek.. which is less of a game (but still kind of a game) which involves you running around and throwing toys while also trying to find a spot in your apartment somewhere where you can take a nap without a dog in your face :rofl1:

I will echo what Fran says about creative games,I sit on my sofa and lob toy's down the hallway into the bathroom and Coco runs up and down it.
One of the other games I like is "Coco up high",I let her sit in my dressing gown while I make breakfast so she can see what is up high.
I never really thought about the close bonding,infant Coco doesn't have a choice really,unless she wants to sit in the hallway or bathroom then she is with me,literally I live in a room.

I have always had to go outside with my dog (no fence and in town) so that was never a big deal to me.

I guess moreso I worry about the noise level. What happens if your dog decides to bark its fool head off every time you leave, lol.

I never had any complaints from neighbors but that was always my big fear. as I mentioned recently, Mia is a loudmouth.

bark. collar.

lol

Good owner, right?