Dogs And Condos: Let Me Just Clarify Something!

Yesterday, a colleague from Long and Foster called with an interesting little tidbit. 

He'd been at a condo board meeting (he wouldn't say which one) the night before.  And they were having one of those contentious meetings about whether to amend the association's bylaws to allow dogs.  Then, at the peak of the arguments someone stood up and said:

"Well, in Pat Kennedy's blog, she says there should never be dogs in condos!" 

And that was that.  The dogs got voted down!

Now, I can't find the blog where I allegedly wrote this.  I might have been BWL'ing* - or I might not have even written it!

But this is what I think I would have meant to write if I wrote about this at all:

My beloved dog, Willie the Hyperactive Labradoodle, should never, ever live in a condo - at least not one that involved an elevator ride to get to the great outdoors.  He would hump legs.  He would inappropriately pee in the hallways.  He would roll in puddles outside and track in muddy paw prints through the lobby.  And he would bark his little head off any time anyone opened a door and stepped into the hallway. 

While this applies to Willie, and probably to a few other dogs out there, I've known many dogs who behaved perfectly living in condos and coops.  It depends on the dog and it's owner. Some dogs (and their humans) are very well trained and can live in total harmony with their neighbors, whether in a house or an apartment.  Others should live on a farm with lots of sheep they can chase around to burn off energy.

What I have written about a few times are condo associations with overly restrictive pet rules.  Those with no pet policies are much harder to sell than those in more pet friendly buildings.  And the prices tend to be lower in the more restricted buildings, even if their residents don't have to worry about being molested in the elevator by a large, drooling canine. 

So, bottom line, I would never, under any circumstances, ever buy a condo in a no-pet building.  Even if Willie were not an issue, I have a couple of cats who are fine with the great indoors.  Still, I understand how this is a topic that makes people on both sides of the issue crazy if they inhabit the same condo building.

That's one reason I live in a house.

*Um, BLW, for those of you unfamiliar with the term, stands for "Blogging While Loopy", something frowned upon in the Active Rain blogging guidelines.