Has anyone ever successfully transitioned large dogs from a house with a decent but not huge yard to an apartment with teeny yard?

We're thinking of making a move because an awesome opportunity just popped up yesterday. The numbers make a lot of sense, so now we're evaluating lifestyle/emotional consequences. It's definitely a downsize, but totally doable.

Our biggest concern is Bella and our second biggest is Roscoe. 1) Bella will have to integrate with their* 2 dogs and consider them part of her pack or there's no way we can live there. She'd be frantic 24/7 with dogs milling around "her" house. 2)Roscoe & Bella have gotten used to a doorman lifestyle - i.e., when they want out, they ask, when they want in, they ask. In the new place, it would be scheduled because we'd have to put them on leash and go downstairs & around the wall and into the fenced yard, which is jumpable, so no unsupervised time.

Anyway, I'm just looking for input on anyone who has downsized with dogs. How hard a transition was it?

ETA: "their" refers to the owners of the place we're considering renting. I forgot that I deleted what the opportunity is. It's a long story.

It was a pretty big transition for Min to go from livestock guardian with free range of 60 acres, to inside dog, and leash walked (or kenneled one weekend we were away).

Dogs are pretty resilient. Give them some time, a fair schedule, to adjust, and I dare say it will be less fuss than yo might imagine now. Bella in particular you may have to do some extra leg work to make sure the new place is a good change rather than a bad one! You can do that by increasing the time you have to dedicate to her (I know, water from a stone).

Good luck!

I echo the "dogs are resilient" comment. Of course there will be an adjustment period for *all* of you, but if the opportunity is worth the extra effort, I would think the dogs will be just fine.

In other words, I personally, would make it work with my three (and you know Jack and Bella are twins separated at birth), if this opportunity is a really good one.

I also will echo the "dogs are resilent" comment.

But I do have friends and their dog ( they only had 1) did not do well switching to apartment life. Downsizing wasn't that bad as they took her out more often then before and she got lots of walks. However, barking was their main issue. She was a barker to begin with, but hearing noises from shared walls would set her off, and it brought on more of a barking problem then she had had in the past. When they were at work there were mulitlple complaints that she wouldn't stop. Needless to say, they weren't making friends at the complex. They ended up breaking their year lease to find a place they could all live.

Moving to a townhouse helped immensely. Although still a shared wall, it became more noise friendly than their previous apartment was for the dog.

I guess one thing i would look at then if i worried about reactivity is wall thickness, how bad does the sound penetrate from your neighbours..I know from personal experience we've lived in some that were great, and others, where we could here them taking a wizz


Wishing you guys all the best.

I have an enormous yard that doesn't get used by my except as a bathroom, unless I am out there with them. I'd rather be out somewhere more fun than my yard during dog time so it would make no difference to my two.
My dogs actually prefer Grandma's house where there is no fenced yard, because they get walked every time they need to pee!

Jen:
Does the new place have an enclosed balcony or side yard?

We had a similar "opportunity" come up ourselves. We manage a large house and have the "staff quarters"/"guest house" to ourselves. We share the back patio which goes up to the dog yard but we are unable to let our dogs have the run of the place because 1) they would go into the owners house and have barking/playing matches with their dogs, 2) we have bobcats in the area who would love to have my shelties as a snack.

What we have been able to do is fence off the area closest to our patio door and put in a doggy door so that they can relieve themselves on the concrete. I just scrape things off and hose it down once or twice a day. This coupled with daly walks and other excursions seem to work just fine.

We've sort of done the opposite - though our new place is definitely a downsize, it does have an enclosed garden patio, so Nummy can be outside (never unsupervised, though!). It's been a nice change for all three of us. In our previous places we had to take her outside on leash for potty breaks. It was a bit of a chore, but since we never had to do more than 10 stairs it wasn't too bad. Regular, scheduled potty times are a necessity, though, in that sort of situation; try to avoid "mom, I need to go OUT!" moments or you'll be in and out all day.

I will say that it is difficult but possibly do-able. Knowing that Bella and Sadie are similar in temperament, I'd seriously consider whether this is a good thing for you guys. We had a hard time with Sadie in an apartment. She would bark at any passing sound, the neighbors up stairs, the neighbor's door closing, etc. We did OK in places where I was not working and could take her out for very long walks, or trips to the dog park on a frequent basis. She did best when she was in an organized class like agility. We did have a hard time though for a while. Some apartments were better than others. I didn't find that it was so much access to potty areas that was the issue with us, it was the enclosed space and the presence of others so close to her that caused problems for Sadie.

I don't know how Bella would do with that type of situation, but you know her the best. I think Roscoe will do just fine with the transfer.

this is/was an issue we have Soda as well. Her previous home was a detached single home and she went to living in an apartment and we did have issues (well, what I consider issues) with barking at passersby, which would get the other two riled up. She got better but does still bark more than the others. We've moved again to a almost detached condo with a yardy thing but we've actually had MORE issues with passersby and it took a couple of weeks for her to learn to shut up. It's still a process though.

Thanks for all the input, everyone! Lots of good stuff.

This isn't a true apartment; I just used that term to convey the space difference. It's the upstairs of a guest cottage on pretty rural property. So we'd only have one neighbor below us, and the owners swear they're okay with dogs upstairs (current tenant has one).

We go back and forth hourly about it.

our main issue with apartment-living is having to navigate down an elevator or 2 flights of stairs for all potty breaks/walks, which we do 4 times a day - this can be tough given our schedule, and unfortunately we lost the privilege of a pet sitter when the complex cracked down on main door access. thus my 2 now go to daycare on appropriate days, which is expensive and not my favorite thing, given p-chan's reactivity issues. they do a good job handling here there though. but i will be much happier when we are in a house with a doggy door and the ability to have a pet sitter come by on days i work late... which will be in 2 weeks!

so would you guys be getting a pet sitter regularly, or be able to let them out pretty frequently?

We moved from our house with a yard to our temporary apt. (2 more weeks!). Jake loves being outside and this has definitely been a change for him but he seems fine with it. The extra hall noises etc. are the worst part and me having to go walk them as opposed to letting them into the yard. We are on the ground floor and our back sliding glass doors open to a big grassy area so no stairs etc. involved. The other day we tied the dogs to a steak in the ground and played catch. Jake loved it. However, not only does he not have his outdoors to run in and squirrels to chase, they also have not gotten as much walking and hiking in. They make up for it with playing inside a ton (they love the carpet). I don't think it is ideal for Jake long term but for the few weeks it has been fine! Longer term, I'd need to do more walks, etc. for him to be truly happy.

I think being on the 2nd floor and having to leash the dogs every time they needed to go out would be THE big pain in the neck for me.
My two definitely need space to run free, since they never were taken on walks by their previous owners. They came from acres of freedom to our fenced backyard that is about half an acre and I thought they would miss the space, but they are fine with it.

If you can live with the stairs and the jumpable fence for quick outtings, and take them for long walks for exciting new scents, and perhaps a dog park for leash free time, I guess it could work.

Is there a way you can take them to the new yard, actually walk down from the upstairs living area, and see how manageable it is for you and them? That might make your decision easier.

My only concern would be the fact that you do not have tiny dogs that you can carry down steps and let run in a yard with a low fence. I know when Rudi tore his ACL, I never would have managed if we had steps to contend with to get him to the yard to potty.