High rise hounds

JanW · Master

High rise hounds

Teresa · Enlightened One

your move sounds perfectly reasonable to me. after all, you know your dogs best eh

Isla · Enlightened One

Nope, don't see the problem! We moved from a flat to the house we're in now and Millie and Wills were perfectly happy in the flat. Although we had a wee bit garden, it wasn't secure, so like you said - guaranteed walk every time! Still haven't managed to get them out that habit. Millie will not go in the garden first thing and will hang on until we go for our walk. Means an earlier start on weekends than we might like!

Gail · Big Cheese

Best of luck with your move. I'm sure the dogs will love having a park so close at hand to make new friends

I don't have a garden either but the dogs get extra walks and i stay fit with all the excercise

Jennifer · Big Cheese

Dont feel bad, i am just about move from a flat to a house with a garden after 6 years having stayed in the flat. I have always had Eva and Toby in the flat and its never done them any harm, and as other folk have said, the dogs are guarenteed a walk. You get folk with a garden that never walk their dogs like one of my friends

Lorna · GAL Shop Co-Ordinator

Don't worry - I have lived in two flats with Harley and he was fine - as you say - guaranteed walks as we didn't have a garden but had a nice park accross the road.

Good luck with the move

JanW · Master

Thanks for all the support folks

Anyanka · Master

Such a tedious question, isn't it! Too many people assume that you need a garden to exercise a dog and - worse: that letting the dog out in the garden a few times a day is enough!

Ambers Mo

As has been said - you know your dogs best and will have their best interests at heart. I'm sure that so long as they are with their "family" they will be perfectly happy.

Steve · Master

I'm up at 545am every mornng during the week to take the dogs for a walk and as a result that is when their own alarm clock goes off. Harry is pretty whiney these days in the morning - if it is the weekend I shout at them from upstairs to get to their beds and it always works for an hour or two. The trick is to give the "voice of god" kind of shout so that they know you mean business. Took a while to perfect!

It is a pain in the neck though when the whiney whines take hold.

Amber · Master

I've had greyhounds for 5 years and always lived in a flat. TBH I am dying to get a place with a garden (have now bought somewhere with 15 acres, so from rags to riches! Will be a while yet before we can move though as it all needs to be deerfenced and secured).

Flats are definitely do-able and as you say, the dogs get lots of walks, but there are disadvantages...for example, one of mine has bad arthritis and if he gets lame, there is no way I could single-handedly carry him up and down stairs (he's 38 kg!!). If your dogs are young, sociable with other dogs etc., mobile and don't get injured in such a way that they cannot do the stairs, then it can be great, but I've also found not having a garden to be a strain as one of mine is reactive to some other dogs and to cats and we have loads round here. It would be nice to have a private garden so he (and we) didn't have to face potentially stressful encounters 4 x a day. So think it depends on the dogs and owners really - I'm sure yours will be very happy.

yvonne · Master

I know exactly what you mean about living upstairs when your dog is lame. I lived in an upstairs maisonette until a few months ago and had 2 flights of stairs to get to my front door. When Angus damages his hip at new year i had to carry him up and down the stairs. it was a strain on my back and very uncomfortable for him.

However i certainly believe that if you live in flat or do not have a garden your dog can sometimes be better off. Like it has been said before, you tend to spend a lot more time with your dog and your dog gets walked a lot more. It is an unfortunate fact that some dog owners who have a garden tend to just let them out in their garden. I dont think it is detrimental in anyway to a dogs well being if it is homed to an owner who lives in a flat.

Amber · Master

Yeh, I think most would be fine in a flat, as mine have been and enjoy the extra walks. But it would be preferable for an old, arthritic, grumpy old hound like my Oscar to have 2 nice walks a day and outings to the garden, rather than having to do these extra 'toilet' walks round the streets, where he shouts at the top of his voice at the local moggies and dogs! I especially dislike taking him out in the dark round the streets (and definitely wouldn't go to the park after dark!), as he is even more reactive to animals in the dark and obviously it's harder for me to spot them coming. I usually walk mine separately for the late night pee walk, due to all the cats and things around, it's just easier, so end up doing 5 or 6 walks a day, some days! With the last foster dog I had, she was so reactive to small furries, including small dogs, that she had to be walked separately most of the time, so was doing up to 8 walks a day. I think that an unreasonable amount of walks to do - most dogs that have a garden for toilet purposes shouldnt need more than two or three walks a day. It was my choice and I'm prepared to do it but after years on end, it can become a real grind and wears you down. Hence why I am very excited to be moving!

Some other dogs may need to have a garden for various reasons, like being unsafe to let off the lead anywhere else, unable to walk much through illness or old age, or housetraining issues, so just depends on the dog really. Both mine have never had any problem with housetraining, but have to admit with the foster dogs I've had in a flat it was *much* harder to housetrain without the benefit of a garden.

-- Edited by Amber at 00:14, 2006-09-06