[aaafluochugh]

My boyfriend's friend went up to the animal shelter the other day to try and adopt this pretty lil pit, only problem is the shelter wouldn't let him adopt her. Aparently in Hamilton OH you have to own your own home to adopt a pit. Just wanted to know what you all thought about this, i mean plenty of people rent properties, I don't see why they shouldn't let the dog go to a perfectly good home but thats just me.

[hubua990]

Lots of landlords don't allow pets in general. And then there are those that have breed issues, either personally or because of insurance restrictions. When you rent, it's considered a temporary living arrangement. Your current landlord may be ok with a pet, but when that lease is up, and you have to move, any dog could make finding a new home hard, and pit bull type dogs could make it EXTREMELY difficult, which could land the dog back at the shelter or worse. Craigslist is full of "my landlord says the dog has to go" and "my new place doesn't allow pets" ads. The shelter is most likely looking to protect the Dog from that possible future.

Just want to add...I manage rental properties. I personally love animals but I require a giant pet deposit because the destruction a dog or cat can do to my flooring, walls, cabinets, doors, etc...is extremely expensive and the general pet owning public does not properly train or contain their pets.

[disappointment2]

Every shelter has their own policy. If he wants to adopt a dog that bad, find another shelter. Or he could try taking a written notice from his landlord saying its okay for him to have the dog on the property.

However I can say I do understand where the shelter is coming from on this one. They put in a lot of time and money into the dogs at their facility and when they adopt the dog out they don't want to see the dog come back, especially a pit bull. Being that they are so hard to adopt. And the shelter probably sees renting out this dog to someone who rents as a risk. Obviously there are a lot of landlords that won't allow a person to rent their property if they own specific breeds of dogs. There are a lot of landlords that don't allow pets in general.

Personally I do rent with a dog (non bully breed) and well I won't get another dog until I own my own place. There is a lot less hassle when you have pets in your own home.

[DeilMikina]

I completely understand and support it, finding a rental that allows a dog is hard enough, finding a rental that allows a pit bull, especially in a state filled with BSL, impossible. My first dog came from exactly that type of situation, they had to move and couldn't find anyplace that would allow "dangerous" breeds. OH has pretty strict state laws on how pit bulls have to be contained as well don't they? Having either a fenced yard or kennel with a top, muzzle, plus extra insurance.

[Blolover11]

I completely get it, and while it may seem a bit extreme, I can understand.

My son is having a hard time finding a rental house that will except Trigger, I do not want to imagine the alternative, Trigger has a home with us until he can find a house to rent.

[Larisochka]

I don't see why they shouldn't let the dog go to a perfectly good home but thats just me.

Too many of this breed suffer because of their owners that rent. I highly suggest if you do NOT own a Pit Bull and you DO rent, PLEASE -- for the sake of the dog -- do not acquire a Pit Bull.*

Carla

[DumnEuronoumn]

Our shelter requires the name and number of your landlord and will call to make sure it's okay before adopting out ANY pet. If your landlord says no, you can't adopt.

[hotelhyatt]

My take on it is that a committed dog owner will plan ahead and keep looking until they find another rental that allows their breed of choice. However, not all pet owners are committed. It's not a law that you have to own to adopt in any city, so friend could go to another shelter if he is determined. But I would have a talk with him about the "what if's" to make sure he understands that for the next 10-15 years he will have to either make sure he can get a rental that allows his dog or buy a house in an area without BSL.

Ohio repealing statewide BSL can't happen fast enough. From the rumors I have heard, sometime between now and the end of the year if they are going to do it.

[BoomBully]

I'm on the fence with this because I can clearly see both sides.

We rented, we live in a province with BSL (if people in fact abided by this law, pit bull type dogs would not exist, they were all supposed to be spayed and neutered) and I was honest with my landlord. I provided him a whack of references, vets, my boss/trainer and he met them and saw how well trained they were. Not a problem.

In the same breath, while the home was beautifully constructed, the inside was completely trashed from the previous renters. They had cats, a ferret and a dog and thousands were spent repairing and fixing it up before we moved in. So I can see why landlords are hesitant, or have a no-pet rule.

With rescues, I have friends involved in rescue and the number of dogs that are given up because the owners have to move and where they're moving doesn't allow pets is astronomical. It doesn't mean everyone would do that, but a lot of people do, so they avoid the problem. Same goes for the fencing rule a lot of rescues carry. I've lived in many houses without fencing and never had a problem with either of my dogs, but a lot of people would.

[hotelhyatt]

I (sometimes) try to be sympathetic, but I think that people who gave their dogs up because they couldn't find a rental either didn't look very hard, didn't plan far enough in advance to give themselves time to find a rental, or weren't willing to look outside their "target area" in order to find one.

Back when I was renting, I moved into a less than desirable neighborhood to keep the dog I owned at the time. It seemed simple enough. I knew when my lease would be up, knew a lot of landlords don't take dogs, knew I wasn't about to give my dog up and knew I could talk to landlords, have them meet my dog and that it never hurts to ask even if the ad says "no pets". The rental I had before we bought was a "no pets" policy, but I talked the landlord into it because I promised to take care of the house and made sure he understood my dog was trained. When we moved out we left the house in better condition than we found it, too, so the landlord would be willing to take the next person with a dog.

[aaafluochugh]

I completely understand and support it, finding a rental that allows a dog is hard enough, finding a rental that allows a pit bull, especially in a state filled with BSL, impossible. My first dog came from exactly that type of situation, they had to move and couldn't find anyplace that would allow "dangerous" breeds. OH has pretty strict state laws on how pit bulls have to be contained as well don't they? Having either a fenced yard or kennel with a top, muzzle, plus extra insurance.

yeah $100,000 insurance, fenced in yard, cage, mauzzle, chain, pretty much everything they can think of

[LoohornePharp]

I completely understand and support it, finding a rental that allows a dog is hard enough, finding a rental that allows a pit bull, especially in a state filled with BSL, impossible. My first dog came from exactly that type of situation, they had to move and couldn't find anyplace that would allow "dangerous" breeds. OH has pretty strict state laws on how pit bulls have to be contained as well don't they? Having either a fenced yard or kennel with a top, muzzle, plus extra insurance.

on top of that, the insane amount of breed haters (as well as people who poison dogs) we got a job offer there and turned it down because i refuse to take one step in that state.

[anenselog]

We have a rental and we allow big dogs but no little dogs or cats. I think that in order to adopt you do need to get permission from the owner or rental property management. I don't think that they should just flat out refuse. I can see why they do though. Too many times when someone moves from a rental into another the animal is dumped.

[ValdisSeroff]

I fully support the policy. Yes, I am sure there ARE committed owners out there who, even while renting, wouldn't dump their dogs... but there's no way to know for sure which those are. And it really IS terribly difficult to find rentals that allow Pit Bulls.

[tattcasetle]

I think if your living in a house, not a apartment and you have a document from the landlord stating they would allow you to have the bully breed, and it specifically saying a NEW pet not an existing pet then it would be ok with me, but if you don't have such a document then I would say the shelter is correct, to many people adopt a pet and find out later they have to return it because the property owner does not want them to have X pet on there property

[MineOffedOvex]

im in the middle on this
i rent and have pit bulls..but i would live under a bridge before i got rid of my dogs
and it is very difficult to find rentals allowing dogs more less pit bull breeds.

---------- Post added at 05:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:49 PM ----------

it's hard for shelters to find good owners...someone who rents could be the one who won't get rid of the dog while someone who owns the house does get rid of it...vice versa. maybe they should concentrate more on the owner and get approval from landlords if renting.