[DieselJunki]

So when we decided to get a bully breed (American Bull Dog) we knew that it was going to be tough finding apartments to accept them. We just didn’t realize how awful it would truly be. I also didn’t realize that ferrets had become so hated since I’d had them when I was a child.

I move around a lot because I work for the pipeline (laboring or oiling), which means I stay in places 6-10 months at a time then move. I usually have a few months of lay off before another job begins. I am currently in VA and moving to TN. I was having trouble finding apartments that would accept both the 4 ferrets I have and the dog. If one was ok with one they weren’t with the other (go figure…). I finally contacted an apartment finder which puts you in contact with an agent in the area who helps you. She looked in 7 different areas, some 45 minutes away from where I was going to be working and found nothing!

A couple days went by and she had found 1 apartment that said it was fine. We start the application process which took 3 weeks. The lady goes to put everything threw then tells us “Oh your dog isn’t allowed. We’ve had issues with that breed in the past.” My jaw dropped… we had told this lady in the very BEGINNING that we had an AMERICAN bull dog, not english, AMERICAN, the one’s that get 120lbs. She said “Oh we don’t have a weight limit, you could have a Great Dane if you wanted, we just don’t allow your breed.” I told her he wasn’t a pit bull although they look similar and she told me because pit bulls and american bull dogs have such similar characteristics that they aren’t allowed. She asked me if I could give him away… I wanted to smack her. At this point my boyfriend is regretting the purchase of our puppy but I stayed positive, I knew there had to be SOMEWHERE we could stay that wasn’t a hotel (costs us $2500 to stay in a pet friendly hotel a month).

I got on the phone with the apartment finder lady again and she couldn’t believe it. She spoke to them as well and they told her the dog was fine! She went on the hunt again and I told her to up the rent to $1000 a month if she had to (we are trying to buy a camper trailer on this job so we were trying to keep rent around $700). I wasn’t about to give up my dog weeks after adopting him. That’s not the way I roll, I took responsibility for him and he’s not something that can just be “thrown away” when life gets tough.

A day went by and she called me back saying she found something that was ready tomorrow if we got everything in. She said the leaser agent for the apartment originally said no to both the ferrets and dog. The apartment finder lady told the leaser agent that I was very sweet and was extremely pet conscientious and that this was basically my last hope for getting an apartment around Nashville (where my job is). The leaser agent said she would make an exception! (Hooray for guilt trips!).

When I spoke to the leaser agent on the phone she seemed nervous about the dog but I assured her that I was going to be home all day for another 1 or 2 months and when I was at work the dog would either be with me or in day care. Told her about the puppy class I was enrolling in and the trainer I might have him trained by. It seemed to make her feel better. Which all of this is true, on rare occasions he might have to be crated but I’d have to get a dog walker as I work anywhere from 12-15 hours a day usually 7 days a week. He definitely can’t be home for that long alone.

So on Friday afternoon I will finally be in TN and in an apartment! Man I really hope we can get that travel trailer this job.

Just thought I’d share my experience in case anyone else who must live in apartments decides to get ANY bully breeds. It’s tough but you don’t know how tough. Glad it all worked out.

[Melissaandcrew]

Hi DieselJunki-

Its the same issue with apartments as with a single home owner-whether or not the home owner’s insurance will allow the breed or not. And, they are less likely to allow them in rental situations. I too was shocked when I found out that many will not cover “exotic” pets such as ferrets as well. As a former rental owner, I can tell you that many renting animal owners(not all!) just don’t care about training their pets properly or preventing damage to the rental units. And typically, the security deposit does not cover one 8 hr span of “dog or cat gone wild” , lol Despite being an animal lover, we eventually prohibited all pets due to potential for damages and liability.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi DieselJuni –

The prejudices against bully breeds are unfortunate and in most cases unwarranted. I work for an open admissions humane society and at any given time our dog population is between 50% and 75% bully breeds and bully breed mixes. We have a lot of issues with individuals wanting to adopt bully breeds and their landlords not allowing it and even issues with people who do adopt, then a months or years down the road move and have to return the dog because they can’t find a new landlord that will allow a bully breed. When I was growing up we got a german shepherd, this was back in the 90’s when the public perception of shepherds was still really bad (I do think it’s improved quite a bit since then) – my mom owned our home, so that was fine, but our insurance company dropped us because we got the shepherd and we had to get new insurance and pay way more. She was the nicest dog ever and wouldn’t have hurt a fly. It would be nice if landlords and insurance companies could actually base their decision on the individual dog – like possibly make exceptions for all the breeds with bad raps (pits, shepherds, rotts, etc.) if they received a signed behavioral evaluation from a certified trainer or behaviorist or passed their canine good citizen test.

[mydogisme]

I’m glad you found a place to live. My son was going through a seperation from his wife and he ran into the same thing only he doesnt have pit bull’s, he has 2 corgie’s and his wife wouldn’t care since my son is the one who cleans and feeds the 2 dogs. He will not leave them behind eather. He also is in TN. near Delano. Hope things go well with your job,new apartment and doggies

[DieselJunki]

If he’s looking for an apartment tell him to contact Apartment Selector. They help you find a place and honestly I wouldn’t have gotten this apartment if it wasn’t for the lady there. I probably wouldn’t have got anything at all! They really do help, you just tell them what you want, what animals you have, price range, area you want it in and they call back and let you know whether they found something or if you need to pick a different area.

[allen g]

My friends who have bunnies in apartments always ask if having a “pet dog” is okay . Usually they don’t end up having to pay a pet deposit either. When my friend was looking at apartments in the Kissimmee area, he checked out Rentals and most of the ads stated pets were allowed. Good luck!

[Author]

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