Apartment Pet Etiquette

There's a certain amount of courtesy and etiquette involved when one lives in an apartment. You have to remember that someone lives on the other side of the wall, above, and/or below. In addition to curbing loud TV's, music, and speech, a person must also consider controlling their pet.

A barking dog is never a good neighbor. Often, when the pet parent is away, the dog will play, and howl, and whine, and stomp up and down the length of the apartment if left indoors, and will also bark and howl if left on the patio. During the working day, no one is at home to shush Fido, thus irritating a neighbor who either stays home or perhaps, works nights and needs to sleep by day.

There is also the issue of where to walk your dog to relieve his or herself. Most apartments have a designated walk area for pets, but many do not. For those that don't, pet parents need to force themselves not to be lazy and allow their pet to urinate and defecate in front of other people's patios and walkways. If they do, by apartment policy, they must pick up after their animal.

It has long been an issue for me, as an apartment resident, to have the most inconsiderate of neighbors who continually let their dogs poop right in front of my patio. It's quite disgusting to go sit on your porch to enjoy the evening air and be assaulted by the smell of fresh dog doo. When reporting it to the office management, they will ask which neighbor it was in order to issue a citation for lease violation. Usually, the crime is not witnessed so a name cannot be given. This is a problem within individual apartments.

Management should have record of the pet owners in each unit and can then, at least, put out warnings to those who own dogs or even cats that are let out at night. It's recommended that when reporting this violation, a resident should strive to witness which pet owner is ignoring the rules and discarding common courtesy.

This same can be said for the barking dog, although it's much easier to know which direction the ruckus is coming from. And what's with having large dogs in second and third story apartments? Has any one of these people ever lived below a thundering herd of elephants before? That's what it sounds like. Dogs do not have any sense as to the disturbance they create when they get a little frisky and decide to chase a toy up and down the hall. It's worse than a heavy footed walker living over your head. One can't blame the animal, only the owner.

So please have common courtesy as a pet owner and obey simple apartment etiquette. Be a good neighbor. Showing consideration to those around you can only benefit you in the end. You know what they say; what comes around goes around!