Must Love Dogs No Matter What Your Lease Says

For many city dwellers who are renting apartments, finding a place to live that also allows pets bigger than a cat can seem like an impossible task. Due to skyrocketing rental markets and increased competition, landlords have room to be more selective in what they want in a tenant. With claws that can scratch up hardwood floors and the potential for indoor accidents, thousands of potential dog owners in the rental market are forced to go without their four-legged fix. While many make do with feline, fish or lizard friends, there’s still hope for those of you living in a similar situation who are strictly dog people. Whether you want to watch dogs from afar, scratch a strange pup behind its ears or get out there and have a dog of your own for hours at a time, there are plenty of places for the dogless to without having to worry about breaking their lease.

Dog Parks

Some cities have dozens of dog parks, and many of them are often located inside bigger city parks, giving even those without dogs a reason to hang around. While it’s generally frowned upon for non dog owners to be inside the dog park, you can still hang outside and watch dozens of dogs chasing each other back and forth, catching balls and losing their minds about all the different smells. If you’re friends with a dog owner, maybe offer to give them and their dog a ride to the park and go inside with them. Once inside you can toss a slobbery tennis ball, help fill up the water bowls or just bliss out. 

Coffee Shops

People take their dogs with them everywhere and sometimes they have to stop for their daily caffeine break. But as many coffee shops serve food, non service dogs aren’t allowed inside, so they often get tied up outside while their human darts in for an decaf Americano on ice. Coffee shops often have outdoor seating too, so you can see where we’re going with this. Bring a book, order a coffee and take a seat outside. On a nice spring day, you can sometimes get a chance to play with half a dozen dogs and maybe catch up on that book you keep meaning to finish. 

Dog Cams

With the proliferation of cheap webcams and broadband, many dog boarding and day care services find it essential to provide streaming video of their facilities for dog owners who can’t bear to be away from their best friend for long. But these cams often are open to the public, so even if you don’t have a dog boarded there, you can tune in and watch dogs playing, dogs sleeping and dogs being reunited with their owners. The easiest way to find one is look up “doggy day care” and “webcam” and let your browser do the hard work. Whether you miss having a dog or just need a quick pick me-up, this is one of the best parts of the internet.

Dog Cafes

A transplant from Japan, Cat Cafes — where you pay an hourly fee to hang out and play with a room full of cats — have slowly been popping up across America. But dog-based versions are a brand new concept here. Operating under the same concept, Dog Café charges $10 for a 55-minute block of time where you can order a drink and hang out in their Dog Lounge. All the dogs in the Lounge are from a nearby rescue shelter, many of them the dogs who have been there the longest and are most at risk. They’re all available for adoption too, so maybe you can’t make a love connection, but you can get a warm fuzzy watching someone else meet the dog of their dreams. Dog Café is only in Los Angeles for now, but look for this concept to spread.

Dogsitting

Usually dogsitting is a favor you do for your friends who are going on vacation. A chance for you to raid their fridge and play with their doggo and hug it as much as you want without anyone thinking you’re weird. But what if you could get paid to hug lots of dogs? That’s what Rover is for. An Uber-like app where you can sign up to be a dogsitter, a dogwalker or even board a dog at your house (technically, you don’t own this dog, so you’re not breaking your lease). Rover does all the work, handles the money and all you have to do is provide updates to the owner and take care of that dog like it’s your own. You will have to go through a background check for you potential clients’ peace of mind, but once you’re cleared, your phone will become a gateway to endless amounts of dogs. Plus with all that extra money you’ll be making, maybe you can finally afford that place across town that allows dogs.