Why do people who live in small apartments, work and travel a lot, get dogs?

[Anonymous]

I love dogs, this is not an anti-dog post.

I live in DC in a condo with a small balcony. I'm in the H Street Corridor, which is pretty dense. There are parks, including some designated dog parks, but the nearest one is about 5 blocks away. So owning a dog in my building means taking your dog on walks 2-3x a day, often to places that are 30 minute round trip (or hiring someone to do so).

Most of the people in my building are professionals in their 20s and 30s and, like me, work 50+ hour weeks and travel fairly often (both for work and pleasure).

About half of the people in the building have dogs.

How? Why? It seems like the most impractical thing. Having to structure your day around walking your dog, even with WFH, just seems incredibly burdensome -- my job is demanding and all I can imagine is my dog needing to pee while I'm on a conference call that is running long. Plus paying for dog walkers and sitters every time I'm in the office or traveling. Having to structure evening plans around walking my dog. And never being able to just open the door and let him into the yard -- always having to leash him and walk him a half mile just to let him run around.

It's baffling to me. Like I said, I love dogs and would love to get one, but my life just seems not at all conducive to it. A cat seems feasible, though I understand many people don't like cats. But still, if you want companionship in an apartment and you work/travel a lot, a cat seems like an obvious choice. And yet I only know one cat owner in my building and like 30 dog owners.

Why is this so popular?

[Anonymous]

You're asking why people have different priorities than you. I don't think we can explain this to your satisfaction, any more than we can explain why people choose to have children even though doing so will make our lives harder.

For some people, things that make their lives harder also make their lives better. Practicality isn't everything.

[Anonymous]

Many dogs are not suited to dog parks, OP. My dog doesn't do well with those, and I walk him on sidewalks, like most dog-owners I know. The small posse of dog park people in my area are the ones who don't mind when their dogs get aggressive with other dogs.

Now if you're asking why people would chain themselves to 3-4 walks/potty breaks a day, every day, that's another question. It's because they crave doggie companionship, probably, and decided the trade-off was worth it. That number increased sharply during Covid isolation - maybe some of them regret getting a dog? If you can afford to pay for dog-walking and boarding while you're away, the travel and work schedule is not an issue at all. Most dogs are fine with that, and enjoy their interaction with dog-walkers and sitters. They get to see more people!

Maybe you're not cut out for pets

[Anonymous]

I hear you OP. I live in a condo and most of my neighbors have dogs, and not just dogs, but big dogs! Labs, labradoodles, sheepdogs (or maybe sheepadoodles?), golden retrievers, and at least one pitbull. I don't know why they get such big dogs in small condos, especially the owners who travel a lot for work.

[Anonymous]

Because they want an accessory that gets them the attention they desperately crave.

[Anonymous]

You know what is also impractical? Children. Yet they're still popular.

[Anonymous]

Because dogs love you unconditionally. All those walks also make you get up and move- forced exercise-- which is a great motivator, and it gets you out and about. For people who don't have kids, dogs are a wonderful way to enrich your life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because they want an accessory that gets them the attention they desperately crave.

There is something to this. Years ago there was a woman in my friend circle who had an extremely grating personality (she was hyper competitive, interrupted people a lot, and talked about herself constantly) but she had the cutest, most personable dog I've ever met. Like people would stop on the street to take photos of her dog multiple times a day. Just an amazing 10/10 dog. Top notch.

I always wondered what her social life would have been like without her dog. She had and has a ton of friends, and I think her dog is like 60% of the equation (she does have a few good qualities outside her grating personality that help).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hear you OP. I live in a condo and most of my neighbors have dogs, and not just dogs, but big dogs! Labs, labradoodles, sheepdogs (or maybe sheepadoodles?), golden retrievers, and at least one pitbull. I don't know why they get such big dogs in small condos, especially the owners who travel a lot for work.

The big, energetic dogs in small apartment thing seems cruel to me. Some dogs are low energy and don't need a lot of space and make good apartment dogs. But yes, I see people with labs and retriever's in apartments all the time. And they are young dogs. It's just not a good fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You know what is also impractical? Children. Yet they're still popular.

Sure, but people who have kids in really child-unfriendly places also get a ton of questions about why they would choose to do that. Like if you had a child in a studio apartment in a neighborhood where the nearest playground was 5 blocks away, I think people would also be like "why would you do this?"

[Anonymous]

I agree with you, op.

[Anonymous]

For those like OP describes, what do you do when you travel? Kennel? Dog sitter? Dog walker 2x/3x per day?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hear you OP. I live in a condo and most of my neighbors have dogs, and not just dogs, but big dogs! Labs, labradoodles, sheepdogs (or maybe sheepadoodles?), golden retrievers, and at least one pitbull. I don't know why they get such big dogs in small condos, especially the owners who travel a lot for work.

The big, energetic dogs in small apartment thing seems cruel to me. Some dogs are low energy and don't need a lot of space and make good apartment dogs. But yes, I see people with labs and retriever's in apartments all the time. And they are young dogs. It's just not a good fit.

That's a slippery slope, guys. What is the ideal set-up for pets? Rolling acres of farmland? PETA has their opinion on this

I'm Parisian, and in my parents' apartment in Paris, people have huge dogs. They're all very well-behaved. They get walked on busy Parisian sidewalks and maybe parks if they live near one (but human ones, no off-leash). All seems fine.
People will live with children and pets anywhere. It's human nature. Is it selfish? Perhaps. But that's how it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hear you OP. I live in a condo and most of my neighbors have dogs, and not just dogs, but big dogs! Labs, labradoodles, sheepdogs (or maybe sheepadoodles?), golden retrievers, and at least one pitbull. I don't know why they get such big dogs in small condos, especially the owners who travel a lot for work.

The big, energetic dogs in small apartment thing seems cruel to me. Some dogs are low energy and don't need a lot of space and make good apartment dogs. But yes, I see people with labs and retriever's in apartments all the time. And they are young dogs. It's just not a good fit.

The amount of exercise a dog can get indoors is pretty limited no matter the size of the space. Dogs that need exercise need to go out.

Think of the house or apartment as a large crate. It's for sleeping and quiet time, and then you do what you've gotta do to make sleep happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those like OP describes, what do you do when you travel? Kennel? Dog sitter? Dog walker 2x/3x per day?

My teen, during virtual schooling, walked our neighbor's dog all year for a small fee. He saved them a year of more expensive professional dog-walking
For travel, people either board, if the dog is social and likes being in a group, or go on Rover and pay for someone to take care of their dog in their home. Lots of options.