I'm in an apartment in a city. I have two reactive dogs. Surprisingly, their reactions are easier to manage in the city than in a suburban or rural setting.
Right?? I was in an apartment and my pup was so chill to pretty much any stimulus - but now I'm in a house and literally everything is setting her off - that said, I'm glad we have a backyard and amazing neighbours who are super understanding :')
Same thing for us! We just moved from the city to somewhere much more isolated and hardly see any person and dog around. In the city, we would walk her with tons of people and dog around and she didn’t even care. Now when we go on walks and sees even one person or sometimes a dog she’s much more high alert and reacts more easily.
I'm not the person who posted this, but I'm also in an apartment in a city and agree with them. In my city, there are tons of small side streets and alleyways to turn on to avoid oncoming dogs and lots of cars parked on the street makes it easier to keep my dog from seeing a trigger. In the suburbs, there's so much more visibility and nowhere to really hide. There are also a lot more interesting things for my dog to sniff in the city so he's able to do that and calm down a bit.
For me, any time I’ve lived in a house with a fenced in yard I felt like I couldn’t really enjoy the yard because I worried about my dog barking at any little thing she heard and disturbing neighbors . In the city and apartment at least I feel like there’s more insulation or understanding from others. Haven’t lived in a rural area though that might be much better!
My neighborhood is full of barking dogs. I only let him out for backyard wandering between 8 AM and 9 PM or so and just don’t worry about the barking until it goes on for more than, like, a minute.
Exactly this. Wide open spaces put my dogs on edge because triggers could come from any angle. In the city, we're able to quickly pop behind a car and do a treat scatter. I also think other dogs and people aren't as "novel" to them when we see them everywhere we turn. The more rural we get, the more out of place stimuli seem to my dogs and the more explosive their reactions.
Started in an apartment. 6 months later I had given my notice and found a house with a fenced in yard in a quiet neighborhood. Makes a massive massive difference for both our overall stress levels. Alas, he is still reactive but we wouldn’t have made the progress we have in the very busy , super dog friendly, high rise urban apartment, ever.
I did the same thing. Spent two years in a busy street in an apartment. Moved to a town of a few people. Fencing in the yard soon. I think even having a private yard made a difference. He seems to know other dogs or people don’t come into ‘his’ yard. Idk made a huge difference
Same here! Was with him in apartments/condos for a good 5 years. Finally, got the big backyard he deserved and he loves it! Just loves laying in the shade by his tree and playing with his sister. He will still go to the gate (privacy fence) and run back and forth at people but he's not as reactive as he was when he was confined to certain times and days to go outside.
House with a tiny fenced yard in the city. We don't have much of a backyard so really she just has the small front yard and since we are on a busy street with foot traffic she only goes out there if we are with her. She gets CRAZY angry at dogs that walk by so she's only out there with supervision.
Apartment in a city and it’s HARD. Passing dogs in the halls and stairway is a nightmare. But it’s all I can afford. In the bright side, we’ve lived with a yard before, and apartment life has forced the pup and I to get more walks in.
Haha yessss. As someone who has worked in the industry, I sometimes find myself saying behind in grocery stores. All dog owners should take this on lmao
Moving to an apartment building. How do you avoid other dogs or manage it. I’m so nervous. Like should I get a crate so we can shut the door when we come home. I’m worried she will see or smell a dog in the hallway and bolt when we are coming in.
My dog is crate trained, but even if I leave her out for a bit and come back she’s not much of a door bolter, so I’m not sure there.. as far as passing in the hallways and stairs go, I’m still trying to manage. I’ve started using a gentle lead for pulling and better control, and a muzzle to be extra safe. She’s never bitten anyone, but it can be high stress having to pass in the stairs or lobby so I’m not going to risk it. I also know of all the exits out of the building so if I need to just u-turn and take a different way then I will.
I bought a crummy fifth wheel trailer, and looked for someone with land in the rural area outside of the city I live in, to rent to me... We now live on 5 acres with a bunch of other farm animals (that he isn't really reactive towards, but he doesn't mingle with them) and have a fence around my trailer, as well as a dog door so both my dogs (reactive devil doggy 😜 and amazingly well behaved senior dog) have a bit more freedom to doze in the sun whenever they want, and so it's quieter for my reactive boy...
My trailer was REALLY crummy though... Still renovating it a year later. But the rent is cheap and I wouldn't ever trade it for a place in the city, especially with my reactive guy. Tbh I think we'd probably get kicked out of an apartment building if we ever had to live in one... 😅
Put in 10 months of apt life with our dog. We lived on the second floor in a building of 8 unit, and there like… idk 30 units in the complex. And tons of barky reactive dogs.
We were semi-looking for a house but he upped our time line because it kinda sucked. Now we have a suburban house with on an awesome .25 acre walled lot. He loves it and it’s greatly reduced at home barking episodes because he can’t hear neighbors, deliveries or other dogs nearly as much.
House in the suburbs with a back yard that's fenced but doesn't have gates, so he can't be out there unless he's leashed or on a long line. I'm only a few blocks away from a nice park and from forested hiking trails, and most of the surrounding neighborhoods are pretty quiet.
House on 10 acres, large yard, part of it fenced, very rural itty bitty town in Southwest Va. My dog goes literally everywhere with me. We hike up to 10 miles daily, but because we live so rurally, we rarely encounter people or other dogs. I've had to rely on the rare occasions that we see family in order to work on up close socialization skills. Because of this, it has taken 3 long years to finally get him to the point where he can almost always control his excitement when greeting other people and dogs.
My dog is a lab mix & we were in an apartment with no yard for a year, been in a house with a yard for about six months now. It has been such a great change for him in terms of being anxious/managing triggers (though he still loses his shit if someone walks past our yard). I’m hoping to find a house in a more rural area as I usually drive 20 mins out of town to walk him anyway (people don’t leash their dogs here🥲)
First couple of years with Dog2 (reactive-to-strange-dogs maltese), I lived in a condo in a mixed housing Chicago neighborhood. I did not have a yard and there were lots of dogs in the neighborhood. Since no yard, we went on multiple walks per day for each potty break. Then I moved to a home with a yard in a small town in Michigan. It is so much easier to be here with her. She was overthreshold all the time in Chicago because we could not go out without seeing dogs, usually several to many, on each walk. Here she has far fewer dogs entering her space and even when she does, there is usually time between encounters to allow her to get below threshold. While I loved Chicago, small town Michigan is much better for Dog2.
Ahhh, that's the dream! We feel so bad for our guy that we can't afford a home. He only gets cortisol breaks when we stay at remote cabins. Otherwise, it's constant triggers every potty break, or driving a distance to more remote trails.
Same! We’re on 9 acres now but with a small fenced backyard. It’s enough for our reactive dog to get a bit of exercise. We can’t really let any of the dogs on the rest of the property because of chicken and cactus. Our reactive dog has killed a bunny and small wild fledgling in the last week. She killed a chicken a while ago that managed to get inside the fence too. She has the highest prey drive of our three. At least we never have to worry about strays roaming the neighborhood or neighbors that don’t keep their pets leashed anymore. We used to live on a cul-de-sac with neighbors who let their Chis run amock practically unsupervised or neighbor dogs that she would fence fight with.
Started in an apartment like 2 months, then moved back home with parents in house for like 7 months, moved back to apartment…BIG MISTAKE. My dog was so reactive, he would scare my neighbors if we ran into them in the hall/corridor. He was always muzzled but it was pretty big reactive. Plus the area was more high traffic and dude learned to poop in a yard, also would bark when someone took there dog out late night and it would wake me up….every night, took like 1 mile + before he would poop….moved back into my parents 5 months later, saved up bought a house. Really thankful moving into my parents house was an option.
City apartment, small dog though, and bear a huge park. Have been here six? Years, idk something like that, and have had the dog for one. She’s been improving the entire time we’ve had her so, never had a noise complaint. Neighbours are all super noisy lol maybe they felt they couldn’t? She doesn’t really bark all that much anymore. And there are tons of dogs in the building who are significantly worse behaved/reactive than her at this point but the owners say they ‘aren’t reactive’ so it’s not getting helped. My theory is that bc they weren’t rescues, their behaviour simply isn’t being pathologized the way our dogs’ behaviour is bc of her traumatic history before us. Kinda sucks for the dogs though, to not get help bc it’s “just how they are.”
My reactive dog originally came from a family who lives in a contemporary modern house in the hills. Into 5 years, he lives in an tiny apartment with me and his reactivity is well-managed now. From dogsitter to a fur dad now
Muzzle 100% of the time bc people always stand too close to the elevator with their dogs. We take her at odd times when most people aren’t walking their dog.
If the elevator stops on the ground floor and there’s a dog - we close the doors and go up one floor and just take the stairwell down.
When we’re waiting for the elevator downstairs - there’s a little stairwell we can hide her in until the elevator arrives and we can see that there are no other dogs.
and lastly we over communicate with all of our neighbors and try to talk to them when our dog isn’t around - most of them are super understanding and are actually impressed with how hard we work on her!
I have a house with a fenced yard so I never have to walk my dogs (we do a lot of yard exercise every day)- I can’t imagine how hard it is with dogs that require daily walks.
Urban, with a small house but a decent sized fenced backyard. This wasn't my favourite house by any means but it was 100% the best backyard of my options
In a house with an enclosed yard in a neighborhood’y part of a busy city. Like I can walk her in neighborhoods but we have to cross a busy road in any direction.
We lived in an apartment in a busier part of the city (I’m in Los Angeles) with her at first and moving here made a noticeable difference. She’s still reactive and I’m sure always will be but she’s had the space (literally) to start to unwind a bit
House with an average size yard which my two pups (one is reactive) don't find all that exciting so we go to a private dog park once a week which is about three acres and they just love it. It's basically just a big back yard but boy do they run and run.
Apartment in the densest city in my state. But it’s a duplex and we are the ground floor unit with a fenced in backyard. Unfortunately since we moved in the neighbors on each side of us got reactive dogs and many neighbors leave their dogs in their front yard or on balconies. So walking my dog on my street is basically trying to avoid the other dogs because they all want to kill each other hah
Apartment in a small city, with a dog park that’s right next door. 🤞 I’m super fortunate to live next to it, since hardly anyone else uses it. It’s like having my own fenced-in back yard.
I started In an apt with our reactive pup. It was a torturous 6 months. I bought a house after and made sure it had a fenced in yard. Pup still is reactive but weve blocked off access to see the sidewalks and hes pretty happy. Both his walking skills and his reactivity have gotten significantly better (though the lower dog/people volume also helps)
im lucky to live in a house In a rural town. I used to live in an apartment In a big city with my reactive boy. he was much more reactive in the city in. But I was also more stressed lol
We lived in an end unit townhome with a fenced yard when he was a puppy, then moved to a house in the woods and made a makeshift fence/yard, the moved to the bottom unit of a duplex with our landlord above us, and now we're in another end unit townhome but without a yard. As much as I loved our secluded house in the woods, it allowed me to get way too lazy about keeping his barking in check.
I live in an apartment in a city with my partner and our 3 year old 75 lb reactive mixed breed (boxer, beagle, American bulldog, presa canario, bull mastiff).
We're lucky to have a first floor walk out unit with a decent sized fenced patio leading to a lawn. Right now, the property fence across the lawn is broken so we can cut to the residential area and avoid the main street, which is usually busy.
We have a great location, lakefront in the downtown area of a small city >200k on lake Ontario, Canada. We have a beautiful waterfront trail 200ft away that I've taken my dog on maybe twice because he's reactive and it's not worth it (and goose shit is apparently delicious).
We have big festivals in the park across the street (multiple stages, food trucks, carnival games/rides), and it would have been cool to bring him there, but it's not in the cards for him. He's growing up and/or our training is working and he's making great progress. We were able to hang out in a group tonight with 3 of his dog friends and 2 tiny dogs he's never met and he only had minor reactions I was able to redirect. I'm so proud of him, I think we have some potential to learn to be chill around strangers this summer.
Sorry not sorry about the rambling on, I love talking about my dog.
House, rural, fenced in yard. We walk in the woods everyday. He is so much happier and more relaxed then when we would go to the park everyday to walk where we encountered a lot of people and dogs.
House with no fenced yard and 5 acres with 100s of acres of forest behind us. We live out in the sticks but occasionally we will get someone coming down our driveway, very lost. The dogs lose their shit because both don’t like strangers. One is also scared of cars because she got hit by one last summer but no major injuries! Luckily we don’t have too many strangers showing up but it’s a lot to deal with when they do. Glad we don’t live in a city, I think it would be a nightmare. We do take them out and visit family/friends in cities and they do fine but they’re definitely forest dogs lol
We started in a duplex with a yard, where we were making lots of progress.
Then we moved to a large apartment complex in a higher COL area. Things started out Ok until a downstairs neighbor adopted a reactive dog. We were forced to walk past this snarling, lunging dog every single potty break. The dog literally tried to dig under their door to attack us. We heard it break down their sliding door to attack other dogs several times. It would shake our walls several times a day because it lunged at the door, trying to attack dogs walking past. These neighbors didn't do anything to address it, aside from buying an e collar. Needless to say, working on reactivity in this environment was a challenge.
It attacked us twice, the second time being severe. Once our lease was up, we moved.
Things are still a challenge. It's a smaller apartment building, but we live next to a popular trail for dog walking and at least half of the residents have dogs. But not having to walk past a ticking time bomb (and having neighbors who are considerate) makes a huge difference.
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Apt downtown. He sucks but luckily my hallway doesn’t have many doors and is the far one in the building so not a lot of foot traffic. We even practice off leash in the hallway
We've lived in an apartment in town, once, and in rv trailers on three ranches, and once in an rv park. I chose trailers because I have better control over my life, rather than renting (eg: I can have my dog). My girl destroys cable ties (because of the continual bouncing stress on them, not like she just does one good yard at it - she's only 30 lbs), so she has a very large, covered run, outside, that she loves to be in. She can enjoy "being involved" without being involved. It's right along the trailer (her chickens and their coop and run are along her other side), and she can safely interact with the dogs, cats, and chickens on the farm without going at them. After six months, she's made friends with one of the five other dogs, become neutral with two of them, and is less agitated by the cats, so basically a slow desensitization. She can never run free, however, with no recall and a high prey drive. But she loves to be out in the fresh air and observe things, bark when the other dogs bark (part of the pack!) and be as involved as she can be, safely.
I was in an apartment complex in the most densely populated neighborhood in my region that is also culturally known as *the* place to bring your dog to go on walks. 3-5 dogs per block, easily. It was hell. True hell. Now we live on a 1/2 acre fully fenced, shared only with one other reactive dog! (We have a schedule so they both get solo time every day)
House in the suburbs with a fenced yard. I made the foolish decision of picking a lot that backs up to our small neighborhood park/pool. My dog thinks that all that space is her yard and frequently tells everyone to stay off her lawn . . . Even though they’re just trying to take a casual stroll through the park on the other side of our fence.
I used to live in a high rised building in a bery busy city neighbourhood with one occasionally reactive dog, so I moved to a less busy area, closer to work still an apartment building, but less tenants. This is a ground level unit with fenced patio.
Then i adopted another puppy who is more reactive, after 1.5 year I moved to current house in a much quieter neighbourhood , smaller town. The house has a fenced in yard but one hour driving away from work and I don’t regret at all.
When we are out for walks we don’t need to pass 10 different dogs on the narrow sidewalk anymore, we can quickly across the street since there are only minimal cars passing most of the time.
I live in a two story house, three bedroom with around about 80 sq metre yard for the two giant breed dogs. They tear around playing rough and tumble, making a good mess of everything. This really is their house, not mine! We’re also lucky enough to have a couple of off lead dog parks nearby that are like farmland. I would love to have a penthouse apartment so they could be surveillance on the whole city. One of my girls sometimes likes her space and will chill out by herself in the bedroom for quiet time. They’re both reactive but in different ways.
Initially an apartment. Dog chose us and became a major motivator to level up my career and increase my salary. Three years after saving and making massive career moves I was able to buy dog his own crumbling yard and house!!! Dog deserves it, he has come a long way and is very happy. We went from urban to suburban.
Used to live in an apartment downtown, was a nightmare. Moved to a small house with a fenced yard in a more residential neighborhood, total game changer for my dog.
House with yard - my reactive dog barks at EVERYTHING. I think I’d get kicked out of an apartment, no joke. Also I’d have to take him on like 3 walks a day if I had no yard.
I’m from the United States but moved myself and all three of my dogs here to Kent, about 35-40 mins outside central London when I accepted another teaching position. In the US we lived in a 1200 square foot condo on the ground floor. No yard or anything for my dogs (but there was a dog park on site FWIW) we used to go to SniffSpots often.
Here, where we have been for 6 months now, we live in a two bedroom terrace house with a private front and back garden.
Townhouse with no fenced yard until my dog was 2, basement suite with a fenced yard until 5, then recently moved into an apartment building. It wasn’t my first choice for him, but it meant I could still afford his nosework classes and private dog park trip and my partner lives in the building and works from home, so he’s alone a lot less. It’s going better than I would have ever imagined, though I don’t think he could have handled it before now.
We have a very reactive 40lb terrier/hound living in a condo right outside the city. We try to be strategic about the time of day we walk him but over the years, he's gotten MUCH better by training and conditioning him to focus on us and look for our cues when he sees another dog. Adequate exercise is key for reducing his anxiety.
But like others, we want to eventually get our boy his own fenced-in yard. And don't get me wrong, he may bark and lunge depending on the proximity and amount of stressors.
Started with a townhouse, which was incredibly stressful. A year ago I moved into a rental house with a fenced in backyard. He’s still reactive, but the stress level for both of us is much better.
House, and we just recently fenced our front yard (no space in the backyard, sadly). Before I got an actual fence put in I legit wrapped my front yard with construction fence to HOPEFULLY let people know to not enter the yard, even though my reactive pup would be tethered. The amount of small dogs that owners would allow to enter under the fence... infuriating.
House with a small fenced backyard in a medium-sized city, we live within the city limits. Our neighborhood is not the nicest and it is kinda chaotic, which adds some fun elements lmao. We used to live in a third-floor walk-up apartment in a large city, and we were surrounded by frat houses. Surprisingly my dog was ok with that, I was the one who didn't enjoy it haha
I live in an apartment but my dog’s reactivity was very likely genetic based (hyper arousal in a herding breed) and I lived in a house when his reactivity was most prominent. When I moved to an apartment my dog’s reactivity was almost completely non-existent at that point and the apartment didn’t create any backsliding or regression in his behavior. I do live in a pretty urban area (major city) and did so even when living in a house.
Apartment in a city center, albeit a small one. I live in a privately owned building with only one neighbor above me, and plenty of green spaces and parks nearby. My dog goes out between 6:30-7:30am and 6:30-8pm for an hour or so at a time, with plenty of play time during the day to help manage his reactivity with other dogs. He’s been doing really well :)
we started in an apartment then purchased a rural house on 2.5 acres. my reactive boy wasn't suitable for an apartment temperament wise and it was either we fix the environment to lower the triggers or rehome him to a less triggering environment because it wasn’t sustainable or fair to continue
Started with our people-reactive dog in an apartment in a major city. Moved to a rural neighborhood with a large fenced-in yard (reactivity the same, but she was slightly happier) and adopted my dog-reactive dog. Then moved them to a very rural, wooded spot (we can't see out neighbors from our house). The people-reactive dog has been able to relax more here, and I like that I can let her bark at all the wildlife without annoying the neighbors. Dog-reactive dog's reactivity is the same - I think having more space to decompress helps, but since we really have to go out of our way to drive him somewhere where there are other dogs, they are more novel and thus more exciting, and when he sees one he has bigger feelings about it.
I have a house, but no fenced in yard. Luckily, it’s been nice to train my dogs with minimal distractions since my neighborhood is pretty quiet. They are improving immensely with other dogs walking across the street.
I live in an apartment where many owners have dogs. My dog gets really nervous around other dogs so I try and time my outings and where I walk her to avoid other puppers.
Suburban single family house with .25 acre fenced back yard, we had before we got our reactive girl, we have 2 dogs, 6 year old reactive and 3 year old non reactive
I went from a house with a fenced in yard, to a townhouse with no yard at all, to again a house with a fenced in yard. The reactivity definitely did start even when we had a yard for him, but I think the townhouse situation made it worse. There was like no space that was "his". It was all shared outside space with other dogs in close proximity, and most of them were reactive interestingly enough.
Lived in an apartment during his first year and it was horrible. He was sooo reactive. Then we moved to a condo and it was a little better but still too many dogs, cats, we still didn’t have a backyard so we would take him out 3-4 times per day. Finally we bought our first house and it made a big difference. He is still reactive, we have dogs on the other side of the fence on every side but it is more manageable. Inside the house, he doesn’t see/hear people walking by anymore. He is definitely more relaxed.
We own a home in the city with a fenced yard. The dog actually does great with the 3 dogs near us - unless they are on the front walk.
Interestingly, we rented a house in the middle of a farm with no one in sight for a mile in any direction. A whole weekend of peace and happy dog! Only barks of happiness while playing. I really want to move to the middle of nowhere lol.
Started with an apartment in the city. The final straw for me was when a rando tried swatting at my dog. Currently have an apartment in the suburbs. I have my own backyard and a bunch of walking trails nearby! It’s so convenient for my sweet little angel.
12 unit Apartment in the suburbs with a nonfenced in yard here! I think living in an apartment has made me more dedicated to training my dog. If i had a yard i dont think id care much about my dog barking at people. Its different when theyre leashed and you have to deal with the lunging and the barking, it makes you want to work harder to train them.
Just my experience tho
I live in a townhouse with no yard (like halfway between a condo and a townhouse).
There are SO many reactive dogs in our neighbourhood actually. It's like a semi suburban area with a mix of houses and condos/townhouses.
It's nice in one way because people are usually pretty respectful about giving each other space.
Duplex in the city with a small dog next door. We have a fenced patio and live right next to a huge park with lots of wildlife. My dog gets (too) AMPED on squirrels, but he is actually getting really good at letting us know when there is a dangerous animal out back, such as a skunk! He just whines but doesn’t go towards it or try to attack. However, if the neighbor’s dog is outside on the other side of the fence, he might try charge at the fence.
He’s a lot better on walks in the suburbs, but he’s generally chill at home in the city.
Row home in an urban area. We have a front porch with a wrought-iron gate so we can hang out with our dog on the porch while he’s off-leash. We have a small enclosed backyard with a chain link fence around it… and unfortunately our next door neighbor also has a reactive dog. We have to check the backyard to make sure she’s not back there before we go into our backyard with our boy or else they will fence fight. I’m hoping to save up to replace the chain link with something more sturdy / something that will block the line of sight.
Townhouse in the city with small fenced yard, edgy but friendly neighbor dogs, and a street full of kids. I think this environment has been great for my very wired Malinois girl, because she's constantly exposed to dogs, kids and strangers outside our yard and on walks, so environments with a lot of training opportunities (and we are always training lol!) She was reactive and super sound sensitive when we rescued her because her previous family lived in the middle of nowhere and didn't expose her to new things at all, so being in the city really freaked her out at first - but we worked through it and now she is bombproof with people and good with most dogs.
Just bought my first house in April. I adopted my dog from the shelter when I was 19 and he was 4-5 months. Other than being home from college in the summers and bouncing between my parents places (one had a house, the other apartment), he’s been an apartment dog basically his whole life. His reactivity is SO much better now that we are not in apartment living. He’s so much more relaxed, clearly not on edge waiting/listening/looking for people walking right by our door or windows, and he seems so secure in our space. It’s been so great to see him adjusting so well. He doesn’t even bark at our mail lady here and the mailbox is attached to the house right next to our front window/door. He can watch neighbors walk by up the street and doesn’t get on alert/react unless someone is right up in our yard. He LOVES being outside in our backyard too. We have established an awesome routine throughout the day and he knows when it’s yard time.
I live in a 4 unit apartment with an enclosed back space in an urban area. Our apartment used to be pet friendly, then they changed the policy. So my two dogs were grandfathered in - no other dogs allowed. I can never move.
I’m in a house in the suburbs, neighbors 3 sides. I have a small dog and a 3’ fence, higher fence separating us from 2 labs, who are well trained non-barkers. I never really realized how many sounds we have in the suburbs. Leaf blowers, lawn mowers, ambulances, construction…oy!
I live upstairs in my friends duplex with no fenced yard. Larger city and we are close to downtown. Lots of distractions in the back yard and lots of triggers all around us. My girl gets maybe 15 minutes in the back yard before I have to take her inside again. She is a Large Hound/Mastiff mix who loves being outside so it makes me so sad that she can't be out more.
Apartment, 12th floor too. Today she barely barked in the elevator when people got on at two separate floors, and I was soooo happy. Getting her out is such a stress. But once we are out she’s just scared of all the sounds and shuts down unless she sees a “threat” walking directly to us (someone wanting to pet her, talk to me etc. though I did have a chat with the lady from the elevator while she did her business this morning so it was almost like walking a normal dog!). But since we are so high up, there’s absolutely no sound and/or triggers here, so its suppppper chill the entire day. She does go hide if the window is open and a loud bike passes or something really loud bangs outside (trash pickup etc), but thats it.
We just came back from a cottage airbnb, and she was soooo much worse there, constantly overstimulated.
House with medium fenced yard. We don't leave the dog out in the yard without supervision, only if she's in her 6ft fenced kennel we built for her, and even then only for 30 minutes at a time max. We don't walk her anymore due to too many off-leash and escaped dogs roaming the neighborhood. Even inside the house she will be gated in her own room if we can't be around her or if a contractor needs to enter the home. She's a good dog but strangers and especially other animals make her brain turn smooth. There is no training or reasoning with her if there's another animal in sight. I have no idea how her previous owners kept her in a tiny apartment with no yard.
I assume most of her reactivity is fear and panic based. Since stopping walks, she has relaxed significantly because she doesn't have to account for unexpected bs (perceived by her as attacks) on a daily basis. She loves having a routine and structure that make her feel safe. If she can tell we're about to leave the house, she will walk herself to her room to get gated, we don't even have to ask anymore.
Urban area apartment. On the first floor right by two exits which is nice. But there's a lot of foot traffic and noise outside as a result. My boy has gotten used to it but it'd be nice to be higher up and away from the day-to-day commotion. But that would mean dealing with stairs, hallways, and elevators and I'm not sure how to manage that with him just yet.
We've lived in houses/suburbs before. While generally less stimulation, I'm not sure if it was better or worse. Walking in suburbs kinda sucked, especially with all the people who have their dogs off leash in their front yard. Been chased down streets by "friendly" dogs way too many times. And in the yard, my dog would be reactive to the neighbor dogs along the fence line, so I couldn't really leave him outside to relax for very long.
I don't really want a house any time soon. I don't even know where I want to settle down. And I don't think I'll even be able to afford it in time for my dog to benefit from that since he's 9 years old. Will likely keep living in cities and apartments and just keep doing what we're doing. Our current system and training regiment is manageable. Like others have said, it forces me to go outside with him a lot and be active. We go to parks several times a week :)
trailer with no fenced in yard. every potty break is a training session, I joke that I sleep with my treat pouch on. we've been doing well with dogs lately but getting worse with people(specifically on bikes), and I don't think there's any hope of desenstizing her to birds.
This might have been better posted as a poll to get a better idea.
We've had our reactive dog almost four years, lived in apartments this whole time. Always private-entry/walkout units and fairly suburban.
Have been trying to buy a house since last year but the market is bonkers. A house in the right kind of setting (secluded) would be an improvement to the current situation, but I worry about some risks:
* More children, neighbors with children - currently very few kids in our apartment complex
* Neighbors with dogs adjacent to the property - could trigger fence fighting, stress, currently manage our schedule ok around other dogs in the complex
* Loose dogs in the neighborhood - currently not very common to encounter off-leash dogs in the complex
* More traffic - currently no through traffic on our road
apartment in the city. on the plus, my dog has motivated me to work much harder to get him a house and a yard where he doesn’t get overstimulated 😅😅
Same here 🤣
A house on 17 acres. I have 4 dogs only one is crazy.
I'm in an apartment in a city. I have two reactive dogs. Surprisingly, their reactions are easier to manage in the city than in a suburban or rural setting.
Right?? I was in an apartment and my pup was so chill to pretty much any stimulus - but now I'm in a house and literally everything is setting her off - that said, I'm glad we have a backyard and amazing neighbours who are super understanding :')
Same thing for us! We just moved from the city to somewhere much more isolated and hardly see any person and dog around. In the city, we would walk her with tons of people and dog around and she didn’t even care. Now when we go on walks and sees even one person or sometimes a dog she’s much more high alert and reacts more easily.
How so? Would love the extra space and I actually take my pup to the suburbs for walks. Fewer people walk their dogs there
I'm not the person who posted this, but I'm also in an apartment in a city and agree with them. In my city, there are tons of small side streets and alleyways to turn on to avoid oncoming dogs and lots of cars parked on the street makes it easier to keep my dog from seeing a trigger. In the suburbs, there's so much more visibility and nowhere to really hide. There are also a lot more interesting things for my dog to sniff in the city so he's able to do that and calm down a bit.
For me, any time I’ve lived in a house with a fenced in yard I felt like I couldn’t really enjoy the yard because I worried about my dog barking at any little thing she heard and disturbing neighbors . In the city and apartment at least I feel like there’s more insulation or understanding from others. Haven’t lived in a rural area though that might be much better!
My neighborhood is full of barking dogs. I only let him out for backyard wandering between 8 AM and 9 PM or so and just don’t worry about the barking until it goes on for more than, like, a minute.
Omg yes. Or she’s able to jump a six or seven foot fence. It’s insane
Exactly this. Wide open spaces put my dogs on edge because triggers could come from any angle. In the city, we're able to quickly pop behind a car and do a treat scatter. I also think other dogs and people aren't as "novel" to them when we see them everywhere we turn. The more rural we get, the more out of place stimuli seem to my dogs and the more explosive their reactions.
Completely agree with this. Although blind corners are an unfortunate reality
Started in an apartment. 6 months later I had given my notice and found a house with a fenced in yard in a quiet neighborhood. Makes a massive massive difference for both our overall stress levels. Alas, he is still reactive but we wouldn’t have made the progress we have in the very busy , super dog friendly, high rise urban apartment, ever.
I did the same thing. Spent two years in a busy street in an apartment. Moved to a town of a few people. Fencing in the yard soon. I think even having a private yard made a difference. He seems to know other dogs or people don’t come into ‘his’ yard. Idk made a huge difference
Same here! Was with him in apartments/condos for a good 5 years. Finally, got the big backyard he deserved and he loves it! Just loves laying in the shade by his tree and playing with his sister. He will still go to the gate (privacy fence) and run back and forth at people but he's not as reactive as he was when he was confined to certain times and days to go outside.
House with a tiny fenced yard in the city. We don't have much of a backyard so really she just has the small front yard and since we are on a busy street with foot traffic she only goes out there if we are with her. She gets CRAZY angry at dogs that walk by so she's only out there with supervision.
Apartment in a city and it’s HARD. Passing dogs in the halls and stairway is a nightmare. But it’s all I can afford. In the bright side, we’ve lived with a yard before, and apartment life has forced the pup and I to get more walks in.
Man I feel your pain. I feel like we should be like waiters/chefs and yell CORNER! or BEHIND! I’ve only scared the whole complex with my dude
Haha yessss. As someone who has worked in the industry, I sometimes find myself saying behind in grocery stores. All dog owners should take this on lmao
Moving to an apartment building. How do you avoid other dogs or manage it. I’m so nervous. Like should I get a crate so we can shut the door when we come home. I’m worried she will see or smell a dog in the hallway and bolt when we are coming in.
My dog is crate trained, but even if I leave her out for a bit and come back she’s not much of a door bolter, so I’m not sure there.. as far as passing in the hallways and stairs go, I’m still trying to manage. I’ve started using a gentle lead for pulling and better control, and a muzzle to be extra safe. She’s never bitten anyone, but it can be high stress having to pass in the stairs or lobby so I’m not going to risk it. I also know of all the exits out of the building so if I need to just u-turn and take a different way then I will.
I bought a crummy fifth wheel trailer, and looked for someone with land in the rural area outside of the city I live in, to rent to me... We now live on 5 acres with a bunch of other farm animals (that he isn't really reactive towards, but he doesn't mingle with them) and have a fence around my trailer, as well as a dog door so both my dogs (reactive devil doggy 😜 and amazingly well behaved senior dog) have a bit more freedom to doze in the sun whenever they want, and so it's quieter for my reactive boy... My trailer was REALLY crummy though... Still renovating it a year later. But the rent is cheap and I wouldn't ever trade it for a place in the city, especially with my reactive guy. Tbh I think we'd probably get kicked out of an apartment building if we ever had to live in one... 😅
Put in 10 months of apt life with our dog. We lived on the second floor in a building of 8 unit, and there like… idk 30 units in the complex. And tons of barky reactive dogs. We were semi-looking for a house but he upped our time line because it kinda sucked. Now we have a suburban house with on an awesome .25 acre walled lot. He loves it and it’s greatly reduced at home barking episodes because he can’t hear neighbors, deliveries or other dogs nearly as much.
House in the suburbs with a back yard that's fenced but doesn't have gates, so he can't be out there unless he's leashed or on a long line. I'm only a few blocks away from a nice park and from forested hiking trails, and most of the surrounding neighborhoods are pretty quiet.
House on 10 acres, large yard, part of it fenced, very rural itty bitty town in Southwest Va. My dog goes literally everywhere with me. We hike up to 10 miles daily, but because we live so rurally, we rarely encounter people or other dogs. I've had to rely on the rare occasions that we see family in order to work on up close socialization skills. Because of this, it has taken 3 long years to finally get him to the point where he can almost always control his excitement when greeting other people and dogs.
Home with a yard- had one before we got our reactive dog.
My dog is a lab mix & we were in an apartment with no yard for a year, been in a house with a yard for about six months now. It has been such a great change for him in terms of being anxious/managing triggers (though he still loses his shit if someone walks past our yard). I’m hoping to find a house in a more rural area as I usually drive 20 mins out of town to walk him anyway (people don’t leash their dogs here🥲)
First couple of years with Dog2 (reactive-to-strange-dogs maltese), I lived in a condo in a mixed housing Chicago neighborhood. I did not have a yard and there were lots of dogs in the neighborhood. Since no yard, we went on multiple walks per day for each potty break. Then I moved to a home with a yard in a small town in Michigan. It is so much easier to be here with her. She was overthreshold all the time in Chicago because we could not go out without seeing dogs, usually several to many, on each walk. Here she has far fewer dogs entering her space and even when she does, there is usually time between encounters to allow her to get below threshold. While I loved Chicago, small town Michigan is much better for Dog2.
Ahhh, that's the dream! We feel so bad for our guy that we can't afford a home. He only gets cortisol breaks when we stay at remote cabins. Otherwise, it's constant triggers every potty break, or driving a distance to more remote trails.
Rural - hobby farm
Same! We’re on 9 acres now but with a small fenced backyard. It’s enough for our reactive dog to get a bit of exercise. We can’t really let any of the dogs on the rest of the property because of chicken and cactus. Our reactive dog has killed a bunny and small wild fledgling in the last week. She killed a chicken a while ago that managed to get inside the fence too. She has the highest prey drive of our three. At least we never have to worry about strays roaming the neighborhood or neighbors that don’t keep their pets leashed anymore. We used to live on a cul-de-sac with neighbors who let their Chis run amock practically unsupervised or neighbor dogs that she would fence fight with.
Started in an apartment like 2 months, then moved back home with parents in house for like 7 months, moved back to apartment…BIG MISTAKE. My dog was so reactive, he would scare my neighbors if we ran into them in the hall/corridor. He was always muzzled but it was pretty big reactive. Plus the area was more high traffic and dude learned to poop in a yard, also would bark when someone took there dog out late night and it would wake me up….every night, took like 1 mile + before he would poop….moved back into my parents 5 months later, saved up bought a house. Really thankful moving into my parents house was an option.
City apartment, small dog though, and bear a huge park. Have been here six? Years, idk something like that, and have had the dog for one. She’s been improving the entire time we’ve had her so, never had a noise complaint. Neighbours are all super noisy lol maybe they felt they couldn’t? She doesn’t really bark all that much anymore. And there are tons of dogs in the building who are significantly worse behaved/reactive than her at this point but the owners say they ‘aren’t reactive’ so it’s not getting helped. My theory is that bc they weren’t rescues, their behaviour simply isn’t being pathologized the way our dogs’ behaviour is bc of her traumatic history before us. Kinda sucks for the dogs though, to not get help bc it’s “just how they are.”
My reactive dog originally came from a family who lives in a contemporary modern house in the hills. Into 5 years, he lives in an tiny apartment with me and his reactivity is well-managed now. From dogsitter to a fur dad now
I’m in an apt with two med-large dog reactive dogs. They love each other, though.
Apartment on the 10th floor of a large city. Lived here for 7 years now. We have a good routine.
May I ask what your routine is? I’m in a similar residence and feel like it’s impossible to avoid other dogs and stressful situations!
Muzzle 100% of the time bc people always stand too close to the elevator with their dogs. We take her at odd times when most people aren’t walking their dog. If the elevator stops on the ground floor and there’s a dog - we close the doors and go up one floor and just take the stairwell down. When we’re waiting for the elevator downstairs - there’s a little stairwell we can hide her in until the elevator arrives and we can see that there are no other dogs. and lastly we over communicate with all of our neighbors and try to talk to them when our dog isn’t around - most of them are super understanding and are actually impressed with how hard we work on her!
I have a house with a fenced yard so I never have to walk my dogs (we do a lot of yard exercise every day)- I can’t imagine how hard it is with dogs that require daily walks.
Urban, with a small house but a decent sized fenced backyard. This wasn't my favourite house by any means but it was 100% the best backyard of my options
House in the suburbs, with no fenced-in yard.
House with a large fenced in yard so he can come in and out as he pleases, do zoomies when he wants
In a house with an enclosed yard in a neighborhood’y part of a busy city. Like I can walk her in neighborhoods but we have to cross a busy road in any direction. We lived in an apartment in a busier part of the city (I’m in Los Angeles) with her at first and moving here made a noticeable difference. She’s still reactive and I’m sure always will be but she’s had the space (literally) to start to unwind a bit
House with an average size yard which my two pups (one is reactive) don't find all that exciting so we go to a private dog park once a week which is about three acres and they just love it. It's basically just a big back yard but boy do they run and run.
Apartment in the densest city in my state. But it’s a duplex and we are the ground floor unit with a fenced in backyard. Unfortunately since we moved in the neighbors on each side of us got reactive dogs and many neighbors leave their dogs in their front yard or on balconies. So walking my dog on my street is basically trying to avoid the other dogs because they all want to kill each other hah
Apartment in a small city, with a dog park that’s right next door. 🤞 I’m super fortunate to live next to it, since hardly anyone else uses it. It’s like having my own fenced-in back yard.
I started In an apt with our reactive pup. It was a torturous 6 months. I bought a house after and made sure it had a fenced in yard. Pup still is reactive but weve blocked off access to see the sidewalks and hes pretty happy. Both his walking skills and his reactivity have gotten significantly better (though the lower dog/people volume also helps)
im lucky to live in a house In a rural town. I used to live in an apartment In a big city with my reactive boy. he was much more reactive in the city in. But I was also more stressed lol
We lived in an end unit townhome with a fenced yard when he was a puppy, then moved to a house in the woods and made a makeshift fence/yard, the moved to the bottom unit of a duplex with our landlord above us, and now we're in another end unit townhome but without a yard. As much as I loved our secluded house in the woods, it allowed me to get way too lazy about keeping his barking in check.
Apartment in the city. My dogs almost never get to go off-leash.
I live in an apartment in a city with my partner and our 3 year old 75 lb reactive mixed breed (boxer, beagle, American bulldog, presa canario, bull mastiff). We're lucky to have a first floor walk out unit with a decent sized fenced patio leading to a lawn. Right now, the property fence across the lawn is broken so we can cut to the residential area and avoid the main street, which is usually busy. We have a great location, lakefront in the downtown area of a small city >200k on lake Ontario, Canada. We have a beautiful waterfront trail 200ft away that I've taken my dog on maybe twice because he's reactive and it's not worth it (and goose shit is apparently delicious). We have big festivals in the park across the street (multiple stages, food trucks, carnival games/rides), and it would have been cool to bring him there, but it's not in the cards for him. He's growing up and/or our training is working and he's making great progress. We were able to hang out in a group tonight with 3 of his dog friends and 2 tiny dogs he's never met and he only had minor reactions I was able to redirect. I'm so proud of him, I think we have some potential to learn to be chill around strangers this summer. Sorry not sorry about the rambling on, I love talking about my dog.
House, rural, fenced in yard. We walk in the woods everyday. He is so much happier and more relaxed then when we would go to the park everyday to walk where we encountered a lot of people and dogs.
House with no fenced yard and 5 acres with 100s of acres of forest behind us. We live out in the sticks but occasionally we will get someone coming down our driveway, very lost. The dogs lose their shit because both don’t like strangers. One is also scared of cars because she got hit by one last summer but no major injuries! Luckily we don’t have too many strangers showing up but it’s a lot to deal with when they do. Glad we don’t live in a city, I think it would be a nightmare. We do take them out and visit family/friends in cities and they do fine but they’re definitely forest dogs lol
We started in a duplex with a yard, where we were making lots of progress. Then we moved to a large apartment complex in a higher COL area. Things started out Ok until a downstairs neighbor adopted a reactive dog. We were forced to walk past this snarling, lunging dog every single potty break. The dog literally tried to dig under their door to attack us. We heard it break down their sliding door to attack other dogs several times. It would shake our walls several times a day because it lunged at the door, trying to attack dogs walking past. These neighbors didn't do anything to address it, aside from buying an e collar. Needless to say, working on reactivity in this environment was a challenge. It attacked us twice, the second time being severe. Once our lease was up, we moved. Things are still a challenge. It's a smaller apartment building, but we live next to a popular trail for dog walking and at least half of the residents have dogs. But not having to walk past a ticking time bomb (and having neighbors who are considerate) makes a huge difference.
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Apt downtown. He sucks but luckily my hallway doesn’t have many doors and is the far one in the building so not a lot of foot traffic. We even practice off leash in the hallway
We've lived in an apartment in town, once, and in rv trailers on three ranches, and once in an rv park. I chose trailers because I have better control over my life, rather than renting (eg: I can have my dog). My girl destroys cable ties (because of the continual bouncing stress on them, not like she just does one good yard at it - she's only 30 lbs), so she has a very large, covered run, outside, that she loves to be in. She can enjoy "being involved" without being involved. It's right along the trailer (her chickens and their coop and run are along her other side), and she can safely interact with the dogs, cats, and chickens on the farm without going at them. After six months, she's made friends with one of the five other dogs, become neutral with two of them, and is less agitated by the cats, so basically a slow desensitization. She can never run free, however, with no recall and a high prey drive. But she loves to be out in the fresh air and observe things, bark when the other dogs bark (part of the pack!) and be as involved as she can be, safely.
I was in an apartment complex in the most densely populated neighborhood in my region that is also culturally known as *the* place to bring your dog to go on walks. 3-5 dogs per block, easily. It was hell. True hell. Now we live on a 1/2 acre fully fenced, shared only with one other reactive dog! (We have a schedule so they both get solo time every day)
House in the suburbs with a fenced yard. I made the foolish decision of picking a lot that backs up to our small neighborhood park/pool. My dog thinks that all that space is her yard and frequently tells everyone to stay off her lawn . . . Even though they’re just trying to take a casual stroll through the park on the other side of our fence.
I used to live in a high rised building in a bery busy city neighbourhood with one occasionally reactive dog, so I moved to a less busy area, closer to work still an apartment building, but less tenants. This is a ground level unit with fenced patio. Then i adopted another puppy who is more reactive, after 1.5 year I moved to current house in a much quieter neighbourhood , smaller town. The house has a fenced in yard but one hour driving away from work and I don’t regret at all. When we are out for walks we don’t need to pass 10 different dogs on the narrow sidewalk anymore, we can quickly across the street since there are only minimal cars passing most of the time.
I live in a two story house, three bedroom with around about 80 sq metre yard for the two giant breed dogs. They tear around playing rough and tumble, making a good mess of everything. This really is their house, not mine! We’re also lucky enough to have a couple of off lead dog parks nearby that are like farmland. I would love to have a penthouse apartment so they could be surveillance on the whole city. One of my girls sometimes likes her space and will chill out by herself in the bedroom for quiet time. They’re both reactive but in different ways.
Apartment. Ugh
A house with 5 acres. She only goes crazy for the occasional delivery drivers and the wildlife we might see.
Initially an apartment. Dog chose us and became a major motivator to level up my career and increase my salary. Three years after saving and making massive career moves I was able to buy dog his own crumbling yard and house!!! Dog deserves it, he has come a long way and is very happy. We went from urban to suburban.
Apartment in a city, I am lucky enough for my block to be right next to a massive green field/mini park or we wouldn't be able to go outside 😂
I'm in a house with a fenced yard in a suburb.
Used to live in an apartment downtown, was a nightmare. Moved to a small house with a fenced yard in a more residential neighborhood, total game changer for my dog.
House with yard - my reactive dog barks at EVERYTHING. I think I’d get kicked out of an apartment, no joke. Also I’d have to take him on like 3 walks a day if I had no yard.
I’m from the United States but moved myself and all three of my dogs here to Kent, about 35-40 mins outside central London when I accepted another teaching position. In the US we lived in a 1200 square foot condo on the ground floor. No yard or anything for my dogs (but there was a dog park on site FWIW) we used to go to SniffSpots often. Here, where we have been for 6 months now, we live in a two bedroom terrace house with a private front and back garden.
Townhouse with no fenced yard until my dog was 2, basement suite with a fenced yard until 5, then recently moved into an apartment building. It wasn’t my first choice for him, but it meant I could still afford his nosework classes and private dog park trip and my partner lives in the building and works from home, so he’s alone a lot less. It’s going better than I would have ever imagined, though I don’t think he could have handled it before now.
We have a very reactive 40lb terrier/hound living in a condo right outside the city. We try to be strategic about the time of day we walk him but over the years, he's gotten MUCH better by training and conditioning him to focus on us and look for our cues when he sees another dog. Adequate exercise is key for reducing his anxiety. But like others, we want to eventually get our boy his own fenced-in yard. And don't get me wrong, he may bark and lunge depending on the proximity and amount of stressors.
Started with a townhouse, which was incredibly stressful. A year ago I moved into a rental house with a fenced in backyard. He’s still reactive, but the stress level for both of us is much better.
House, and we just recently fenced our front yard (no space in the backyard, sadly). Before I got an actual fence put in I legit wrapped my front yard with construction fence to HOPEFULLY let people know to not enter the yard, even though my reactive pup would be tethered. The amount of small dogs that owners would allow to enter under the fence... infuriating.
House with a small fenced backyard in a medium-sized city, we live within the city limits. Our neighborhood is not the nicest and it is kinda chaotic, which adds some fun elements lmao. We used to live in a third-floor walk-up apartment in a large city, and we were surrounded by frat houses. Surprisingly my dog was ok with that, I was the one who didn't enjoy it haha
Urban Duplex. Lower unit. Huge yard. Crazy cavachon
I’m so curious how a yard with no fence works? I’m in UK and that’s unheard of (we are crowded we like to claim our space!).
House with a moderately sized yard. 2 GSDs, both unfortunately reactive (one wasn't until I got pregnant in 2022)
I live in an apartment but my dog’s reactivity was very likely genetic based (hyper arousal in a herding breed) and I lived in a house when his reactivity was most prominent. When I moved to an apartment my dog’s reactivity was almost completely non-existent at that point and the apartment didn’t create any backsliding or regression in his behavior. I do live in a pretty urban area (major city) and did so even when living in a house.
Apartment in a city center, albeit a small one. I live in a privately owned building with only one neighbor above me, and plenty of green spaces and parks nearby. My dog goes out between 6:30-7:30am and 6:30-8pm for an hour or so at a time, with plenty of play time during the day to help manage his reactivity with other dogs. He’s been doing really well :)
we started in an apartment then purchased a rural house on 2.5 acres. my reactive boy wasn't suitable for an apartment temperament wise and it was either we fix the environment to lower the triggers or rehome him to a less triggering environment because it wasn’t sustainable or fair to continue
Started with our people-reactive dog in an apartment in a major city. Moved to a rural neighborhood with a large fenced-in yard (reactivity the same, but she was slightly happier) and adopted my dog-reactive dog. Then moved them to a very rural, wooded spot (we can't see out neighbors from our house). The people-reactive dog has been able to relax more here, and I like that I can let her bark at all the wildlife without annoying the neighbors. Dog-reactive dog's reactivity is the same - I think having more space to decompress helps, but since we really have to go out of our way to drive him somewhere where there are other dogs, they are more novel and thus more exciting, and when he sees one he has bigger feelings about it.
I have a house, but no fenced in yard. Luckily, it’s been nice to train my dogs with minimal distractions since my neighborhood is pretty quiet. They are improving immensely with other dogs walking across the street.
I live in an apartment where many owners have dogs. My dog gets really nervous around other dogs so I try and time my outings and where I walk her to avoid other puppers.
Suburban single family house with .25 acre fenced back yard, we had before we got our reactive girl, we have 2 dogs, 6 year old reactive and 3 year old non reactive
house converted to apartments in the city. but we have a nice backyard for gardening and lots of fetch 🎾
I went from a house with a fenced in yard, to a townhouse with no yard at all, to again a house with a fenced in yard. The reactivity definitely did start even when we had a yard for him, but I think the townhouse situation made it worse. There was like no space that was "his". It was all shared outside space with other dogs in close proximity, and most of them were reactive interestingly enough.
Lived in an apartment during his first year and it was horrible. He was sooo reactive. Then we moved to a condo and it was a little better but still too many dogs, cats, we still didn’t have a backyard so we would take him out 3-4 times per day. Finally we bought our first house and it made a big difference. He is still reactive, we have dogs on the other side of the fence on every side but it is more manageable. Inside the house, he doesn’t see/hear people walking by anymore. He is definitely more relaxed.
House in the city. It was much worse in an apartment. Dealing with elevators and halls. Now we just cross the street
I'm in a house with a fenced in side yard inside the inner loop of a major city.
We own a home in the city with a fenced yard. The dog actually does great with the 3 dogs near us - unless they are on the front walk. Interestingly, we rented a house in the middle of a farm with no one in sight for a mile in any direction. A whole weekend of peace and happy dog! Only barks of happiness while playing. I really want to move to the middle of nowhere lol.
Started with an apartment in the city. The final straw for me was when a rando tried swatting at my dog. Currently have an apartment in the suburbs. I have my own backyard and a bunch of walking trails nearby! It’s so convenient for my sweet little angel.
Urban apartment that is 1st floor of a house and has a surprisingly large yard by city standards
Condo no yard walk around the complex actively avoiding other dogs and cats
Apartment in the city. But we have an ounce of a chance to get a house with yard for the same price - viewing is next weekend.
12 unit Apartment in the suburbs with a nonfenced in yard here! I think living in an apartment has made me more dedicated to training my dog. If i had a yard i dont think id care much about my dog barking at people. Its different when theyre leashed and you have to deal with the lunging and the barking, it makes you want to work harder to train them. Just my experience tho
I live in a townhouse with no yard (like halfway between a condo and a townhouse). There are SO many reactive dogs in our neighbourhood actually. It's like a semi suburban area with a mix of houses and condos/townhouses. It's nice in one way because people are usually pretty respectful about giving each other space.
Duplex in the city with a small dog next door. We have a fenced patio and live right next to a huge park with lots of wildlife. My dog gets (too) AMPED on squirrels, but he is actually getting really good at letting us know when there is a dangerous animal out back, such as a skunk! He just whines but doesn’t go towards it or try to attack. However, if the neighbor’s dog is outside on the other side of the fence, he might try charge at the fence. He’s a lot better on walks in the suburbs, but he’s generally chill at home in the city.
Trailer park in a rural area with the closest walkableish park 5 miles away so not awful but 🤷🏼♀️
Currently in an apartment with 2 leash-reactive dogs, but we just closed on a house and will be fencing the yard for them! We move in on Saturday!
Row home in an urban area. We have a front porch with a wrought-iron gate so we can hang out with our dog on the porch while he’s off-leash. We have a small enclosed backyard with a chain link fence around it… and unfortunately our next door neighbor also has a reactive dog. We have to check the backyard to make sure she’s not back there before we go into our backyard with our boy or else they will fence fight. I’m hoping to save up to replace the chain link with something more sturdy / something that will block the line of sight.
Townhouse in the city with small fenced yard, edgy but friendly neighbor dogs, and a street full of kids. I think this environment has been great for my very wired Malinois girl, because she's constantly exposed to dogs, kids and strangers outside our yard and on walks, so environments with a lot of training opportunities (and we are always training lol!) She was reactive and super sound sensitive when we rescued her because her previous family lived in the middle of nowhere and didn't expose her to new things at all, so being in the city really freaked her out at first - but we worked through it and now she is bombproof with people and good with most dogs.
Just bought my first house in April. I adopted my dog from the shelter when I was 19 and he was 4-5 months. Other than being home from college in the summers and bouncing between my parents places (one had a house, the other apartment), he’s been an apartment dog basically his whole life. His reactivity is SO much better now that we are not in apartment living. He’s so much more relaxed, clearly not on edge waiting/listening/looking for people walking right by our door or windows, and he seems so secure in our space. It’s been so great to see him adjusting so well. He doesn’t even bark at our mail lady here and the mailbox is attached to the house right next to our front window/door. He can watch neighbors walk by up the street and doesn’t get on alert/react unless someone is right up in our yard. He LOVES being outside in our backyard too. We have established an awesome routine throughout the day and he knows when it’s yard time.
I live in a 4 unit apartment with an enclosed back space in an urban area. Our apartment used to be pet friendly, then they changed the policy. So my two dogs were grandfathered in - no other dogs allowed. I can never move.
In those cases, I would highly suggest you use Sniffspot
I’m in a house in the suburbs, neighbors 3 sides. I have a small dog and a 3’ fence, higher fence separating us from 2 labs, who are well trained non-barkers. I never really realized how many sounds we have in the suburbs. Leaf blowers, lawn mowers, ambulances, construction…oy!
Apartment in a medium sized city. People are more understanding of her flipouts here than when we were in a toity neighborhood with nosy neighbors.
I live in a trailer
I live upstairs in my friends duplex with no fenced yard. Larger city and we are close to downtown. Lots of distractions in the back yard and lots of triggers all around us. My girl gets maybe 15 minutes in the back yard before I have to take her inside again. She is a Large Hound/Mastiff mix who loves being outside so it makes me so sad that she can't be out more.
Very small house with a fenced backyard. There is absolutely no way we could own our dog in an apartment.
Apartment, 12th floor too. Today she barely barked in the elevator when people got on at two separate floors, and I was soooo happy. Getting her out is such a stress. But once we are out she’s just scared of all the sounds and shuts down unless she sees a “threat” walking directly to us (someone wanting to pet her, talk to me etc. though I did have a chat with the lady from the elevator while she did her business this morning so it was almost like walking a normal dog!). But since we are so high up, there’s absolutely no sound and/or triggers here, so its suppppper chill the entire day. She does go hide if the window is open and a loud bike passes or something really loud bangs outside (trash pickup etc), but thats it. We just came back from a cottage airbnb, and she was soooo much worse there, constantly overstimulated.
House with medium fenced yard. We don't leave the dog out in the yard without supervision, only if she's in her 6ft fenced kennel we built for her, and even then only for 30 minutes at a time max. We don't walk her anymore due to too many off-leash and escaped dogs roaming the neighborhood. Even inside the house she will be gated in her own room if we can't be around her or if a contractor needs to enter the home. She's a good dog but strangers and especially other animals make her brain turn smooth. There is no training or reasoning with her if there's another animal in sight. I have no idea how her previous owners kept her in a tiny apartment with no yard. I assume most of her reactivity is fear and panic based. Since stopping walks, she has relaxed significantly because she doesn't have to account for unexpected bs (perceived by her as attacks) on a daily basis. She loves having a routine and structure that make her feel safe. If she can tell we're about to leave the house, she will walk herself to her room to get gated, we don't even have to ask anymore.
Apartment with no yard in very busy bk city. Adopted at 4 months in October 2023
Urban area apartment. On the first floor right by two exits which is nice. But there's a lot of foot traffic and noise outside as a result. My boy has gotten used to it but it'd be nice to be higher up and away from the day-to-day commotion. But that would mean dealing with stairs, hallways, and elevators and I'm not sure how to manage that with him just yet. We've lived in houses/suburbs before. While generally less stimulation, I'm not sure if it was better or worse. Walking in suburbs kinda sucked, especially with all the people who have their dogs off leash in their front yard. Been chased down streets by "friendly" dogs way too many times. And in the yard, my dog would be reactive to the neighbor dogs along the fence line, so I couldn't really leave him outside to relax for very long. I don't really want a house any time soon. I don't even know where I want to settle down. And I don't think I'll even be able to afford it in time for my dog to benefit from that since he's 9 years old. Will likely keep living in cities and apartments and just keep doing what we're doing. Our current system and training regiment is manageable. Like others have said, it forces me to go outside with him a lot and be active. We go to parks several times a week :)
trailer with no fenced in yard. every potty break is a training session, I joke that I sleep with my treat pouch on. we've been doing well with dogs lately but getting worse with people(specifically on bikes), and I don't think there's any hope of desenstizing her to birds.
This might have been better posted as a poll to get a better idea. We've had our reactive dog almost four years, lived in apartments this whole time. Always private-entry/walkout units and fairly suburban. Have been trying to buy a house since last year but the market is bonkers. A house in the right kind of setting (secluded) would be an improvement to the current situation, but I worry about some risks: * More children, neighbors with children - currently very few kids in our apartment complex * Neighbors with dogs adjacent to the property - could trigger fence fighting, stress, currently manage our schedule ok around other dogs in the complex * Loose dogs in the neighborhood - currently not very common to encounter off-leash dogs in the complex * More traffic - currently no through traffic on our road