‘We Gave Up the Perfect Apartment for Our Pet’

The only problem? We didn’t check with our landlord first.

Worse yet, we loved our apartment: The kitchen was painted a burnt Tuscan orange, the bedroom was expansive with a walk-in closet and a brilliant blue color that made us feel relaxed and right at home. The location was perfect, a quarter-mile from my favorite yoga studio and a stone’s throw from the subway. Best of all? The rent was an affordable $900.

But that dog.

After we brought Rocky home, we did the right thing. We called our landlord. We figured since he’d approved our corpulent cat, he’d almost certainly approve the dog, too. Especially such a little dog!

Alas, our landlord said no. No dogs allowed.

What should we do? Well, we never really had a choice. Our hearts were set on that sweet little pooch with his big brown eyes and curly tail. So we found another apartment a few doors down that allowed pets.

Our new apartment had no dishwasher. It had no closet. It was in a run-down building with a bathroom so disgusting, we wore shower shoes the whole two years we lived there. It’s no wonder it allowed dogs.

The kicker? It was smaller and $400 more expensive than the place we’d just left.

The move was depressing and long. We did a terrible job packing, because we didn’t want to leave. We walked our things box by box down the street, feeling more and more angry with every trip. But we moved. And we settled Rocky and Melvin (the fat cat) into our new place.

A few weeks later, we were at the local dog park when we met a new couple who, to our surprise, had just moved into our old place. Even more shocking? They also had a dog—a Chihuahua named Percy.

“We just didn’t tell him,” they explained after we revealed how our own Chihuahua had been the reason we’d had to move out. “And once he found out when he saw us walking the dog and met him, he just let us stay.” Wait, what?

So what did I take away from this infuriating experience? Plenty. Here are five things I learned about mixing apartments and pets.

Ask your landlord before you meet the dog

We made the mistake of falling for Rocky before we confirmed that our landlord would approve. The best path is to clear the dog question with your landlord before you lose your heart to a furry one.

‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ is a gamble, but it can sometimes pan out

Hiding a pet from your landlord is, of course, terrible legal advice. But it’s also possible that once or if your landlord finds out, he will OK it rather than go through the annoying and expensive process of finding a new tenant. It’s a gamble, of course. You could end up on the financial hook if your puppy or dog destroys something or if your landlord considers it a breached lease. But mostly, the worst-case scenario is mutually parting ways with your landlord and then you are no worse off than if you’d asked and he’d said no.

Introduce your pet to your landlord, and maybe he’ll melt

This isn’t going to work with a landlord who hates all animals, but our landlord was already OK with cats. The only difference between us and the tenants who followed us is that he’d met their Chihuahua. Had he met ours, he might have had a different reaction.

Offer to sign additional paperwork

If we had offered to sign liability clauses in the lease indicating that we would pay for any damage incurred by Rocky, our landlord might have been more amenable to his presence. We asked without that offer and, in retrospect, we could have made our request more appealing, and harder to turn down.

Propose paying more rent

If all else fails and you really want to keep the apartment, put more money on the table. For the dishwasher, the nice bathroom, the walk-in closet, and the feeling of home, we would have upped our rent considerably. We simply didn’t argue enough. We gave up too soon.

If all of these tactics fail and your landlord says it’s a no-go, the good news is this: We left that apartment in 2003. In the 14 years since, we have had three children and five houses. We moved out of the bad apartment and bought a condo—and never rented again. Rocky has been with us through it all. Today, he is gray around his temples and has lumps and bumps too numerous to count. He limps a bit and sometimes pees on the carpet, but he’s been in our lives for almost as long as my husband and I have been together—and we almost couldn’t imagine life without him.

In other words: It was worth it.