It’s risky, but you can try to keep your dog a big, furry secret.
Dogs are man’s best friend, but they are not your landlord’s best friend—for obvious reasons . We don’t recommend hiding a dog from a landlord for a number of reasons, but if you’re going to, you should do it smartly.Watch
How to Hide a Dog From Your Landlord
If you would still rather hide your pet, here are some ways to hide it from your landlord.
One of the most common reasons landlords don’t allow pets is allergies. Even if you aren’t allergic, other people in the building may be allergic to your pet. Pet fur and dander can travel through common areas and air ducts in the building, which trigger allergies in your neighbors.
If you don’t have a pet already, consider getting a hypoallergenic pet, such as the Maltese, Poodle, Maltipoo, or Yorkshire Terrier.
Besides getting a hypoallergenic dog, make sure your apartment is always clean. Use a vacuum or sweep your apartment regularly to clean up all pet dander and fur.
Make use of functional air filters to make your apartment smell fresh and get rid of any unpleasant smells. Furthermore, pick up after your dog as soon as it poops.
If you don’t plan on potty training your dog to use an artificial grass mat or a pee pad, you will have to take it out many times each day. If you don’t want your landlord to find out you have a pet in the apartment, you must time your dog’s walks and bathroom breaks.
Your dog will have to get used to going to the bathroom late at night and early in the morning. When walking your dog, take it to a park a few blocks away to reduce the chance of being spotted by neighbors or your landlord.
Many landlords don’t like pets because of their noise and because they tend to cause property damage. Consider training your dog by yourself or took it to a training class that focuses on behavioral issues such as:
Barking is the most critical issue because that is one of the ways your landlord will figure out you have a dog in your apartment. You will also need to focus on training your dog not to bark at the doorbell, other dogs, delivery men, and other sounds.
Since your landlord is the owner of the property, they can have inspections any day. They will most likely give you a date and time for the inspection, which gives you time to plan.
You can ask your family members or friends to keep your dog while the inspection is going on. Buy your friend or family member a gift or promise them a favor in return. Getting the dog out of the apartment is safer than trying to hide them in the apartment.
7) Be Careful What You Tell Your Neighbor/Landlord
Be careful when talking to your neighbors or landlords.
If your apartment is a no-pet apartment, its obvious your neighbor knows you do not have pets.
Some neighbors may end up reporting you to the landlord or the manager to launch an inspection of your apartment.
Let your normal conversation between you and your neighbors or landlord to be just normal.
Tenants: Don’t Hide Your Pets
A dog owner has shared the clever way they trick their landlord into thinking they only have one dog, to save on pet rent.
The owners dogs are near-on identical, being littermates and so genetic siblings. Luna has lived with them for years, but sibling Loki moved in a little over a month.
In order to disguise their second dog from the landlord, and avoid an additional pet fee of $40 a month, they walk the dogs separately. Thanks to their spot-the-difference appearances, residents simply assume they are both the same dog that has lived there for years.
“To be clear, we have paid a deposit for pets and have had two dogs weve paid pet rent for, for 10 years. We recently lost our corgi of 15 years and they deducted his pet rent from our monthly payment. Then we got Loki,” the owner wrote in a viral Reddit post. They shared the cunning plan to the subreddit “Rare Puppers,” where the hilarious post gained 100,000 likes.
“I informed them via email but they never added his pet rent. The walking separately started as a joke but now I just want to see how long it takes for them to catch on,” they added.
The two dogs are assumed by the owner to be either Swiss Shepherd or a mix of Husky and German Shepherd, but the owners are awaiting the time to do a DNA test to truly find out. No matter the breed, theres one thing for certain: they look like twins.
“They were adopted together at eight weeks from the same litter. 10 months later, their owner brought them to the doggie daycare where my husband worked to stay a couple weeks while he moved, then never came back,” explained the owner in a comment.
“After a few months of searching for the owner (phone had been disconnected) we adopted Luna and our friend adopted Loki. A lot has happened in between but now Loki and Luna are back together and we couldnt be happier to see their joy.”
The two dogs walk calmer on separate walks anyway, but the owners have vowed to continue the plan in a bid to see how far they can take it until someone notices.
It isnt made clear exactly which state the dogs reside in, but research by American Home Shield found that North Carolina was the most dog-friendly state, with 77.6 percent of rentals allowing small dogs and 58.6 percent of rentals allowing large dogs.
Hawaii, however, was the least dog-friendly state, with only 7 percent accepting large dogs and 20 percent allowing small dogs.
This owners hilarious and seemingly relatable tactic was praised online by fellow dog lovers responding to the post.
“I like to think that sometimes they switch places with each other and you dont notice,” wrote one user.
“Id be careful, they really gotta work on keeping their stories straight or the landlord may notice,” joked another user.