Apartment Hunting

Finding a place to live (that you don't own) while having mixed breed dogs it notoriously difficult. Apparently if your dog is not a pure-bred, and appears to have genetic material from a long list of banned dogs-you cannot live in many places.

Below I've posted a ridiculous conversation I had with a renting agent at a apartment/condo community in central NJ. Apparently any percentage of the banned breeds disqualifies your dog- how they determine this is beyond me. So many mutts from shelters are chow/shepherd/staffie mutts- so they are really cutting out a huge dog population.



Christina: Thank you for contacting our community! How are you doing today?

Jessica: Hello

Jessica: My fiance and I are looking for an apartment/condo halfway between NYC and Philadelphia because he will be attending law school in the fall and I work in a law firm in NYC.

Jessica: is someone there?

Christina: Ok great Jessica! We are located _________, And I see your question here

Christina: We do allow mixed breed depending on the breeds. What type of dog do you have?

Jessica: Yes--We have two mixed-breed dogs (about 45 lbs each) that we rescued from NYC shelters- they are as sweet as can be but have features that to some resemble pit-mixes. They are super friendly-- We are extremely responsible dog-owners (both are fixed and 100% obedient)-and our dogs are better trained than all of the smaller dogs in our NYC neighborhood.

Christina: We do have certain breed restrictions so we will need to know what breeds your dogs is before we can approve him/her. Just so we are clear about the policy, we cannot accept the following breeds (whether purebred or mixed of any percentage-no exceptions): Akita, American Staffordshire Terrier, Bull Terrier, Chow, Doberman, German Shepherd, Husky, Pit Bull, Presa Canario, Rottweiler and Wolf Hybrid.

Jessica: we have had their DNA tested and they mostly mutts--one is less than 25% dalmation and the other is mostly labrador- but they look somewhat like pit bulls

Jessica: i can send a picture/

Jessica: but its hard to determine their "breeds" because they are so well-mixed

Jessica: they are suuuper sweet and everyone loves them

Christina: We would require documentation in regards to their breeds. If they are any of the breeds listed earlier then unfortunately we wouldn't be able to approve them.

Jessica: ok- so every dog needs a DNA test to be approved?

Christina: We would need documentation from a vet in order to approve them. Would that work for you?


...I said yes, but no vet would say our dogs are a Lab and a Plott Hound.. so se la vie!!