Pit bull owners face apartment renting challenges

If you’re a pit bull owner, you already know this. Renting an apartment is not going to be an easy task for you.

Whether or not you buy into the stereotype that pit bulls are dangerous dogs is irrelevant to this argument. They’re banned from many, if not most, multifamily apartment complexes due to the perception that they are dangerous. Whether or not your own American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier and Staffordshire Bull Terrier is actually a problem is essentially irrelevant.

I have a good friend who has a one-year-old pit bull. She loves her dog – which is well behaved, if a little exuberant – very much, and she’s a passionate advocate for these dogs and their rights.

Currently, she’s stuck in her studio apartment. It’s owned by a private party who is OK with pit bulls, which is why she is able to have her dog there. She’d like to move, but finding another place that will accept her dog seems to be a near-impossible task.

It’s a vicious cycle for the dogs, who already rank as the one breed most euthanized after ending up at an animal shelter (one figure puts the number of pits that are euthanized each year at 80 percent of those who end up in a shelter). They might find loving homes, but then their owners could end up homeless and then what happens?

If you’re considering getting a pet, consider your options carefully. My friend has decided that she’ll compromise her housing standards in order to keep her dog. How would you deal with the situation?

There are many smaller dog breeds that are accepted by many apartment properties. If you are in the market for an apartment and have a pit bull, it might be best to seek private party rentals that are friendly to the breed.

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