sherbert

Ok, so it looks like we'll be moving to San Deigo next year. Bf's (soon to be husband...yikes) visa is being processed as I type.

We will be taking our 4 year old mixed breed dog with us. For one reason or another, he was never neutered as a puppy.

I live in the Netherlands at the moment where it's not an absolute taboo/social pariah/bad citizen thing to have an 'intact' male dog as it is in UK (and to be fair, the problem with abandoned dogs here is no where near what it is in UK).

So here are my questions:

- Am I going to struggle finding 'doggy day care' facilities that will take an un-neutered male (he is not aggressive, knows his place in the pack etc) but even here in NL some dog walker services refuse to take intact males?

- Regarding housing, and nothing to do with neutering, we will need to rent, furnished, for some time. I know this is not going to be easy with a dog and will cost us $$$ in deposits. He is not huge (20 kilos) and is not any of the 'dangerous' breeds that housing rental companies refuse to accept. Anyone got any tips or advice for me on where to look for housing with a hound in San Diego?

...and as for the neutering, please don't turn this thread into a discussion about why wouldn't you neuter your dog. That said, I am not opposed to having him fixed before we leave if it becomes clear that living with an entire dog in the USA is difficult. I just don't want to put him through surgery unless absolutely necessary.

Pulaski

Good luck renting furnished accommodation under any circumstances - "corporate style" (furnished) accommodation is very (absurdly) expensive. Personally I doubt that you will be able to rent any furnished accommodation that will accept a dog.

Weeze

We had to write a letter of reference for our dog (including photos). He has been neutered but I don't honestly remember that being mentioned in any of the paperwork.

Out main doggy daycare does a temperament test. I don't remember neutering being required, but it may have been.

We were in furnished accommodation for 3 months with our dog. Plenty of the furnished places here advertise that they allow dogs. They do have weight restrictions though.

sherbert

Really? I see loads of websites like this:
http://www.apartmentguide.com/apartm...available-4ic/

...that say dogs are allowed (usually weight and breed restricted).

Rental prices in NL are ridiculous. So for what you seem to get for your money over there is amazing compared to what you'd get for that price here. So the prices are not actually too shocking.

Or am I missing something? Are these kind of rental properties scams? Do they have lots of add-ons? As I have owned my own home for many years, I've forgotten how it is to rent...

sherbert

Weeze. You had to write a letter of reference for your own dog to rent a place? Or for doggy daycare? Shouldn't be a problem. We live in a shoebox apartment and he's been trained from puppy-hood to be calm and quiet at home. Fortunately never chewed anything up! And he's cute and fluffy so pics should work in his favour hahaah.

Yes, of course I would expect that anyone taking him would need to make sure he fits in with the other guests.

Weeze

The letter was for our landlord. I included particularly stupid looking photos, including one of him in a party hat.

HartleyHare

In terms of renting, I think it probably depends on where you are moving too. We moved to NJ in June and found it almost impossible to find anywhere to rent with our dog, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who weighs around 9kg. My OH has a well paid job and we offered a bigger deposit, or more rent and still could not find anywhere that would accept us. Luckily an apartment came on the market that had been rented to a family with a dog, so it worked out in the end, but it was a very stressful time!

The other point. I would make is that you should check out whether or not you can exercise your dog off lead - in NJ dogs are not allowed off the lead at all (only in your own fenced-in garden) and many parks do not allow dogs either. If you are used to exercising your dog off lead you may be in for a shock. Even the State Parks here insist on dogs on a lead, no more than 6ft in length. In some areas dogs are required to wear a muzzle too.

This website may be useful: http://www.sddac.com/index.asp It appears that you will need a licence, but there is no requirement to have your dog neutered.

Good luck with your move.

HartleyHare

We have photos of that ilk. I think our dog is a surrogate sibling for our daughter,

sherbert

Thank you for this. Yes, I am used to letting him run about off lead (no such laws here in NL and if there were, people would ignore them anyway) but I had expected that and was hoping there'd be special doggy parks where they can be off lead. Have actually started jogging so that I have another way to exercise him as I had anticipated that he wouldn't be getting much off-lead time.

Also will have to get used to not being able to take him to shops/cafes/bars as you can in NL...although with the better weather over there in San Diego I am hoping to find places that will let you sit outside with your beast.

sherbert

ha ha ha hahahaha, brilliant. I've got one of him wearing reindeer antlers under the xmas tree. To be fair, he looks terrified, as every time he moved, the bells on them would jangle. Poor thing.

HartleyHare

Hi,

Yes, we have a "dog park" within our park here. There's 2 fenced off areas (for large and small dogs) where the dogs can be off lead. I don't like them, as I don't think it's always a good idea to have large groups of dogs together in a confined space, but that's just my opinion. Our dog is quite timid and just stood by our feet when we took her and we could see she was very uncomfortable with all the dogs so we have never been back. We have some beautiful wooded areas here where we take her at the weekends and I walk her around the neighbourhood daily. We also have a fenced in yard that she can run around in too. However, I do find it sad that she is unable to have a really good run - I can see she is desperate to get off the lead to have a good forage in the woods. As we are only here on a 2 year contract it's not too much of a problem, but I would be loath to continue long term in this way.

Steerpike

All I can contribute here is to say that in the Bay Area (CA), different counties have different restrictions regarding off / on leash in parks. East Bay regional parks allow off-leash dogs almost everywhere, while the Peninsula parks 20 miles away (south of SF down to San Jose) do not. So if you find some parks don't allow it, don't assume all parks don't.

Homeiswheretheheartis

Its law in Nevada to have your dog spayed. I don't know about CA and its such a big state that expect it would differ area to area. I had a quick look around the web and can't find an answer.

Maybe contact a local vets and ask there.

scrubbedexpat099

We have snow in the trees where he likes running so last week I tried a new technique as I was not feeling that well. Long leash, me on the ATV, once we got to the edge of town I let him off the lead and he was happy running at about 15 mph on the way out, did a few trails and he slowed down to about 10 mph on the way back.

Only problem is that everytime I get on the ATV now he thinks we are doing a repeat.

HartleyHare

Lucky doggies!