Dog Eared Tales.

It was brought to our attention that Mom and I were not doing so well on the “brevity” thing, as advised in our last post. We’re still working on that but what can we say?  Some of the ideas we got were too good not to expand on!

Today we have another thought starter for those of you who are looking to break the 8 second rule that started this series.  Here is another approach for those who want to get out there and start doing something new to reduce animal surrenders.

 Landlord Intervention.  When people relocate, their pets often suffer.  Changing landlords or giving up your home can mean that you have no choice but to move to a place that does not welcome pets.  This is a top reason in most shelters for animal surrenders.

 What if you tried to improve the percentage of pet friendly rentals in your area? Start with landlords in your area that have had long term vacancies and see of they are open to cracking open the door even a little for pets. They will likely have a long list of reasons and concerns.  Start by simply researching the policies and listen carefully. Resist the urge to argue every one right away. 

Set out to overcome as many of their concerns in an organized fashion that continually highlights the benefit to them.  Start small and see how far you can get.  They may insist on breed or size restrictions at first but if you allow the deal to collapse over that then all dogs pay the price.  Any progress is good progress and it can ease the landlord into bigger changes later.

Here are some things you can put into your arsenal to start changing their minds and building your reputation as a reliable source they can trust as they begin reexamining their policies: 

1. Pet owners on the whole are pretty responsible.  Dig up what you can on stats for pet owners personalities to get the ball rolling—make a profile that explains why a pet owner is an ideal tenant. Things like; more likely to renew if pet is welcome, more likely to keep regular hours or be kind neighbors and so on. 
2. Recruit landlords that do allow pets to help (preferable those in another area, so there is no direct competition for tenants).  Interview them, host a meeting or compile a top ten list of the benefits they found from allowing pets. Ideally these benefits include less vacant rentals and solid referrals (and free listings in pet friendly directories) from the very loyal pet community.  
3. If they are already somewhat sympathetic to the cause, highlight the benefits to the community as well.  Allowing pets could ultimately relieve some burden on the local animal shelter.
4. Draft a sample agreement that would be an addendum to a pet owner’s lease.  Customize it to their specific concerns which may include:
1. Increased security deposit for cleaning costs.
2. Ability to meet and assess animal’s personality prior to move in date. For breeds they are wary of, maybe a professional assessment is in order, at tenants’ cost (you can probably recruit these gratis if you begin to make real progress).
3. Tenant agrees to pay for professional floor cleaning X times a year.
4. Tenant agrees to allow a quarterly inspection (with owner present) for pet damage and compliance with population limits and pay/neuter clauses etc.
5. Tenant reveals/commits to number of hours pet will be alone on average, plans for pet sitting for vacations and so on.
6. Tenant agrees to leash rules and/or walk dogs off private premises (no doggy mess or ruined lawns).
7. No new pets once lease is signed, exiting pets only.
8. Establish quiet hours—limit barking, loud play and no noisy ins and outs for walks in that time frame or lease is void.
9. Landlord reserves the right to assess pet, leash or muzzle policy on a case by case basis.
10. If you are able, offer yourself or other volunteers (perhaps from the shelter) to assist them with an additional screening process for potential tenants who have pets.

Some of this may sound excessive to pet owners and lovers but think of it from a business owner’s prospective; he has property to protect and the well being of other tenants to consider.  This is not a personal decision for them, it is business and as we stated a few posts ago, it is time to start thinking like a business owner.  

 You may not convert landlords to the level of openness you’d like at first.  Instead focus on building credibility with the landlords.  Once you have some success under your belt you will be able to persuade them to do more.

If you have been looking for a way to help homeless animals outside of traditional volunteering, fostering or adopting, this may be the approach custom-made for you! Please share this post so others who may be looking for ideas can find it. What are landlords like in your area?  Is this a major concern? 

When every pet has a home, maybe then we can relax