4 ms·

I have a pit bull who is amazingly well behaved, including having a CGC (Canine Good Citizen) training certificate. However, moving in to an apartment in San Fr

I have a pit bull who is amazingly well behaved, including having a CGC (Canine Good Citizen) training certificate. However, moving in to an apartment in San Francisco was damn near impossible. I was on the brink of leaving the bay area because of how hard it was to find someone willing to rent to me, until I found a private landlord who took pity on me. Many times I had friends suggest I just lie and say my dog was an emotional support animal. It was quite tempting because of how awful it can be to find a place to rent in SF with a dog. If you think it's bad and you're not a pet owner, imagine it being 10x worse. The only reason I didn't do that was because I didn't want to contribute to rules like this which make it harder for people who really need the ESA.

cobookman 9y ago
FYI most large apartment management firms in the bay area are so used to calling out fake ESA animals, that they'll end up finding out.
- ffumarola 9y ago
  Find out what? There is nothing to find out, it's easy to prove any dog is an ESA with the help of a friendly doctor. You may be suggesting that lying about service animals is easily discoverable, which is indeed true. This is already illegal.
  - cobookman 9y ago
    They'll call your doctor and go to the full extent of the law if your animal is really an ESA. Sure you can still go to a doctor and mention that you're depressed an how an animal will really help you out...etc. But I wouldn't assume that large apartment complexes just stand by idle. Most are tired of fake ESA animals that cause them insurance & tenant issues.
closeparen 9y ago
There are a lot of things I like about city/renter/transit-oriented life, but if I'm forced to choose between that and a dog, I'll choose the dog.
chrisper 9y ago
I do not want to say it is your fault for these rules, neither do I want to do the "pit bull stereotype," but when you chose the breed you did, you should have known that you will have issues finding a place with that breed. If this is only the case in the Bay Area, then my bad. I only lived there, but of the few apartments that allowed pets, almost all of them did not like pit bulls, huskies, etc. So getting a pit bull while living in an apartment is a bad idea imho. (But I'd have chosen the dog over bay area as well!)
- Judgmentality 9y ago
  I have a labrador and it's almost impossible for me to find an apartment either, I even upped my price to $5k a month and I still can't find anything that isn't awful (and that's ignoring the price).
  - chrisper 9y ago
    Is it because of the weight limits? I have a lab too and remember having that issue as well. I only had found two places that were okay with my dog back then.
    - Judgmentality 9y ago
      The first problem is most places are not pet friendly at all. Then when you find a place that does accept pets, they almost never accept large pets. And even the places that supposedly accept large pets are always going to choose the tenant that does not have a pet, even if you offer more money. In SF, where there are multiple bidders on everything, it's almost impossible to find a place if you have a large dog. As someone who's lived with large dogs his whole life I have always had this problem, but not nearly as bad as it currently is in SF. I've been so frustrated with this lately I actually tried to think of a way to solve this problem from a business perspective, but haven't come up with anything much better than being a super niche insurance company which would have an incredibly hard time getting buy-in from landlords (who hold all the power already). There's no doubt in my mind pet owners, or would-be pet owners, would be willing to pay more for their loved ones - but how to create a market for that when the landlords hold all the cards is something I haven't figured out yet.

cobookman 9y ago

FYI most large apartment management firms in the bay area are so used to calling out fake ESA animals, that they'll end up finding out.

ffumarola 9y ago
Find out what? There is nothing to find out, it's easy to prove any dog is an ESA with the help of a friendly doctor. You may be suggesting that lying about service animals is easily discoverable, which is indeed true. This is already illegal.
- cobookman 9y ago
  They'll call your doctor and go to the full extent of the law if your animal is really an ESA. Sure you can still go to a doctor and mention that you're depressed an how an animal will really help you out...etc. But I wouldn't assume that large apartment complexes just stand by idle. Most are tired of fake ESA animals that cause them insurance & tenant issues.

closeparen 9y ago

There are a lot of things I like about city/renter/transit-oriented life, but if I'm forced to choose between that and a dog, I'll choose the dog.

chrisper 9y ago

I do not want to say it is your fault for these rules, neither do I want to do the "pit bull stereotype," but when you chose the breed you did, you should have known that you will have issues finding a place with that breed. If this is only the case in the Bay Area, then my bad. I only lived there, but of the few apartments that allowed pets, almost all of them did not like pit bulls, huskies, etc. So getting a pit bull while living in an apartment is a bad idea imho. (But I'd have chosen the dog over bay area as well!)

Judgmentality 9y ago
I have a labrador and it's almost impossible for me to find an apartment either, I even upped my price to $5k a month and I still can't find anything that isn't awful (and that's ignoring the price).
- chrisper 9y ago
  Is it because of the weight limits? I have a lab too and remember having that issue as well. I only had found two places that were okay with my dog back then.
  - Judgmentality 9y ago
    The first problem is most places are not pet friendly at all. Then when you find a place that does accept pets, they almost never accept large pets. And even the places that supposedly accept large pets are always going to choose the tenant that does not have a pet, even if you offer more money. In SF, where there are multiple bidders on everything, it's almost impossible to find a place if you have a large dog. As someone who's lived with large dogs his whole life I have always had this problem, but not nearly as bad as it currently is in SF. I've been so frustrated with this lately I actually tried to think of a way to solve this problem from a business perspective, but haven't come up with anything much better than being a super niche insurance company which would have an incredibly hard time getting buy-in from landlords (who hold all the power already). There's no doubt in my mind pet owners, or would-be pet owners, would be willing to pay more for their loved ones - but how to create a market for that when the landlords hold all the cards is something I haven't figured out yet.