Adoptions For Apts W/balcony

[buddibear]

Our board has reviewed and approved an adoption application for an apartment on 3rd floor with unscreened balcony.This can be a year round issue in Florida with fantastic weather. The open-backed concrete stairs to the unit were a challenge even for a young dog. I have heart burn thinking a dog could jump over railing, curious with birds or dog walkers below. Am I overthinking this?

[schultzlc]

When I first adopted my hound, I too lived on the top floor apartment (4) with an unscreened balcony. I also had open-backed outdoor concrete stairs. The first time was a challenge getting her up those stairs. After coaxing her for nearly an hour, my adrenaline built up and I just scooped her up and carried her up the first flight. After that, she decided that going on her own was far better than being carried, and we never had another issue. In terms of the balcony, I never had any problems, and she is pretty darn curious. I would often leave the french doors open to let in the breeze in the early spring, and she'd go out there pretty frequently to hang out. Sometimes she'd take a stuffy with her and squeak it at people, other times she'd go pass out on the concrete. But, even when she saw something interesting, such as the lady on the first floor's yorkie, she never tried to climb over the edge or jump.

 

Try not to worry too much, I think the dog's have decent instinct that they are up pretty high.

[Guest kkaiser104]

I agree. I think that dog would have to have an amazing prey instinct--much higher then most greyhounds--to jump over a balcony for one. Teddi's afraid of heights

 

I think where there's a will there's a way, and I've heard a lot of success stories about dogs in apartments! If your dog has to learn stairs, you'll figure it out.

[JAJ2010]

I lived in a 5th floor apt with a screened in porch. Was paranoid enough to put green snow fencing all around since I didn't trust them to notice the screen. They were never out there alone. Stairs was an interesting issue, but they figured it out eventually! LOL

 

As long as the adopter has half a brain it should be fine

[sobesmom]

I wouldn't freak out about it. As long as the adopter shows the balcony to the dog in a controlled setting - on leash at first, the dog will "get" the it does NOT want to jump off. If the dog gets to look around the balcony in a clam manner, it'll probably be fine.

 

My dogs have had crazy high prey drive - but there's no way they'd "forget themselves" long enough to jump off a 3 story balcony after anything.

[Guest Trammell]

I am on the third floor - no screen on my balcony - and multiple times a day we go up and down open back cement stairs It's the fact that we have to go up and down that bothers mine, she brings lazy to a whole new level. But they did just build two dog parks in my apt. complex. one for big, and one for little! I have the same worry as you, but I just don't let her go out there unsupervised, but they must have some instinct that tells them they are up high, right?

[Neighsayer]

My daughter had a stupid lab mix that jumped off her fifth floor balcony ...twice! The first time, she landed on a padded lounge chair on the balcony of the apartment below... They jut out in a staggered pattern, rather than stacked one over another.

The second time, she broke all four legs, and had additional serious injuries. We don't know why she jumped. My daughter was home both times. The first time, she was looking for the oh and heard her crying below. The people in that apartment were away for the weekend, so the super had to rescue the dog. The second time, my daughter had been out there with her, but came inside to get something. She saw her go over.

I'm sure this doesn't happen often, but it IS possible.

[GeorgeofNE]

YES.

 

I am going on year 10 living on a third floor with a balcony--two different condos, two different dogs. Neither dogs has ever showed even a faint inclination to jump the rail. They don't even stick their head through the bars.

 

Dogs are not typically suicidal, or so stupid they don't recognize how high up they are!

 

Cats, on the other hand...

[NeylasMom]

YES.

 

I am going on year 10 living on a third floor with a balcony--two different condos, two different dogs. Neither dogs has ever showed even a faint inclination to jump the rail. They don't even stick their head through the bars.

 

Dogs are not typically suicidal, or so stupid they don't recognize how high up they are!

Yep. Year 11 or 12 for me, 3 dogs of my own, 60 foster dogs and numerous others that I've dogsat. Obviously some weren't exposed to the balcony in colder months, but any who have been have never indicated an interest in jumping. Just like if I had a yard, they're not out there when I'm not supervising just to be safe.

[philospher77]

My mom lives in a house with a walk-out basement, and a deck in the back. They had a golden that liked to look through the deck railing, so they took out one of the slats for her. They had a "possibly treeing walker coonhound" as well at the time. That dog apparently leaped off the deck at least twice, with about a 15 foot drop because there is a slope to the backyard. Thankfully the dog was fine, and landed in their fenced-in yard. Not too long after that, the golden passed on, and mom replaced the slat to keep Spot from jumping out. Apparently it was deer outside the fence that he just couldn't resist!

[3greytjoys]

I agree with OP. Hopefully, that individual dog will be fine and have no problems with an open balcony or open-backed stairs.

 

I'm not sure how a retired racing hound would automatically know about extreme heights. Many large dog breeds (Greyhounds included) have no problem launching themselves over tall fences, falling into deep water (having no clue it's not solid footing), jumping out of fast moving vehicles (open car windows or truck beds). Many dogs have jumped off high walls, upper level decks. Tethered dogs often strangle themselves by jumping or falling off decks or embankments. A high prey sighthound could add another aspect... certain very high prey hounds would try to climb trees to get to birds/squirrels in uppermost limbs.

 

Hopefully, the adoption group cautions the adopters to never leave the dog on an elevated, open balcony unsupervised. A panicked dog freaking out from a sudden noise, fireworks, thunderstorm, heat lightning, construction, etc. could send a trapped, scared Greyhound sailing over a balcony in an instant.

 

Some groups don't allow adoptions to homes with open-backed stairs; however, same stairs at an apartment complex probably aren't nearly as unsafe because the hound would likely be walking slowly while leashed to a human (vs. racing freely up/down slippery open-backed stairs, which could result in serious injuries). A younger hound could learn to handle them more easily, but a senior with mobility problems could become particulary challenging.

 

There are certainly many dogs living happily in high level apartments and condos with careful and responsible owners.

[gracegirl]

This was the second house I lived in with a second story balcony. Neither Grace nor Fenway ever thought about testing their limits at either house. My first house had a more solid wood railing. My second house just had wire.

 

 

 

My balcony faced east. She loved it when I'd move a bed out there and let her catch the morning sun as I was getting ready for work. My God, do I miss that girl!

Edited March 17, 2013 by gracegirl

[Guest Gemma]

If the adopter is sensible, I agree that it shouldn't be an issue. The only dogs I have heard of who jumped off a third+ story balcony had been left outside ALL day by their awful owner and were eventually desperate to escape.

[PatricksMom]

We have a "balcony"--ours is on the ground floor--with a 3 foot fence. Henry loves it, he's never given us any trouble about it (although he's only allowed out there supervised). I haven't seen any of the big dogs in our complex look even tempted to jump, although there are a couple tiny little dogs that I worry about squeezing through and falling. I can't really see at least with ours there would be room for the dog to jump over, in terms of horizontal distance. But I would make it clear that the balcony is for hanging out with mom or dad, not spending hours out there alone.

 

We also have those open concrete stairs. It took a while, in part because Henry doesn't have to use them, so we were slow about stairs training. They aren't an issue because, as someone else said, they learn to do them slowly on a leash. The metal holding them in place can get noisy in the wind, so if they're that kind I would steer away from a spooky dog.

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

The stairs are a non-issue. Dont let anyone tell you differently. I foster broken leg hounds, 6 weeks out of casts and they learn to do open-faced wood stairs from day one. Typically by the 5th day they can go up and down the stairs with no assistance.

The patio, I wouldnt worry too much about that either, I have a raised ranch house with a staircase with railing. While I have had a few hounds that like to stick their heads through the rails to see who is comming up the stairs, not a single one has ever even put their front legs on the top of the railing.

[WalterWallerson]

I live in a 1 b/r apartment on the second floor. When you enter the apartment you have about 3 feet and then you have to go up a flight of stairs. Walter needed help the first time getting up the stairs, and benefited from me holding his leash on the way down to slow him, but now that he's been here for almost 2 years, he is a pro at stairs. I also have a balcony with railing that is about 4 feet high. The spaces are big enough for him to poke his head through, with lots of space to clear on both sides, and he likes to watch what is going on. He doesn't bark or try to eat anything, he just watches - that is, when he isn't sleeping!

[Guest poofmagk]

We too lived in a 3rd floor apartment with an unscreened balcony and open backed stairs. Teaching them the stairs was a challenging/hilarious experience, but they both caught on really quickly, and within 24 hrs were pros. I honestly had never even considered that the balcony could be dangerous. We would brush them out there or feed them messy treats, which was exciting, but other than that they would just stand and look around for a minute or two and then head back inside where their comfy beds were. They were always supervised and I never saw any behavior that concerned me.

 

 

Oliver taking in the sunset.

Edited March 25, 2013 by poofmagk