Charlotte, NC was easy to rent in if you had dogs. Most places allowed at least dogs up to 25 lbs, and I had no trouble finding (nice) places to rent that allowed multiple large dogs. And they do happen to have quite a few dogs parks, the always tasty Canine Cafe where they serve Doggie Daquiries (my dogs loved them!) along with cute bakery items, and there was even a bar that allowed dogs. Plenty of doggie daycares and hotels too.

Now if only south central PA was as dog friendly!

Yay for Austin! We are SUCH a pet-friendly city!

I live pretty close to choice #2. What's interesting though is when I go to Chicago I never see any dogs! There are tons of dogs in the burbs but I've yet to see people with their dogs in Chicago.

I love animals, but I can't help but sympathize with landlords that aren't willing to allow pets in their property. I worked in a pet-friendly, low-end motel in college and I saw how much damage animals can do if they aren't well trained. (I wasn't even the housekeeper!)
Every pet owner I know would tell me THIER little animal is perfectly well behaved, but somehow my neighbors always have dogs that bark all day, eat my flowers, and vomit all over my welcome mat. Their owners are the kind of people who leave Mr Woof in a hot car in the middle of the day and walk the dog once a year.
I've never seen a lease that permits only animals that have graduated from advanced obedience classes and pet-owners who are sworn to be responsible, but maybe we need something like that. If there were some kind of accredited doggy university, landlords would have an objective way to rule out the really bad pets and pet-owners.

I have to disagree with San Francisco. We have a 3 year old basset hound who is about 48 pounds and found it NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE to find dog friendly apartments. We now live in Charlotte, NC and have had NO ISSUES!

anon-I agree that landlords usually ban animals once they have a bad experience (destroyed carpets, etc.) or if they are newly built/remodelled places that they want to keep in good condition.

I think part of what you were seeing was typical of a low-end motel in college. Lots of college students/and visiting friends are not very responsible individuals to begin with, and may not properly train their pets. This is especially true for pets acquired while in college, which tend to be overindulged on bad behaviors, and often end up in shelters when the landlord tells them to get rid of it or parents won't let them bring them home with them.

A landlord does have a right to demand a demonstration of good behavior. My dogs were there for an "interview" when I was looking at leasing my current home. Some states, such as California, are looking into requiring that dogs acquire the Canine Good Citizen certification from the AKC, which is open to all dogs, regardless of breed/purity. The problem comes trying to enforce that when a lot of people cannot afford training ($75+ for 6-8 weeks of class).

I am actively involved in dog training (rally, obedience and agility) and I have seen dogs that are competing at the highest level of obedience in the ring and have poor manners outside of it such as aggression towards other dogs, not being friendly towards children, or even marking territory inside a building that has other dogs. Requiring advanced obedience would never work, since it takes years of very serious training to get to that level and does not guarantee good behavior in the home. With all the different methods of training, how would you accredit a class?

I figured D.C. would be someone on the list. We're pretty pet-friendly and getting even better. I'm dying to take my dog to Art and Soul and sit out on the doggie patio!

I'm not surprised that L.A. isn't on the list. Most places take a max of two pets and usually only one can be a dog. The place I'm at now allows up to 30lb(the old management was up to 60) and you can have 3 pets. But I'm moving because I need to take in my parents 10 y.o. lab since they've gone bi-coastal and NOBODY wants him or the rest of my crew. I want a house to rent now but the moment they hear about how many(2 dogs 2 cats) they reject me. Doesn't matter that they're trained, claws filed(and neway they like to destroy my good furniture over things like floors...), and I'm willing to like triple the deposit. I'm a good tenant, but in this market with so many people needing to rent, I guess owners can be as picky as they like. I looked into moving up to Santa Barbara since I see dogs EVERYWHERE, but they must belong to people who own homes because not a single rental I found allows pets. Weird in a city where you see people outside with their pooches all the time

I've lived in NYC, Chicago, DC and now Philadelphia. And I'm actually shocked that Philly isn't on the list. It's got great public dog parks, lots of pet friendly establishments (my pup and frequent a local bar and coffee shop), tons of pet-related shops, and pet-friendly employers (my dog occasionally comes to the office, which never would have happened in DC) and lots of pet-friendly rentals properties.

AK, I guess it depends on the employer here in DC; I would never bring my dog to work, but I know of friends who do regularly. I think it really depends on how formal your office is.

No surprise Portland is on the list. There are dog parks EVERYWHERE and most apartments are at least cat friendly. My building used to be cats only, but recently my landlord changed it to be cats and dogs (under 30lbs). As far as my job, our Administration building always has at least 1 dog, usually 2. We also used to have cat that lived in the building, too. It was a stray and they all completely fell in love with it.