Tenant wants to keep a German Shephard dog

[Atul Mohlajee]

An existing tenant is asking for permission to include German Shephard dog while renewing lease.  Willing to pay $600 dog fee annually.  It is unit 1first floor of a 2-Flat in Forest Park.  The property has a small front yard.  There is parking pads in the rear of the house. New lease is proposed at $1625/ month plus $50 /month dog fee for a 2-Bedroom unit in a 2-Flat.  They are good tenants otherwise.  Please give your thoughts if you would allow or not.

[Bjorn Ahlblad]

@Atul Mohlajee  Is this their first dog? If so GSD is not a good choice-much too bossy and selfish! German Shepherds have been known to bite people sometimes; and other dog types too. I have a German Shepherd-my third; but we live on 20 acres and no children around. Tell the tenant to get a smaller dog instead. Maybe a mini Schnauzer, Poodle, Spaniel etc? Tell him the property is too small for a GSD. He will need to up his renter's insurance and you should make sure you have enough liability insurance as well, And check your insurance policy for dog breeds that may be excluded! All the best!

[Julie Hartman]

Does the tenant work from home? If not, will someone be home during the day to make sure the dog doesn't bark all day? Is he asking for a puppy or an adult dog? As @Bjorn Ahlblad said, those are large dogs and not ideal for small properties. I don't understand people who acquire dogs just so they can leave them home alone for 8+ hours per day. Having a dog in a multi-family property is generally not a good idea anyway. IF you allow it, I would spell EVERYTHING out in the pet addednum including the penalty for not picking up the dog waste; no digging; no soiling in the house; must have all required vaccines, etc. 

[Nick Richards]

Quote from @Atul Mohlajee:

An existing tenant is asking for permission to include German Shephard dog while renewing lease.  Willing to pay $600 dog fee annually.  It is unit 1first floor of a 2-Flat in Forest Park.  The property has a small front yard.  There is parking pads in the rear of the house. New lease is proposed at $1625/ month plus $50 /month dog fee for a 2-Bedroom unit in a 2-Flat.  They are good tenants otherwise.  Please give your thoughts if you would allow or not.

I am extremely familiar with German Shepherds, I have hat 6 of them in my lifetime, they are really fantastic dogs, assuming they have had the proper time and attention put into them.

This is my most recent German Shepherd who lived to be 13 1/2 years old. He was extremely well behaved and I trusted him more than I would trust most people. Dexter was extremely sociable, so well trained I could walk him off leash, and you could leave him sitting in the truck with a grocery bag full of steak for half an hour, and come back and nothing would be touched.

However, this was because I put the time into him.

German Shepherds are large dogs, they are intelligent dogs, and so if they are not properly trained and socialized, you have a large, fast highly intelligent problem on your hands.

When it comes to this what I would say is that if it is an adult dog that is already ready to come home. Meet the dog, spend some time with it, you will know within 15 minutes how the dog is going to be, if it is friendly, well behaved, that is what you can expect, if it is rowdy and ill behaved, that is also what it will be.

Now mind you that for the first few minutes you meet the dog it is going to be excited, so do give it a bit to calm down.

If the Dog is a puppy, I would want to hear what their training program is, how they intend to keep it from chewing on the property and so on, and how they plan to handle ensuring that the puppy is not going to the bathroom inside and so on.

Specifically I would want to hear that the dog is going to be going to a training program from a well established dog trainer, and that they have real clear goals for what the dog is going to be trained to do and by when.

The other thing to consider is the age of the dog, a German Shepherd who is 4+ years old is going to be a lot calmer than a dog aged 1-3, those are essentially the Teenage years for the dog, and when most problems with a dog are going to occur, I would not disqualify or accept a dog solely on the age, however just keep this in mind.

You might find as well having the German Shepherd around mitigates or prevents a tragedy.

Buddy the German Shepherd is a great example.

The thing that makes a Shepherd so special is they are a dog you can literally take to war and fight with, then come home and set your newborn baby on the floor next to and know they will be safe.

It all boils down to the time someone puts into the dog training and socializing it.

[Atul Mohlajee]

Thanks all for your great comments.  I am saying no for German Shephard.  I allow dogs upto 35 lbs only.

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Atul Mohlajee:

An existing tenant is asking for permission to include German Shephard dog while renewing lease.  Willing to pay $600 dog fee annually.  It is unit 1first floor of a 2-Flat in Forest Park.  The property has a small front yard.  There is parking pads in the rear of the house. New lease is proposed at $1625/ month plus $50 /month dog fee for a 2-Bedroom unit in a 2-Flat.  They are good tenants otherwise.  Please give your thoughts if you would allow or not.

I would not allow.

1. Your policy is a single animal under 35 pounds, so stick with it unless the tenant is making an offer so juicy that you can't refuse.

2. It's a new animal. When an animal is born or just purchased/adopted, there is no training in place (for animal or owner) and issues are most likely to occur. I would not accept a German Shephard unless I had clear evidence they were capable of training it or paid someone to train it.

3. Animals in shared spaces increase the likelihood of problems. Dogs running off-leash in shared spaces, biting, barking, and not cleaning up after it are all good reasons for not permitting it.

4. I charge based on the type of animal and likelihood that it will cause damage. Some dogs are more prone to dig, scratch doors or tear down blinds, tear up carpet, chew trim, etc. Charge accordingly.

[John Warren]

@Atul Mohlajee I am going to be the contrarian here. I would let them have the dog. I am going on four years now being pet friendly, and I have never had an issue with a pet we placed/one of our tenants. Legacy tenants have caused some issues when we inherit them, but I blame the owner and not the pet. Forest Park is a really great rental market, and a tenant paying that type of rent is likely to be a very responsible person. 

[Bruce Woodruff]

As @Bjorn Ahlblad said, I might consider it if you have ample room for the dog to run and play. This is a large dog and although I like the breed a lot, any large dog will possibly act out when confined and ignored. A solid pass for me......

[Paul De Luca]

@Atul Mohlajee

For a $600 annual dog fee AND a $50/mo dog fee? I would probably allow the dog. That seems excessive to me but if you can get it.....that's a pretty big income generator.

I've allowed equally large dogs at one of my rentals and haven't had issues (so far).

[Steven Foster Wilson]

Quote from @Atul Mohlajee:

An existing tenant is asking for permission to include German Shephard dog while renewing lease.  Willing to pay $600 dog fee annually.  It is unit 1first floor of a 2-Flat in Forest Park.  The property has a small front yard.  There is parking pads in the rear of the house. New lease is proposed at $1625/ month plus $50 /month dog fee for a 2-Bedroom unit in a 2-Flat.  They are good tenants otherwise.  Please give your thoughts if you would allow or not.

 I would definitely do it. I always make sure all animals have insurance in case they bite someone and are up to date on shots. I think it is definitely worth the pet rent especially if they are good tenants. 

[Bruce Woodruff]

$600 annually is not nearly enough to cover even the most minor damages that a large dog could cause.

[Atul Mohlajee]

Thanks for great responses all fellow RE investors.  This is a great forum where everyone gives input for the benefit of the person asking the question.  

[Linda S.]

@Atul Mohlajee,

Check with your insurance, and ask if they allow them?  I know ours doesn't.    They have a set list of breeds, included GSDs that aren't accepted.  I'd guess they won't, as it's on the aggressive breed list. This should solve your problem.   

If they do allow them, I'd check the apartment thoroughly, and then decide.   If they crate the dog when they leave, there is likely minimal damage, and will probably continue to be that way.   If you see scratch marks on the doors/windows/messed up blinds, it's only going to get worse. 

[Mike Nelson]

@Atul Mohlajee

I go along with not allowing the dog, although I can see the opposite argurment.  I stopped allowing dogs when a tenant's dog was making messes in the yard and claims it wasn't his dog.   I have aso been bitten by tenant's dogs.  It is not always a no, but I do not have the patience for this.

[Matt M.]

no way, not a chance. 

[Andrew Holmes]

@Atul Mohlajee - Here in the Chicago market I allow pets as long as they are not one of the 7 breeds that are not covered by our insurance provider. With over 200 + properties in the market we have found generally. This is a very general statement that pet owner to the most part that are well screened are good tenants. I was against it about 10 years ago but over the past 10+ years we have been allowing them and we charge 35 to 75 extra pet rent. 

[Jonathan Klemm]

Hey @Atul Mohlajee - We allow dogs and do exactly what you are suggesting.  Add an additional non-refundable dog fee as well as increase the rent.  

At least in Chicago, we have found that if we vet the tenant well enough those tenants typically take care of the place and their tenants.  If the tenants don't take care of the place and are questionable that's usually when we have found that they don't take good care of their pets and more damage tends to occur.