In this city pet friendly apartments might seem to be hard to come by!! So who you know is as important as what you know and how hard you look.  Networking is super important.  You need to tell everyone you know that you are looking for an apartment that allows dogs and look everywhere and keep your eyes open.  Look on the computer at the newsgroups like hfx.general  Thanks to France and her boxer Kenlie for giving me the suggestion to put the idea and link here for the apartments.  She recently went through 2 months of hell of calling over 50 places because of her dog so she knows there MUST be an easier way to do it!!  Well, I'm here to tell you that there is! We dog people have to stick together - and this is an area where we do watch out for each other!

This is the text of an email I sent to a friend who was looking for an apartment and was looking for some tips - you may find it helpful (or you may feel like hitting your head against the wall!):

I'm sorry to say that there's no easy to way to find a pet friendly apartment - except that luck comes into it sometimes.  One thing that I did which is really time consuming but I couldn't think of anything else is to take the Chronicle Herald listings and call EVERY ad that is within the geographic area/price range that I was looking for - that isn't in an obvious apartment building but that would obviously be no dogs allowed.  You want a place that's a flat or a small house - you call EVERY listing and the first thing you say is - "do you allow pets" - and when they say what kind you say "a dog" - don't say you have 2 dogs - just say "one dog" for now - you're just trying to get in the door so you can look at the place.  The last time I was looking I called - and this is the God's honest truth - in one afternoon I called 100 places - 3 of them said yes to a pet and 1 of those 3 said he'd have to get back to me though when he talked to the other owner.  That's calling ONE HUNDRED listings in the Chronicle Herald in my price range that had no mention of "No pets".  But the thing is that you only need one place to live, right?  So you can call 200 places - but you only need one place to live.

Some links you can check out:

A great place to start your search is at - a Facebook group that you can post dog friendly apartments and also look for dog friendly apartments.  It's at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=53430741051 - the group is called "Maritime Dogs" - if you want to search for it - or the Discussion topic is at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=53430741051#/topic.php?uid=53430741051&topic=7006

I got a tip from someone that  and they said - "If you go into kijiji Halifax and look under apartments for rent/houses for rent...type pet friendly or pets welcome in the search
box...and quite a few dog friendly places will come up."

The Rental Wizard - a local website that lists rentals and they include whether they are pet friendly

There's also http://www.halifaxrentals.com/advancedsearch.asp for you to check out

If you are a university student - they all have student organizations that have housing associations that you can go and look at postings - from other students looking for roommates - and some of them will be dog friendly - so if you're a student - you can find rental housing that way.

As well - when you're looking for apartments - the type that you're looking for are ones called "flats" - apartment buildings generally do not allow dogs - but flats are generally houses that have been broken up into apartments - and quite often they do allow dogs - and when you're calling - I NEVER say that I have 2 dogs - I always start with "pets" - and start with one dog, and then work up from there - don't even mention a second dog until you meet the person - if you're not going to get the apartment -what's the point in mentioning the 2nd dog until you've seen the place anyway? That's my philosophy - and when I was looking for apartments, what I used to do is rent places that were slightly below what I generally would have generally wanted, and then fixed the place up to what I wanted - because more run down places tend to allow dogs. And since you have dogs - people tend to not bother you anyway. And the landlord loves you because you've fixed the place up for them. So it's all good.

When I lived in the south end of Halifax and I was out walking the dogs, I'd keep an eye of for people coming and going out of flats and apartment buildings with dogs - so that when signs went up "for rent" - I gave the numbers to people looking for places. Now I live out in Spryfield - and I mostly only walk my dogs in the huge amount of woods out here - so I don't have that "in" anymore unfortunately - but if you're looking for a dog friendly place - there's nothing to lose by starting to walk your dog in neighbourhoods where you'd like to live - and if you see a "for rent" sign in a building that you think might be dog friendly - give the place a call - what do you have to lose?  Nothing!  And you've gotten in a good walk in a neighbourhood that you might be living in shortly - win/win!

Some general pet-friendly apartment hunting tip web pages:

From Petfriendlyrentals.ca there's a great page of tips at http://www.petfriendlyrentals.ca/renters/rentingtips.php - which includes tips for when you're at your wits end and you're starting to think about getting rid of your pets because you just can't find a place - some of those tips are - "consider renting one of the many short-term pet-friendly accommodations, such as Bed & Breakfasts, hotels, cottages, and so forth. Ask them for their best rate for an "extended stay". This will allow your pet to stay with you while giving you the chance to find appropriate long-term housing."  The link to their page of listings of pet friendly lodgings across Canada is at http://www.petfriendly.ca/

Another website that has a lot of tips is at http://www.move.com/rentals/renting-with-pets/main.aspx

Rental housing pet pages for landlords, tenants, real estate investors and property managers - a super website that has listings nationally along with some great articles.

Can we help you keep your pet from Wonderpuppy have a whole section on moving with your pet and how to find apartments that let you keep your animals

Pet Friendly Hotels/B&B's/Cottages:

I had an email from a lady asking about pet friendly lodgings in Halifax and I thought it was a great thing to add to my resources page!  I called around to several hotels and they all verbally assured me of the following things:

"The Pebble" bed and breakfast is located in the south end of Halifax - and it's a boutique type bed and breakfast that's dog friendly.  The owners have 2 west highland white terriers - they've got a website that you can go check them out at http://www.thepebble.ca/ and you can contact them from.  I'd say that if you're coming to Halifax and you want to be pampered - they're the way to go!

"Pampered Paws Inn" is a dog friendly bed and breakfast out in Hammonds Plains - which is actually inside the Halifax Regional Municipality - that caters specifically to dog owners travelling with their dogs.  They have rooms that they let to tourists visiting with their dogs.  They also have a dog daycare, and by the looks of their website - they host doggie birthday parties.  You can check out their website at http://www.pamperedpawsinn.com/

A new hotel just opened up on the Bay Road - just up from the Armdale Rotary in Halifax, and they're actively advertising themselves as being pet friendly, even saying in their ads that "Cocoa the chocolate lab will greet you at the front door when you arrive" - and that they are pet friendly - so I think that's awesome that a largish hotel is being so proactive!  They are a Best Western Hotel and they have a website at http://www.chocolatelakehotel.com/ - you should definitely check them out!

The Westin Hotel caters to the dog owner by having special dog beds and dog owner packages!

Holiday Inn at 1980 Robie Street - their phone number is 423-1161.  There is no extra fee, weight restriction, and you don't need to keep them in a crate.

Citadel Halifax Hotel at 1960 Brunswick Street - their phone number is 902-422-1391.  There is no extra fee, weight restriction, and you don't need to keep them in a crate.

Delta Barrington at 1875 Barrington Street - their phone number is 902-429-7410.  They allow dogs but they must be monitored at all times and you need to let them know when you make your reservation that you are bringing a dog.

Econo Lodge at 560 Bedford Highway - their phone number is 902-443-0303.  There is an extra $10 charge and you can only have them in certain rooms.

Prince George Hotel at 1725 Market Street - their phone number is 425-1986.  There is a "slightly larger deposit" that you have to make and they prefer smaller dogs but the lady I was talking to described her hotel as "very pet friendly!"

Sheraton Halifax Hotel at 1919 Upper Water Street - their phone number is 902-421-1700.  There is no extra fee, or weight restriction.

Marquis of Dufferin Seaside Inn in Port Dufferin Nova Scotia sounds like an awesome place to go for a vacation with your dog!  They've got a website at http://www.marquisofdufferinmotel.com/ that shows pictures of the compound - they're right on the ocean of the Eastern shore of Nova Scotia and everything looks perfect there.  The owner Patricia Bennett-Criss says that they have a dog Shadow themselves and there's lots of interesting places for dog walks and lots of property for dogs to run on.  Here's their information:  Marquis of Dufferin Seaside Inn 25658 Highway 7, Port Dufferin, Nova Scotia B0J 2R0 Phone: (902) 654-2696   Fax (902) 654-2406 Toll free: (877) 654-2696 in North America Email us at sea@marquisofdufferinmotel.com

Some other pages on this site!

Why this website exists

What to do when your dog isn't dog friendly

Tips for owners of dog friendly businesses

Local fun things to do with your dog!

Is your dog dog friendly?

Tips for a benevolent alpha