Feel guilty. What do other apartment dwellers do?
 

Now that summer is upon us I've really been enjoying everyone's action shots and videos of your babies running off leash outside in your fenced in yards. It's making me feel guilty though. Living in an apartment I don't have a fenced in area. My parents have a beautiful yard but it's not fenced. I take him out regularly for walks. At times he gets real rambunctious and runs circles around me and I encourage it so he has the ability to run himself out. If he gets a case of the yorkie zoomies inside again I just encourage it. I know they need to let off steam. Every night we play piggy fetch inside till the point where he won't go anymore. So I know he gets plenty of exercise.

I just feel bad about him not having the experience of running around off leash outside.

Would be easy to just go out in the yard and run around with him on lease to simulate that feeling of freedom, but I have a bad right knee(3 surgeries and will probably have a replacement before I meet my maker) and plantar fasciitis in my left foot that the doctor refuses to operate on. (well maybe these $300 custom orthotics in my sneakers will help lol) Believe it or not I'm only 44 lol. I have thought about spending the $25 membership to get a tag to use the city's dog park, but I hear so many down sides to dog parks here on the forums.

For those who do not have access to a safe fenced area to let your yorkies "run free" what do you do? Am I over reacting maybe? Is it plenty of exercise, now how it is achieved that really matters? I just know that Bentley would have a blast "running free" so I feel so bad he does not have that opportunity.

For the first 3 years of my Shelby-Dale's life, we lived in a place (not an apartment) that didn't have a fenced in yard. He has always had a lot of energy and needed exercise. I got him a treadmill ;)

Hmmmm, Bentley on a treadmill. I can just imagine that silly boy on one now lol. Maybe with his piggy in his mouth as he runs. ;)

Or, if you have enough open area in one of your rooms, set up an obstacle course/agility course. As long as Bentley gets exercise, no need to feel guilty. :)

I agree with the others. You should not feel guilty about not letting your Yorkie run free. I can tell you right now that I will NEVER let Bella run free for security reasons--I simply don't have a safe place to do it. It sounds like Bentley is getting plenty of exercise, so you have nothing to feel guilty about. I would feel much guiltier if I let Bella run free and something happened to her.

We always went to the dog park when we lived in an apartment with Couver. We love our dog park. There is a small dog side and my two enjoy going there.

I live in apartments to don't worry!! Your not alone. :);):p

I would check out the dog park -- make sure there's a small side. I hear of a lot more issues with dog parks on the big dog side, to be honest. We've never had an issue in our small side. Jackson is kind of 'eh' about the dog park now (he still will play every now and then, but he more enjoys wandering and sniffing, and smelling butts, haha!) but I still enjoy taking him. We also have to pay (it's in a state park). I find parks where people have to buy are generally run better.

It'd be worth looking into.

Also, you say your parents have a lot of land... I have a 50 foot long rope lead (I got it at Petsmart) ... it gives him the feeling of freedom, but still hooked up to something in the case of him running away or something. We really like it. I have 3 acres and I just let him drag it when playing fetch or frisbee.

I can't imagine Jackson not being able to run free every once in a while, but honestly, I think he'd be okay with long walks, etc, too if we had to. I just have to walk him a LOT in order for him to actually be 'tired' to it's easier to let him run. We can do 4 miles and he wants more. I'm also very lucky to have my father's house which is awesome for him -- fenced in, pool, other dogs, etc. Very lucky my dad has the house he does! And also our dog park came in handy a lot more when he was younger, when he really needed to wrestle and play with other dogs.

I don't know how it is there.
I also live in an apartment and when the weather is nice I go to a near park.
It's a large green park where people go to walk their dogs or to pick-nick or to run.
I go with them to the side that is more calm and empty and let them loose to run a bit.
Now I only let Nena run and I keep Rufus on the flexi-leash so he can walk faster but isn't completely loose.
And when the weather sucks, I just play catch with them and that's how I drain their energy.

oh I have never thought about not having space to let the babies run free, however it certainly sounds like Bentley is getting enough excercise. No need to feel guilty.

You sound like a wonderful Yorkie mama! While we have a fenced yard, Joey and Ralphie only run when they see some type of intruder. You can teach him to play fetch inside and give him a treat when he returns the object to you. Once they learn the game, they will work for kibble. Dog parks can be fun, just make sure it’s for small dogs, large breed puppies can hazardous because they are generally so clumsy.

I have a very small yard, and unsafe at this point in time. I use a Flexi-leash on walks to give them some feeling of freedom. It takes a bit of practice to learn to use one but worth the effort.

Yes, that's a great tip! I let them have full use of the leash when we are in the park, they have a feeling of freedom, but I can reel them in pretty quick.

Bentley was a pro fetcher from day one. I was amazed he's a natural. First time I tossed a toy he brought it right back. There are times I toss a toy because I'm a bit busy and think oh he'll get it and lay down and play. NOPE...he comes trotting right back to have it tossed again. lol

I think I will check out the park. He's just turned 6 months and that's the minimum age that you can bring a dog in. They do have a small dog side so that's covered. Hopefully with being a paid park 1) not that crowded 2) well maintained.

Oh wow, that's so neat, I had to teach Joey to do it, but now he loves it. I mean, he would chase whatever I threw, he just wouldn't bring it back to me. I've tried to teach my second dog Ralphie, but Joey won't let him get it. I didn't know they had paid parks, lol, do they have dog rides?

Naw... as long as you interact with him, keep him from getting bored, and play fetch with piggy until he's tired, he's getting enough exercise. I know for the first 4.5 years of my boys lives, I lived in a condo with no fenced in yard. I took them for walks and we played inside. IT was the best I could do at the time!

We had a lhasa that was actually trained that could be off leash on our property when I was growing up. It was amazing Toby knew the boundaries bikes, other dogs you name it he would not chase or go after and you could tell by his body language he knew where boundaries were when "someone invaded" when on our section of the sidewalk. (He was a bit of a chicken mind you. lol ) No matter what he would not stray off our property lines. When I would walk home from school if he was outside he would sit right at the property line and wag his tail frantically till I crossed the border. lol

I would never dream of attempting to train Bentley to do that. The Napoleon Syndrome is the main reason way.

Then he would definitely love to fetch on a long line! I had to teach Jackson to fetch. He would do it inside for about 10 mins but wasn't that interested. So I kind of had to train him to do it, and would reward with food every time he brought it back. Now he loves it! Like I said, I have 3 acres, and we're on a hill, so I just attach him to the 50ft line and use the Chuck-It and he goes a'runnin'. It's great exercise for him, especially the running up hill part. Sometimes we go to a local park (football fields, baseball/soccer, etc) during the day when barely anyone is there and I play fetch with him there too on the long line. So you could always see if there's a park like that.

I think I paid about $15 for a 50ft yellow rope leash at Petsmart. There is all different styles though. We utilize quite a bit, it's awesome, off leash yet not.

I got Joel a really long nylon cord thingy for the park and it's really light so he's able to "run free" lol

Peanut lived in an apartment the first 4 years. It went really well. I took him on lots of walks, our building had tennis court- at the time I was working at a bagel shop and I would get off at 12 ( afternoon) well I would go get Pnut, grab his favorite tennis ball and we would go inside the tennis court. Nobody would ever be playing at that time of day. It was perfect because it was enclosed, outside, and nothing on the ground that he could eat! I would let him run around first, then I would throw his ball.. he loved it!! I also had a set of roller blades, I would roll around the complex and he would run along with me- when he got tired I would carry him.

Now that we are in a house, he gets walks- and I will take him in the backyard to run around. We have tons of hawks so our play time is limited..

Do you have a long hallway? At our old condo our hallway was pretty long. I would sit in my bedroom and throw his ball through the hall all the way to the front door.. He loved to run through that strip LOL.

I say as long as he gets some sort of exercise daily he will be happy as a clam.

We make do in a variety of ways. In terms of alternative exercise, he gets leash walks and hikes, we play fetch in the hallway and we do some dog sports every now and then.

There are a few dog parks by us that are usually empty during the day so we go there (this took some scouting). I take him to school yards where he is on a long leash if it is partially fenced and let him off leash if it is fenced.

For us at least, he definitely needs the off leash experience periodically. He is pretty active though and a seven-mile hike and 45 minutes sprinting after other dogs does not tire him out so YMMV.

we have a fenced yard but there are so many plants and flowers I dont let her off leash. I think they adapt to the enviornment. When I got her she never had been outside. My house has a lot of space and she gets walks so shes fine

I say just lots of walks and indoor play. At the park, a really long retractable leash helps as well (in a safe area, that is).

If you lived closer, I'd say come on over and run free with Jack lol

I live in a condo and we have a lot of land around us but I don't let them off the leash just bc I worry about coyote's. I walk them and we play ball in the house. I take them to parks too. I look at it this way........safety is more important than running free bc if you let them loose and needed to chase them you couldn't with your bad knee and feet.
So I think you are doing the right thing. As long as they get play time and outside time they are happy:)

I have a house with no fenced yard and an apt on the second floor and in both places I use a 20" leash. In the house I attach it to those screw things you put in the yard so he has a large circle to play in and even play fetch! In the apt I attach the leash to a pole out back and do the same. It's almost like having complete freedom if the leash is long enough and it doesn't bother him :)

I live in Apartments to so I know how you feel. But what we do Kudos has his retractable leash, that I call his Extend-o leash!!LOL and we tie it outside and sit out there with him. Or I just let him off leash and he knows better to stay close.:)

I might as well live in an apartment as little as Huey gets outside. My backyard is a septic nightmare, my next door neighbor has 60 cats, and I work all the time. We do the the chase the squeaky pig every morning, and I encourage the zoomies whenever they occur. The only time Huey gets to run free is when we drive 1 1/2 hr to my parents house and he can be off leash in their yard because although he could escape their cast iron fence, he won't because of their dogs that he loves to play with.

My friends and I take our babies to parks that have baseball diamonds or other closed off areas. We close all the gates, and let our wild critters run free. They play until they can't play anymore. It's always good fun. Another thing I do is take Kaji for a run. He loves it! He also has incredible recall, and we're very familiar with the trail, so I do let him run free on the trail. I will say, he does act up occasionally (rarely) and he does get "punished" in the form of losing his freedom for he rest of the run. Back in the 6ft leash he goes.

That would be fun. :D Wish I was living back in NJ. I miss it. :(

Wow thank you all for the great advice. Never thought about playgrounds, tennis courts or baseball fields. Bentley refuses to poop outside so I don\'t have to worry about him leaving any presents. lol Plus I keep one of the collection bag holders on the leash at all times. Just in case all of a sudden he changes his mind.

Thank you all for the encouragement that I should not feel guilty and also for helping me think outside the box.

I love this forum....everyone is fantastic.