Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Communities Breaking Up

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

\On Nov 22, 2005, at 4:01 PM, Victoria L. Pilkington wrote:

> Recently I was in a discussion with someone that was considering 
> joining us
> at the Hummingbird Ranch.  I mentioned that I had read some research 
> that one
> of the top 3 reasons that communities break-up is because of pets 
> and/or a
> lack of a pet policy.

In 8 (?) years,I don't remember any mention of communities breaking up 
over this issue but pets is one of the biggies in disagreements. This 
one starts early because people with pets and those without who are 
allergic or just hate them want to be sure up front that their needs 
will be met by the community or they won't join.

While we had issues after moving in, they have been nowhere as big as 
before move-in. But no one left over them (that I'm aware). We just 
restricted animals from the commonhouse or common indoor hallways. One 
unit can only have indoor pets for this reason (their only exit is 
through the commonhouse).

One problem is with snippy dogs and children. The dog owners invariably 
blame the child and the parents, while acknowledging that the child may 
have done something to bother the dog, do not believe that dogs can 
live in a community with children if they cannot tolerate such actions 
without growling and biting. The parent will always favor a two year 
old human child and the dog owner rarely does.

The other problem is outdoor cats. Gradually the outdoor cats have 
disappeared and new cats are indoor cats. One set walks on leashes.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org