Cohousing-L Mailing List: Dog Yards and Fencing

[Chris ScottHanson (cscotthanson]

Nancy,

We have 9 dogs living here, one indoor cat, one outdoor cat, and a sharp 
shinned hawk that takes at least one sparrow daily from our main entry gate 
area where the sparrows hang out - and I mean a lot of sparrows.

We have a deer problem in town here, with lots and lots of deer, day and night. 
 They think they own the whole town.  So we have see-thru wire deer fence which 
works 95% of the time, around our whole property, except the parking lot.  We 
grow a lot of food on our 1/2 acre (yeh gardeners) but we can’t keep the 
rabbits out, so we just plant enough to feed them - and of course the dogs 
often chase them, the rabbits, and the deer, and the squirrels away.

We have one community secure dog yard, fenced more tightly than the deer fence, 
for our dogs of various sizes, ages and jumping proclivities.  Four of our 
units have their front doors inside the big dog yard, three of which are big 
dog owners and the other a dog lover/caregiver.  Dog owners maintain the yard, 
doing poop patrol daily, as well as hardy native plantings etc.

We have 16 units ranging from 600 sf to 690 sf.  Mostly modest (small) two 
bedroom units.  Two units have private fenced yards for their own dogs, each 
with their front door inside their private dog yard.  All together 6 of our 16 
units have front doors opening into dog yards.  No leashes are required inside 
the dog yards or the deer fenced area.  Only one small area on site is fenced 
for “privacy” (the unit that faces the parking lot and headlights) and the 
others are open and see-thru fencing.

Oh, and surprisingly, we allow certain older, well behaved, allergy free 
non-shedding dogs in our common house - not around food, and no begging, which 
means no feeding allowed.  Our “food driven” dogs aren’t allowed in the common 
house at all. Our 4 year olds have already learned to not carry food around in 
the central courtyard area because certain dogs will steal it from them.  They 
learn fast.

Since our units are so small, we have two shared vacuums which are both kept in 
the laundry room in the common house, one is dog free, one is dog friendly (and 
sometimes full of dog hair).  

I wish I could share a few photos on this list…  contact me directly for photos.

Chris ScottHanson
Fifth Street Commons <http://fifthstreetcommons.com/>
http://fifthstreetcommons.com
130 Fifth Street, C101
Langley, WA 98260

(206) 601-7802



> On Oct 4, 2015, at 10:56 AM, Nancy Csuti <nancycsuti [at] gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> As a person wanting to live in co housing when the opportunity arises, I 
> wondered about fencing in space for a dog. Not for my privacy but to let a 
> dog out. The ones I've visited have common dog areas but they need to be on a 
> leash... And not as easy as just opening the door. 
> It could be that those asking about privacy just have pets. 
> 
> Nancy in CO. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> On Oct 4, 2015, at 11:28, Sharon Villines <sharon [at] sharonvillines.com> 
>> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>>> On Oct 4, 2015, at 12:40 AM, R Philip Dowds <rpdowds [at] comcast.net> 
>>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> That's a variant of introvert / extrovert with which I was not familiar, 
>>> and I have no quarrel with it.  But I think the question of origin was, Is 
>>> there something special about cohousing that makes it particularly 
>>> difficult to find time alone?  Or, enjoy private family time?
>> 
>> I think it drifted into why one would want private time and, if they did, 
>> why would they choose to live ini cohousing?
>> 
>> There was a thread years ago about families moving out because the parents 
>> wanted more control over their children. The children wanted to play with 
>> the other children to much. They wanted the tradition of family dinners. 
>> That kind of thing is hard for children when it isn’t a community norm.
>> 
>> Sharon
>> ----
>> Sharon Villines
>> Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
>> http://www.takomavillage.org
>> 
>>