“We told the Realtor, ‘Don’t even show us a place that’s not dog-friendly.’ Just as people with kids want a place that works for kids, we wanted a home that would work for our dogs,” says Cheryl Smalling.
She recently bought a new, two-bedroom condominium in Chicago, with her husband, James Zalewa.
Smalling’s two miniature dachshunds, Ginger and Rosie, have been very comfy in their big, single-family house in Wicker Park, but their humans decided it was time to move to a smaller, one-floor condo.
Finding a place with a grassy area nearby for Ginger and Rosie wasn’t easy, says Smalling. But Chicago’s Parc Chestnut will fit the bill.
When completed, the building at Franklin and Chestnut streets will feature a fenced, half-acre park across the street. Owned by the homeowners’ association, the park will be open to the public during the day but restricted to residents of the building after dark.
Yes, granite countertops are great. Sure, brushed-nickel fixtures are all the rage. But make no bones about it, creature comforts top the list when pet people shop for new homes.
In the city, that means proximity to clean, accessible, safe, outdoor areas where their dogs can exercise and take care of business. In single-family houses in the ‘burbs, it means every-day’s-a-dog-day neighborhoods, with spacious yards and/or nearby forest preserves or parks.
Inside, some home builders stand ready to add amenities ranging from pet doors to pet tubs and showers.
“We look at our companion animals differently than we did years ago,” says Martha Armstrong, senior vice president of the Humane Society of the United States. “For many people, they are our four-legged children.
“They are not just ‘the dog’ or ‘the cat’ anymore. High-rise or low-rise, urban or suburban, people want their animals with them and spend a lot of money on them.”
Dan Alvarez says of his German shepherd, Casey, “She’s very much part of our family.”
So Casey certainly factored into the decision when Alvarez and his wife, Rae Anne, considered moving from their Edgebrook, single-family house to a condo last year.
They chose Park Place in River North, which Alvarez says is near a city dog park and next door to a new park that will include a dog run.
“It’s a building with a lot of dog owners, where people promote dog manners,” says Alvarez. “For example, we ask if it’s OK before we take Casey on the elevator.”
Casey has adapted well to condo life, says Alvarez, and goes to work with him weekdays.
Rebecca Tomek and her husband, Charles, report a similar paws for concern. They had a single-family house in Indiana, but wanted to move to Chicago to be closer to their jobs.
“We didn’t want the upkeep of another house, but we wanted a place where Amber, our Cairn terrier, would be happy. She’s our baby,” says Tomek.
“Some condo complexes said they were dog-friendly, but they didn’t act like it. Others didn’t have dog yards.”
The solution: Park Place Tower, where they bought a two-bedroom condo last year.
“We have a dog yard right here and a dog park a few blocks away,” says Tomek. “We have camaraderie among the pet owners. When I had the flu, another dog owner took Amber out for me. We wouldn’t have moved here if we couldn’t have brought Amber. Where we go, she goes.”
A bigger yard for Riley, his puggle (pug/beagle mix), was his No. 1 priority when home-shopping, says Matt Kusch. He and his fiance, Donna Cassidy, recently bought a new house in Georgian Place at Wing Pointe in Huntley.
During their home search, Riley rode along and checked out new developments with his humans.
“We’ll have a 60-by-70-foot yard,” says Matt Kusch of their new place. “So Riley will have a lot more room to run than he has now. The first thing we’ll do is fence in the yard; that’s more important than the patio or landscaping.”
Another selling point for the development, says Kusch, is its open areas and walking paths. There, he says, Riley will have plenty of room to indulge in his favorite hobby, digging for rocks and bringing his newfound treasures into the house. That keeps him at arm’s length from his foe, Zoe, their cat.
Bachelor Jon Gemmell needed a place where he and his cat, Chani, could have more elbow room than they had at his previous condo. He chose a three-bedroom condo at the Gammonley Group’s Spring Avenue Station in LaGrange, but had the builder convert two of the bedrooms into a 20-by-30-foot “rumpus room,” as he calls it.
The room includes Gemmell’s exercise equipment and serves as in indoor track for Chani, whose name comes from a character in Frank Herbert’s “Dune” books.
“She runs from one end to the other, so she gets a lot of exercise,” says Gemmell of the Hinsdale Animal Shelter adoptee. “She’s much happier here.”
The rumpus room also gives Chani plenty of room to play her favorite game of fetch.
Matthias Jans, owner of Starfire Homes in Palatine has, in addition to designing and building houses for pet lovers, built his own houses around his menagerie, which includes a cat and five, large dogs.
In the works now is his new house in Bull Valley.
“Each house has more,” says Jans of his pet amenities. “The next house will be 100 percent for the dogs and my wife and I will just get to live there.”
Jans’ new house will have a “K-9 room” off the kitchen, with cabinets for the dogs’ food bins and their own eating area.
The house’s lower level will include a separate washer and dryer for the dogs’ blankets and towels, a raised dog tub for their baths and a kennel room with doors that lead to an outside, fenced area.
Not surprisingly, Jans has more than his share of pet-owning clients. To their houses, he adds pet perks that make life easier.
He prefers hard-surface floors and avoids carpeting with loops that unravel when caught by canine and feline toenails.
“A lot of my clients, especially people with big dogs, have us put in Dutch doors to the laundry room so the dogs don’t run through the house with dirty feet when it’s muddy outside,” says Jans.
One of Jans’ clients is Tony Malone, a physician who hired him to design a two-story addition to his Kildeer house for his 44 koi.
The 40-by-60-foot “koi house” includes a 22,000-gallon indoor pond for the fish, which range from 4 inches to 3 feet long.
“I used to have them in an outside pond, but I lost a lot to herons and to bad weather,” reports Malone.
The koi, which have distinctive markings, have names including Little Red Koivet, Bamboo and the dominant male, Viagra. The pond doubles as an indoor swimming pool for Malone’s golden retriever, who doesn’t bother the fish. They bother him, though, says Malone.
“They’re used to being hand-fed, so they go right up to his nose, looking for food,” he says.
Malone spends free time watching the koi or in the water with them.
“You can learn a lot from koi,” he says. “They welcome visitors with open fins.”
As home buyer demographics change, so, too, do pet-owning households.
“More people who didn’t used to have pets now have pets, including singles and DINKS (double-income, no kids),” says Armstrong.
“Now, 61 percent of households have at least one pet, and most of them have more than one,” says Armstrong. “The smart developers recognize this and plan for them. Especially in planned communities, we’re hearing more from the builders who want to make their communities pet-friendly.”
He suggests that pet owners check out neighborhood “dogmas” before they buy, to make sure pets are welcome.
“Check restrictive covenants, ask neighbors about the rules that apply to pets,” says Armstrong. “If you’re building, don’t be shy about asking your builder to add extras for your pets. Then, after you move in, be a responsible pet owner. Help make your building or neighborhood a welcome place for its four-legged residents.”
