Radical Canines

Living in a relatively small 1 bedroom apartment is an adventure in creative space solutions. Add 3 active dogs, all over 40 lbs into the mix and the adventure gets kicked up a notch. When I moved into my apartment 4 years ago, life looked very different. I only had Ryder and Rumor, which meant there were only two crates, which take up much less space than three. I rarely used my desk or desk top computer because I was working full time and didn’t have much need for them, so they were put into a closet that I could close the doors to and largely forget about. My closet office, as I called it, worked for the rare occasions when I needed desk space to work. I didn’t own any fitness equipment or discs, and my training indoors was relatively minimal.

Since then Rugby has joined the pack, so now three crates are absolutely necessary, I’ve accumulated more discs than I care to admit, and do a significant amount of training indoor (especially during NH winters). The third crate and the acquisition of a ton of discs started is when I started loosing my living room as it started it’s transition toward a dog room. Two years ago I started to acquire fitness equipment for the dogs. Don’t get me wrong, I love my fitness equipment and fully believe in its benefits to keep my dogs sound and healthy, but it’s big and bulky and takes up A LOT of space, so it’s kind of a nuisance when it’s not in use. In order to maintain my indoor training space, store my equipment, and have the crates setup, more living room space was scarified to the dog room. My tv went into the closet above my desktop, my couch directly in front of it and my bookshelves between the wall and the back of the couch. My living room became about a 5ft x 10ft area (including the closet office/entertainment center, and the remainder of the room officially became a dog room.

It’s not for everyone, but honestly it worked out well enough until the pandemic hit. I found I was spending all day every day in the same location in my house and it was hard to distance myself from work. This weekend I decided it was time for a change to see if I could reclaim some of my living room. My “home office” moved out of the closet and into a nook in my bedroom, the fitness equipment and discs went into the closet. That alone opened up a ton of room. I moved my Q and title ribbons into this space as well.

The dog crates were moved and my wall of discs, awards and pictures also moved above the crates. The TV came out of the closet and moved to it’s own wall. The boys even got a large memory foam bed next to the couch to hang out on. All of this while maintaining enough room to do simple fitness exercises and trick training (with or without discs). It was a ton of work to move everything but I have to say I’m really enjoying the new set up and being able to walk away from my office at the end of the day.

I love that the boys still have their space but I feel like I have found a nice balance between comfortable living room and functional dog room. One of these days I will buy a house with a designated room just for the boys and all their stuff but until then this works. Plus I kind of like that even when we are on a crate and rotate, that I still have all the boys with me.

Has your dog stuff taken over a part of your house or do your dogs have their own room?