Nowadays there are not many coliving experiences where you can also share your day with your dogs. It requires an extra effort to build the manuals that allow us to create harmony between the dog family and the coliving community.
In this post, we share ideas on how to design a dog-friendly manifesto. In the end, we share the one we developed for Anceu Coliving. If you are thinking about doing the same, we hope you find these tips useful.
Codesign with your colivers
We all, people and dogs, live together in harmony. That’s why we propose you sit down with your community of colivers (those who have dogs and those who don’t) and brainstorm ideas to improve coexistence.
We recommend that you create a draft document to serve as a starting point for generating ideas.
Co create with the coliving management team
After this first meeting, we propose you meet with the people who are part of the cleaning and management team of the coliving. They are the ones who have the information that you are not able to see in spaces that are rarely visited by you.
When we did the Anceu manifesto, Rosa’s insight was instrumental, for example, in identifying that it is better to have different types of bedding for doggy families or that carpets need to be removed so that they don’t become your worst nightmare.
Talk to a dog trainer
You should definitely share your ideas with a dog trainer. In general dog lovers are (including me) generally very keen to share all moments with dogs.
Well, there are certain things that it is best to take into consideration. Here are some recommendations that we know thanks to our canine trainer Olalla from Ada Intervenciones Caninas.
- It is better that the dogs do not play in the chill out area of the coliver community. If that is what your chill out area is for, relaxation and so on, we do not recommend that you allow dogs to play there. In the end, dog games can be a source of problems if they are not controlled, so (especially non-dogs) don’t have to live with that reality.
- It is convenient that people know beforehand what are the circumstances or characteristics of the new dog that arrives to the house. That is to say, does he like to be cuddled, is he insecure, does he get irritated with many people? Only if we understand what our dogs are like can we have a harmonious relationship with them. We suggest that you use a form prior to the arrival of a new coliver to deal with these issues.
You are now ready to create your manifesto
When you have acquired this information you are ready to write your dog manifesto for harmonious coexistence, understanding our animals and people. Don’t worry if it’s not perfect. It is an organic document. It is flexible. This is how we understand our life with our animals and with our community.
We recommend that you include in this document how we like to live with our pets, what it means to be a responsible owner and how to respect our living space so that everyone feels at home.
Here is the link to the notion we created for Anceu coliving. It is an open-source resource so that any community can copy and redefine. The goal is that every time there are more and more spaces where “animals” can live together.
The photo shows our colleague Fabienne with her friendly Winchy. He was adopted in Os Palleiros while he was living here with us.
Now, this dog travels the world with Novo monde.
