The dog that could be living in your apartment is currently in a cage somewhere and will be killed (we say "euthanized") soon.
I don't say this to shame you or anyone into getting an animal. My only point is to argue that living in an apartment is not really so bad for an animal. If you're avoiding an animal for your own sanity while living in an apartment, that's fine, I do not fault you for it. If you're avoiding an animal for the animals sake, then I think the animal would prefer an apartment to a cage.
That is a very good point I failed to make. Before I adopted my dog, she was sharing a small room of around 100 square feet with another dog, and I don't think she ever got to spend any off leash time outside. Now, she has 10x the space, all to herself, and we go to the park every single day that it's practical to do so. She's undoubtedly happier than she was then; it's obvious just by looking at her.
The shelter I adopted from is a no kill shelter, but, keep in mind that "no kill" really means "fixed capacity." If the no kill shelters are full, guess where all the stray animals will go?
Here are some sad statistics from a 1997 survey of 1000 animal shelters by the American Humane Society:
> In 1997, roughly 64 percent of the total number of animals that entered shelters were euthanized — approximately 2.7 million animals in just these 1,000 shelters. These animals may have been euthanized due to overcrowding, but may also have been sick, aggressive, injured or suffering from something else.
> 56 percent of dogs and 71 percent of cats that enter animal shelters are euthanized. More cats are euthanized than dogs because they are more likely to enter a shelter without any owner identification.
> Only 15.8 percent of dogs and 2 percent of cats that enter animal shelters are reunited with their owners.
25 percent of dogs and 24 percent of cats that enter animal shelters are adopted.
And, as far as anecdata go, when my dog entered the shelter I adopted her from, she was pregnant with 12 puppies that were aborted. While I love puppies, I am glad they did that, for multiple reasons. Most important among them is that when we're destroying millions of animals a year, we don't need 12 more dogs in the shelter. But, secondarily, I am glad they did it, because if she had had the puppies, she would not be leaving that shelter for several weeks, which means I would have had a harder time adopting her. :)
A lot of shelters and rescue groups feel the same way. But, there are a lot of dogs who will get along just fine in an apartment.
One surprising example would be greyhounds. Yes, they are racing dogs, but, they generally are only interested in running for a couple minutes a day. The rest of the time, they're gentle couch potatoes, who make ideal apartment dogs.
A dog doesn't need a yard, it needs someone to tire it out every day. A neglected dog in a yard is not significantly happier than a neglected dog in an apartment.
