Is Cuenca a dog -friendly city?

Welcome on Expat.com kenandsusanoliveira

I hope that other forumers will bring their input to your discussion soon! Best of luck for relocation project.

Regards

The Legend Of The Pet Friendly Rental in Cuenca


O hark ye well, my tale to tell,
about a Cuenca place to dwell
They came in droves, down from the North
A new life in Ecuador was theirs henceforth

They brought the dog, they brought the cat
A weasel some thought was a rat
They looked high and they looked low
Why did landlords all say no?

What was it with these people here?
Did they not love old Muffins dear?
Oh sure she barks and yes she'll bite
But can't my deposit make things right?

The furniture, where did it go?
$800 bucks?  That's not real low.
The prices shouldn't be this high!
Now look, you made the gringo cry.

Leave my pets behind?  There's just no way!
Where I live is where they're gonna stay.
It wasn't this way back at home!
Why did I ever start to roam?

This wasn't in the magazine
That pets aren't any landlord's dream
A Cuenca pet friendly cheap rental?
Good luck finding that at all!

Without a partner tried and true
Who'll argue on behalf of you
To get the lease that likes that pet
You'll be looking ages yet

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Hope you like it.

Benjamin

But to give a serious reply:

Dogs are very different here and most locals do not treat pets in the same way.  You can find some restaurants and cafes that will allow your dog in but some patrons both Gringo and Local will frown upon this.  Pet friendly rentals can be found but if you need it furnished that will be a bit more difficult.  Still it is possible and I can try to help if I can.

Regards,

Benjamin
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Hello.

There is no absolute final word about this topic.
I own a golden retriever, and I rent a house, it's a 8000 sq ft land and 3000 sq ft house, my dog loves it and he can run all he wants, he stays indoors a lot too.

I pay $300 a month for the house, I found it cheap, but there are always houses comming and going for rent.

I take my dog with me a lot, I have special places where I know I can go with him and people actually aproach to me and ask about my dog and be friendly and stuff.

Hope this helps a little.

Regards

Please be clear,

Your house for $300 per month is unfurnished and most likely near the outskirts of town.  Correct?  No one benefits from responses that are vague and that give people un-real expectations.  There are very, very few houses with 5000 sq ft of land in areas that most expats want to live.  Almost none in town.  A large front or back yard is a really cool feature if you can get it.  If you have that much space you are most likely on the edge of town or in the country.

Further the quality of construction and the level of finishings in houses here varies dramatically.

I am a dog lover myself but people should know the reality on the ground.  When it comes to rentals.  Unfurnished places are much more likely to accept pets.  There are furnished pet friendly rental and we are always looking for them but they are much more rare.

Hope this helps.

Benjamin

jfgranda wrote:

Hello.

There is no absolute final word about this topic.
I own a golden retriever, and I rent a house, it's a 8000 sq ft land and 3000 sq ft house, my dog loves it and he can run all he wants, he stays indoors a lot too.

I pay $300 a month for the house, I found it cheap, but there are always houses comming and going for rent.

I take my dog with me a lot, I have special places where I know I can go with him and people actually aproach to me and ask about my dog and be friendly and stuff.

Hope this helps a little.

Regards

Hi Benjamin,

I liked very much your answer, concerning a 3000 sq ft at $300/month. I browsed for a long time Cuenca newsparers, I even have visited it some three years ago, so I can say that most of central homes have a very little additional land.
As for the poem....hm....hm....I understand that you have a day job!    (just teasing you, it was amusing)
Nicholas

Hello,

My Husband and I moved to Cuenca with our three chihuahha's Last December.  We are in a gated property.  We have taken our dogs out for walks on the neighboring streets.  We do see dogs that run loose and this always concerns us when we have three little ones out walking on a leash.  Most of the dogs that we see do not bother anyone and people do not bother the dogs.  I don't think that you will have a problem with your Great Dane.  We rarely see any cats.  Everyone has a dog or two on their property.  Hope this helps some.  Good Luck.. We love living in Cuenca.

Sincerely,
Joyula and John

thank you both for ansering our post. we hope to be visiting Cuenca this Oct. to see if we like it.
       thanks again
               ken and sue

Thanks to you all for the variety of answers here.  Our plan is to rent somewhere near Cuenca with a goal to buy when we find the perfect place for our dog and cat.  We had great luck on this same blog while we were considering a move to Belize.  We visited twice and then decided it was not a place we wanted to stay forever.  One of the issues was the large number of dogs, called "Potlickers" that simply wander uncared for throughout most towns and settlements there. We are huge animal people and it broke my heart to see all the skinny, hungry dogs, many of which had just had puppies, digging in the garbage.  Call me a bleeding heart, but this was one of the main reasons I couldn't live in Belize, particularly the San Ignacio town area. Anybody have any comments about this problem in Ecuador?

Thanks,
Toni and John

Unfortunately, I think you'll find in many countries the attitude toward domestic animals is much different than in the U.S. Often, dogs are used as security and cats as mousers. There are stray dogs and cats who keep reproducing because many locals don't get pets spayed/neutered. I saw the same thing in Mexico. That's not to say there aren't plenty of locals who love and care for their pets, it's just not as common as we're used to. As difficult as it was, I had to develop the same attitude toward stray animals as I have toward animals in shelters in the U.S. who are killed by the thousands each year because people don't spay/neuter, train them or take them to a vet. Many not in shelters suffer and die at the hands of their owners. I cannot possibly rescue them all, just as I cannot possibly rescue all the starving, stray, sick and suffering animals in another country. I have 2 rescue dogs, and at least I feel as though I've done my part, little as it is. In India and Africa there are starving, sick and suffering children. There are people who keep having kids, even though they can't take care of them, because they don't believe in birth control. All I can do is adopt one child for $28 a month. Does it make a difference in world hunger? Absolutely not. But it does make a difference to that one child. You may have to accept the situation about pets, while wishing things could be different, as I do. As difficult as it is not to feed stray pets, you must force yourself not to or you'll have 100 dogs on your doorstep and you'll have to start turning them away. You must ask yourself, are you depressed because you have to actually see it and if you don't see it (like in the U.S.) you won't have to think about it? If you go to a shelter in the U.S. you'd be depressed as well. Even if it makes us feel better, having it out of our vision will not make it go away.

Dear Miss Denver,
Thanks so much for your honest reply...which certainly will not deter us from coming.  I know there are westerners in Belize who have made really positive changes with shelters and education and know of a number of vets who offer "free spay" day to help out.  I guess that's the best one can do.

Saw your question about pet sitters/groomers.  We would need one too, if we move to Cuenca. If there aren't any locals, this would be a great business for an enterprising ex-pat - HINT HINT!

Good luck to you and your poodle.

Toni and John.

Pica 1, I have no first hand knowledge of this person, but I got the name from someone else. I would love to open a business, but I have no grooming skills. You should see what my 2 dogs looked like when I tried to clip them myself!

Dog groomer   Caty   cjcarrasco@yahoo.com

Hello all,

For ecuadorian people, in general, dogs are just dogs. There's not a sentimental relation with them. They just take care of the house or work in the farms, and in exchange the dogs get some food.
You can see a lot of dogs wandering around in Cuenca but it doesn't mean don't have an owner or house. They just go around the neighbourhood meeting other dogs and looking for extra food.
They don't use collars or tags.

But this is changing too, and many people is trying to give better care for the dogs and there's like three or four hotels for dogs in the city and places for grooming, now.

This is good news.  We are coming down for the first time on Jan. 11th and want to spend most of the next two weeks in the Cuenca area, which seems to best suit us.

Because I'm an energetic retiree and dog lover, I may decide to set up a dog sitting business, if there is a need, mostly for ex-pats.  Depending on the size of our house, I may revive my grooming skills from years ago...or I may be content to simply "veg out!"

Probably last question on this topic -- are there any extablished animal shelters there, particularly with Vets?

Hello Tony and John,

I don't know if there is an animal shelther but I can find out.

If you want, we can meet once you're in Cuenca.
My email is gocuenca@yahoo.com

Regards
Vinny

I found a great website which lists Cuenca house rentals and whether they are "pet friendly."  It's true that most of them are unfurnished, but there look to be about a third that are furnished and pet friendly.  These do seem to ask for a minimum stay -- like a three, six or 12 month contract.  The website is cuencacondos.com  (don't be fooled by the name; they have houses, apartments, land and condos.  We are coming down in January and will be contacting these people to check the accuracy of the websites, since we hope to move first into a rental with our little dog and old cat.  Another website: cuencacentral.com has attractive rentals, but not very many are both furnished and pet friendly.  Good Luck!!

Toni

ARCA is one of two shelters in Cuenca. They do a great  job and like rescue everywhere, are underfunded and understaffed.

My wife and I help out when and where we can, but as has been said, pets here are generally not regarded the same as they are in the US so most of the support is coming from the expat community.

We have 5 dogs but don't take them with us when going out. As generalizations go, Ecuadorians tend to be a bit scared of dogs. However there's a guy here in Cuenca that has 3 Golden Retrievers who accompany him everywhere.

Hello All,

We just moved to Cuenca three weeks ago. We have two miniature schnauzers both of which are not very well trained or socialized (even though we watch Ceasar Milan all the time ). There are at least 5 or 6 other schnauzers within three blocks of us which are all groomed and well cared for. There are lots of other dogs behind gated homes (including 4 in our small gated area) and many that run wild but we believe belong to someone. We have not come across any really scary stray dogs. We take our dogs out for long walks in our community every day and there are always dogs that want to approach but are scared off because our two have way too much energy. We're really trying hard to get them socialized as we know they would love to play with the other dogs but just don't know how to.

Hope this helps...
Cheryn and Bruce