Trends: what women want in a condo

[PamNY]

I actually find it disturbing that there are more dogs than kids. Not that I think everyone should have kids (in fact, I think quite the opposite), but as someone who is not an animal lover (I hate to say that here), it is hard for me to understand how having a dog is the same as a human child. Intellectually, I understand how a pet meets our needs, it's just personally, I don't equate the two as the same.
No flames, please. Of course, people with common interests will want a place to meet together. Just like cyclists at coffee shops! The rest of the article is interesting, but I think they went on a bit too much about walk in closets!

The article didn't say that having a dog was the same as having a human child. The author used the "more dogs than children" statistic simply to make the point that a lot of people have dogs.

The phenomenon of dogs creating a sense of community is very real, but you might not understand it if you haven't experienced it. When you walk a dog in a pedestrian city as I do, you talk to a lot of people. In my neighborhood, most of the dog people know each other. I talk to the cops at the Federal Reserve Bank nearly every day -- they love my dog, and the dog can go to the wine store (where they have treats). Dogs are welcome at the hardware store. Before 9/11 when the fire house became a tourist attraction and they started keeping the doors shut, we stopped by the fire house all the time for a Milk Bone. Tourists know a person with a dog probably lives in the neighborhood, so I get asked for directions a lot.

In my building, most of the children love dogs, so I get the know the children and their parents (remember we're on the elevator together). When a dog dies, the concierge lets everyone know. I got a cake and sympathy cards when my older dog died, and I always leave a card for neighbors who have lost a dog.

Taken all together, these experiences do enhance a sense of community.

It isn't a matter of people with common interests wanting a place to meet at all. It's just what happens when you are walking on the street instead of traveling by car -- and the article did focus on walkable communities.