PNW, it's going to be a long year.

Denis got the promotion he needed, which is amazing!

That means though, he gave me *2* options. (We now laugh but it was a bit intense of an ultimatum. lol) He said we can either move to Oregon in a year before he's invested too much into his pension or when he's 55 and at full pension. Well, I am not raising children in Las Vegas and have no real desire to stay here myself aside from some of the dog sport opportunities, so... off to Oregon we go! ;D

Denis plans to start looking around 8-9 months for a job opportunity and I'll start looking once we decide where we'll live once there.

I'm nervous because we'll have to rent for a while and have 4 dogs but also unbelievably excited about it.

It's a ways away and a lot of work and choices but I'm excited. My brother lives there with his wife and my sister and her husband and baby are trying to move up there as soon as she finds a job too. It will be so nice to be close to my siblings again.

Anyone in the PNW have any dog clubs, dog oriented jobs, information*, etc that I should keep in mind in the move?

*-we have two apbt that will be with us for many years to come so any BSL that we need to avoid? I've not looked carefully yet.

We're looking openly anywhere from Eugene, OR to Vancover, WA and left. We're most serious about Portland/Vancover and Eugene in a second place. We're also casually looking around Astoria and Lincoln city, as well because Denis has job opportunities there frequently posted (he's a case worker for federal programming) and we'd love to be near the water but we're also drawn back to being close to the city.


Thanks in advance!

I did a BSL look up when I was exploring a move back to Pdx, so link time!
Oregon BSL laws.

http://www.understand-a-bull.com/BSL/Locations/oregon.htm

Washington laws.

http://www.understand-a-bull.com/BSL/Locations/washington.htm

Side note, funny to see Kuvasz on the list...

Thank you!

How about we send you our rain for this winter, to keep you happy? Over 3 inches last week, Vegas averages 4, for the year.

Start looking for jobs about a year ago. Its bad unless you have some specific skills and lots of experience. Vancouver is going to have cheaper houses, but no jobs, and a much longer commute to Portland. The interstate bridges are a major bottle neck and the only way across without a boat.

I grew up in Oregon, moved here about 8 years ago, I know how it is. LOL But, if you dislike it we can trade, we'll be renting out our house with a pool and sunshine!

We're getting more and more rain, which I enjoy, but still too many things that I want no part of. Not to mention we'd like to have children and being 50th worst school system is enough of a turn off.

We've been looking all over and after many trips, much research, and plenty of time we're set on the PNW. Our jobs are there, even if the market sucks, and our families are there. Plenty of dog clubs and sport activity to keep me in a job and us involved.

Also, the arts and culture which we so sorely lack here excel in Portland. I miss it and want to expose my potential children to the lifestyle I was allowed to grow up in.

The only real bummer I'll have to re-associate myself with is the cold but it will be well worth the environment. We get below freezing and plenty cold in the winter but I do enjoy the summers, except this last summer we've started to hate how it kills our ability to dog train during the day.

As far as dog clubs go I only do agility so far, but some great groups for that include WAG - Willamette Agility Group, CAT - Columbia Agility CTeam, and PAC - Portland Agility Club. There are near by dock diving clubs, flyball teams, and many others that I can't remember off the top of my head.... Also, there's a yahoo emailing group called NWDOGACTIVITIES that is AWESOME for getting connected out here.

There are dog daycares and training centers all over the place in the portland area, if you want specific names let me know, I work at a small daycare but there are larger ones around.

As for BSL, I don't know much but I have multiple friends that have had Staffies and Dobes with no problem, however I don't know much in the way of rentals, a while back I was looking in the Beaverton area and there were a couple apartment complexes that didn't have breed rules they simply wanted to meet the dogs and confirm they weren't a danger to other community dwellers.

Hopefully that helps, and YAY! for you moving to Oregon!

I'm in Eugene

I absolutely love Oregon, honestly. The Lincoln City beach is our favorite place to go no matter the season, though in my limited experience renting with dogs around here is a pain in the ass. I personally enjoy the rain (the mud that comes with, not as much) and the crazy dog doesn't mind it much - he loves puddles. We go to Las Vegas every summer and I'm definitely more of a cool climate person.

There's a DVG club in Salem right between Eugene and Portland (so within a 1 hour - 1 hour 30 min drive), but I'm admittedly unfamiliar with dogsports so while I know there are more places to check out, I can't be of much help. I think monkeys23 here on Chaz is in Washington and may know more.

Oregon is an incredible place to grow up in. I am 100% with you on the arts and culture aspect, really love that about this place.

While we're on it, Portland does not seem to have dock dog? Closest I saw was in Hood River.

If I owned this house, I'd trade you. I need more sun than this. (Portland does not actually see a ton of rain, most of the east coast is worse, but we are known for days where it rains all day to find out they only managed to record .01 inches.... its like living in a cloud)

There is one dock dog club in oregon that I could find which is a bummer but we're pretty confident that we can help the DD community grow. We've priced it out and once we buy we've tossed around buying and building a dock/pool. We watched and participated while the club here was created and grew so we're not totally green to this idea.

That will take time but we love DDs enough to make it happen.

Sorry yea the only dock diving club I know of is Cascade Dock Dogs. my bad.

Well I have no information on the PNW but now I want to move to Vegas...

We'd be upping your house to 5 dogs, but no small animals... Just 3 coonies, a basset, and an APBT who would ADORE a pool... come to think of it so would Rage...

LOL It's actually a very nice house, small, but nice, to rent. It has a pool but not much more by way of yard. However, it's close to several big parks. We lucked out and bought it when it bottomed out in the market. We're hoping to hold on to it and rent it out when we move and we'll positively be breed friendly but you might go insane here with that many dogs, well... we do alright with 4 and did alright with 5 but it's not for most people.

Hurley is generally outdoor only (he has the Taj Mahal of all kennels) but I imagine that'd be a no-go with Vegas summers. Daisy rarely moves Liz actually rarely moves as well... she just lays on the couch.

My aunt & uncle live in Vegas, so we'd know people... hmmm...

Yeah, some keep dogs out all summer but I am hesitant to do so. If you use a kiddie pool and a mister system I'm sure it can be done safely. Also our winters get pretty bitter cold which surprises most but we have no trees or hills to hold the heat in. We obviously aren't like PA but we get down to and below freezing at night regularly.

Yea, winters don't concern me - being from PA we do know how to winterize a kennel... it's the summer that is unknown territory


hmmm I have some thinking to do for the next few months.

From my experience Portland is a lot friendlier to dogs in general than most cities I've lived in, including Seattle. Several of my friends are in Portland, one has a largish ambull/pit thingy, the rest are smaller, but none of them have ever had problems finding a landlord that allowed dogs. The rent in Oregon is pretty cheap compared to up here too, I'm jealous.

Are you looking at living in a bigger city or smaller community? There are a ton of beautiful little towns out toward the coast. McMinnville, Dallas, and Monmouth are small little farm communities but within half an hour or so of Salem (plus McMinnville has the Spruce Goose!). Tillamook is beautiful too. The hard part is finding a job. They laid off a ton of folks at Intel a few years ago, and a lot of them are still unemployed. I've got friends with masters degrees in Portland working minimum wage jobs. One even has her K-12 teaching certificate.

ETA: OH yeah!!! Forgot about Albany. Honestly, that town felt pretty comfortable. I lived there for half a year with a family while I went to school. They have some awesome cultural/community things they do, like their wooden carousel (which may still be in progress, I carved some of the flowers on it). There are houses with land on the outskirts, and if you want to be in town they have some gorgeous historical neighborhoods. I lived in a 1870s victorian with three floors that the family I stayed with bought for only $60K. They restored it beautifully, and it had secret passages!!! So rad!

The main drawback there is there's a paper mill in town. :lol-sign: However, it's outfitted with some kind of venting system that makes it not stink most of the year. Every few months they shut it off to do servicing and it makes the town smell like rotten mustard for a couple days.

I'm excited about the friendly part. Housing is more expensive in Oregon than Vegas but part of it will even out.. I think. LOL


Hopefully an outskirt of Portland I think? Luckily Denis' job has a lot of openings in Oregon. He works for the dept of health and human services and doles out welfare, etc so where there is a need he has a job usually.

I remember how badly that stunk as a kid now that you mention it! LOL



I am so impatient I sent a job app this morning.. :-X