Besides animals like tigers and lions, the one animal I love and the only one that I can keep is a dog. But living in a HDB flat there are certain restrictions on the number and types of dogs you can keep. To be put quite simply,HDB only allows toy dogs. And only 1 dog. Although the logic for such legislation is suspect, the powers-that-be have been rather slow to address the concerns of pet lovers on the types of pets that can be kept (cats included). But this post is all about dogs. There is one possible out for people like myself who wish to keep a dog which is not in HDB's approved list, and it is this:

Your dog must weigh 10 kg or less or stands a maximum of 40 cm at the shoulders.

This rule is one of those grey area rules that the government loves to put into any legislation so that their officers can look reasonably sensible when faced with an irate member of the public. This one works like this, you may keep a purebreed or mixed breed dog if it fulfills both criteria of being both less than 10 kilogrammes and less than 40 centimetres tall at the shoulder. This broad definition means that certain medium sized dogs are eligible to be kept as pets such as the Corgi, or even the 2 dogs I mentioned in my last post, the miniature siberian husky & maybe even the alaskan klee kai, if they manage to fulfill the criteria.

But as it is with all grey area rules there is also and counter-point rule, that the animal should not be a nuisance. What constitutes a dog causing a nuisance however is slightly dodgy.

Owners should not allow their pets to run at persons, vehicles or
bicycles in public places or cause injury to any persons. They should
also not allow their pets to become a nuisance (e.g. uncontrolled
barking, defaecating in public places, etc).

So it seems the said dog only has to be able to eat and sit all day in a public space. Because any form of running or sound can be considered a form of nuisance. The basic translation of this rule into its simplest form is that as long as no one complains, you and your dog are fine.But if someone complains, it will be investigated, and you may be fined.

Then there are the rules that legislate that dogs have to be leashed in public spaces. But no one specified how long the leash had to be. So the way I see it, as long as I am holding one end of the leash and the dog is on the other end of the leash, then I am well within my rights to bring my dog outdoors. Even if the leash in question is 40 feet long.