We live in a condo
We live in a condo - a little under 800sqft including the balcony we don't really use.
We moved into the condo when Walnut was about 4 months old - prior to moving in, we lived in a pretty big house with big backyard (parents house).
Anyway. The transition was fine with Walnut.
From 4-9months he got daily dog walks for 1 hour, 15 minutes before we left for work, and another 1-1.5hr before sleep. Total of 2-3 hours per day.
When he turned 9months, we started weaning off the dog walks to teach him to be alone longer and longer.
He is now almost 15 months old, and stays home alone for about 10 hours from Mon-Friday.
Our schedule changed a bit without the dog walks. It goes like this now:
Morning walk: 30 minute walk around the block, pee, poo, etc. before work
After work walk: 30 minute walk around the block, pee, poo, etc.
Before bed play time: 1-1.5 hours at a public park by our condo
before bed training: 15 minutes training to mentally tire him out
He turned out to be a great dog. He's very attached, but also very independent. He doesn't chew anything other than his toys. If you put shoes, clothes, socks, and his toys all in a basket, he will move everything else to get to his toy.
He doesn't bark, growl, cry or anything, and plays well with everyone and all other dogs.
If we did not have the dog walks, and amount of time to train and work him out, i think things would have turned out a little differently. He basically isn't allowed to do anything without permission..which my parents think is mean, but we believe it helps him mentally.
For example, he cannot eat until told to do so, he cannot go on grass unless we tell him he can (or if he continuously glances at the grass), cannot leave the front door without ringing the bell, must sit behind every door on the way out of the condo until door is fully open, must only sit in the corner of the elevator. All of these have now become default behaviours...but we still enforce it and add new things to tired his mind.
He's finally getting neutered on Valentines day, and we're hoping the neutering doesn't change him...because he's perfect right now.