The apartments, which will number 18 in total, will be built by local entrepreneur Niels Martin Viuff, local media Frederiksborg Amts Avis reports.

Viuff came upon the idea for the mandatory dog apartments after speaking to local residents.

“There is demand from some dog owners who are tired of there being so many places where dogs are not allowed,” Viuff told Ritzau.

“We want to meet the needs of dog owners. Many are very lonely,” he added.

An apartment block reserved for dog owners, to be given the name Hundehuset (“The Dog House”), will provide a common interest for its residents, the entrepreneur said.

The Danish Kennel Klub, Denmark’s largest association for dog owners, was consulted by Viuff over the idea and praised the concept.

“This is super exciting, it’s innovative, and we look forward to following progress and seeing how the project develops,” the organisation’s behaviour consultant Lise Lotte Christensen said.

Christensen was part of an advisory group that made suggestions as to how to make the apartments more canine-friendly, including by installing tougher flooring and a dog bathing area in the gardens.

“Dogs wear things out, they have their outdoor shoes on all year round. They don’t take their shoes off in the hallway,” she said, adding that materials used in the apartments should be easy to clean.

Viuff said that potential tenants would be required to bring their dogs to see him before signing rental contracts.

“We want to have dogs that weigh a maximum of 45 kilograms. So we will be avoiding the largest breeds, so (the apartments) won’t be crowded with dogs. But if you have small dogs, more than one is fine,” he said.

Cats will also be allowed to live in the apartments and a complex reserved solely for cat owners is also under consideration.

“I can imagine that we could make (an apartment complex) for cat owners too. That is on the drawing board,” Viuff said.

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