asking the experienced apartment-dog people: what do you actually look for in a lease and a building when youre renting with a 60lb dog because the official pet policies are not telling me the real story

Need to lean on the people who have actually done this. I am 33, fully remote, and im moving from a small house with a fenced yard to a midsize city apartment in three months because the rent on this house is going up 22% and i can finally just leave. My dog is Mavis, 62 lbs, lab and something-with-spots mix, calm at home, fine with elevators, ok with strangers, four years old. On paper she should be an easy apartment dog. I am still terrified i am going to pick wrong and end up either getting a lease termination or making her miserable.

The official pet policies are not helping. Every building's website says "pets welcome under 75 lbs with a 500 dollar fee" and i have toured three buildings now where, after we got past the paperwork, the leasing agent very quietly told me different things. One said the previous tenant with a similar size dog "had issues" without elaborating. One said they technically allowed it but no other resident on her floor had a large dog and she would "see what works." One said the policy is 75 lbs but they have approved up to 90 if the dog is "good." I cannot tell what game is being played and i dont want to find out three months in.

What im asking. The people who have rented with a real dog (not a 12lb purse dog) for years, what do you actually look at on a tour. Floor matters or not. Carpeted hallways versus hard floor. Trash chute access. Where the dog relief areas actually are (not where they say they are, where they are after you have walked your dog at 2am in the rain). What questions do you ask the leasing agent that get real answers. What clauses in a pet addendum should i push back on. Do you bring the dog to a tour or not. Do you ever volunteer the dogs weight if its under the limit or just write what the agent puts on the form.

I am not looking for "make sure they allow pets" type advice, i have done that homework. I want the apartment-dog folk wisdom that nobody writes down. Bonus points if you have lived with a 50+ lb dog in a building for more than two years and are still on good terms with the property manager.