what it takes to have a pet in new york

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/realestate/what-pet-owners-must-do-to-get-new-york-apartments.xml


In a seemingly endless game of cat-and-mouse, pet owners do many things to ease their way into the apartment of their dreams - legitimate and not so.

They offer to pay large sums in advance to cover the potential cost of refinishing scratched floors or replacing damaged lobby carpet. Owners of large dogs fudge a pet's weight (always downward) and the breed. Owners of several black cats will admit to having just one, on the theory that all black cats look the same.

In a building that has abruptly adopted a no-pet policy, a dog that has died may be replaced by another of the identical breed that mysteriously answers to the dead dog's name. Increasingly, pet owners seeking apartments are being asked to submit fat dossiers containing reports from veterinarians, dog walkers, neighbors and rescue services detailing their pet's sweet nature and nondestructive tendencies. Some owners have been known to sedate their dogs in preparation for the increasingly required interview before a co-op board.

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I
The pet rescue place from which they got Leo identified him as an American Staffordshire terrier, but in Ms. Allarde's opinion, "that's another way of saying pit bull."

The couple were seeking something larger than their modest one-bedroom rental in Kips Bay, for which they paid $2,065 a month. But building after building turned them down.

"We looked at two dozen places, looking nearly every day for a month," Ms. Allarde said. "Buildings would say 'pets allowed,' but then they'd have specific restrictions regarding breed and weight, and the weight limit would be 10 pounds. We'd already told our landlord that we planned to vacate our old place, and I literally thought that we'd be homeless."

She remembers one apartment "where they said, O.K., but they wanted to see a picture. We sent them the nicest possible picture of Leo, lying down with his toys so he didn't look too threatening. But that didn't work. They said, 'We'll take you but not the dog.' "

At another building, described as pet-friendly and open to large breeds, "they wanted pictures from multiple angles and pictures of Leo's whole body. And once they saw them, they said, 'Forget it.' "

Finally Ms. Allarde mastered the visuals, in the form of images showing Leo and Olivia posed side by side, along with artfully cropped photos taken at an angle designed to make Leo look smaller, cuter and less pit-bull-like.

These proved the ticket. In November, with the help of Melissa Taba, a Citi Habitats broker, the family moved into a larger rental apartment on East 30th Street for which they pay $1,000 more a month than they were paying for their old place. But Ms. Allarde is relieved beyond words. "To give up Leo would have been heartbreaking," she said.

[mercymechap]

1. I love my cats, but......

I don't think I would go to such lengths just to keep them. We have 4 cats, 1 indoor and 3 outdoor, but we have 2 acres and own our home so we can have as many pets as we like! We had a dog, an Akita, even built a kennel for her, but after 6 years, she was able to get outside our fenced yard and we never saw her again. She was so pretty, we think someone picked her up. We decided dogs were too much work, cats take care of themselves as long as you feed them and provide a litter box.

[Fawke Em]

14. I...

well... speechless.

You let a dog go and seem so cavalier about it.

Um...

Mercy be on you, for sure.

I like my cat, but he can take care of himself.

I LOVE my dogs and they would be "pit bulls" in today's vernacular, if they attacked someone.


Ugh. to you.

[ieoeja]

24. "She was able to get out of our fence and we lost her" equals "you let a dog go? n/t

[galileoreloaded]

2. pets are the American scorge

we spend enough annually to insure every person. for cats. and dogs. our priorities are fucked.

[nolabear]

3. Interesting perspective.

We also don't need nearly as many clothes as most of us have, use power and water with abandon, eat more than we need just to survive, drive cars that are not at the highest level of fuel efficiency, have elective surgery, buy books rather than just use libraries...how many of these scourges have you personally given up so others can have the resources?

[galileoreloaded]

5. how many do you have?

naked self interest at work.

[Fawke Em]

15. I have six.

Five rescued dogs - all spade and/or neutered and one neutered cat.

Two from rescue programs, one from the shelter, three from the streets.

All have shots.

Problem?

[galileoreloaded]

20. not in the least.

I think it takes great temerity and much thought to chose the welfare of pets over humans.

I have no problem with self interest, its the oldest human agenda, and Berne might say it's the "core" game people play.

[LanternWaste]

40. I doubt one will consciously choose the welfare of pets over that of people

I doubt one will consciously choose the welfare of pets over that of people any more than we may consciously choose to waste time in benign discussions rather than actively helping others.

For my part, I don't see that giving to one takes away from another.

[hollysmom]

4. do you own a pet?

Without my dog, I doubt I would be alive. Even if that is not true, the quality of my life would be less.

Pets do contribute a lot to our lives, I have heard many times about how they have helped addicts recover their lives.
Yet, somehow I manage to donate more money to help others than I spend on my dog. She is a cheap date.

[galileoreloaded]

21. I appreciate you.

I was referring to the problem from a holistic perspective, but it sounds like you might be the exception that proves the rule.

[LanternWaste]

41. What specifically leads you to that premise?

" it sounds like you might be the exception that proves the rule...."

What specifically leads you to that premise?

[hollysmom]

44. don't jump to conclusions

I once spent 4K in one year on a dog - they had to keep redoing the operation so it was in 500 increments. Not my favorite vets now. But she was young then and lived 8 years after before her heart failed. And she she was being trained as a service dog when I left her in a kennel for a week where they abused her and she could not stand loud noises after that so she just served as a bereavement help to my friends when there was a death in the family,. I used to refer to her as a loaner dog because she spent half her time away from me. She was well trained and easy to deal with so many people borrowed her in a crisis. I think she justified her expense - helped people more than medication would, so she saved people medical expenses - the hard part was getting her back after people recovered. I am sure it more than balanced out.

If you get away from the Paris Hiltons and her ilk, you will find most pets are not all that expensive and most provide an humanizing influence, our lives would be lesser without pets.

Now, when she was a puppy and ran after a squirrel, my mother let herself be dragged on her face because she did not want the dog to get hurt - but I told her I could get another dog but not another mother, And when she was older and trained, My mother kept this dog for 6 months after my father died to help her get used to being alone.

So I think it is wrong for people to be berated for their pets, most people here are more than generous to others. I don't want to judge anyone on generalities.

[Arugula Latte]

6. I think of years of joy I have received from the many kitties I've been lucky to spend my life with.

I can't put a price on it. They make me happy every day. Love is not a fucked priority.

[Voice for Peace]

7. exactly.

love is the highest and noblest priority, imo

[OwnedByCats]

16. I agree wholeheartedly

but some just don't see it that way. The importance of my pets come even before myself because I love animals - they are the most favorite things on this planet to me and I make no apologies for it. I have some very deep seated hatred for animal abusers. I have my reasons.

However I don't necessarily expect everyone to feel the way I do, all I ask is that people not be unkind to animals and not expect me to share their apathy or dislike of them.

[Skittles]

13. ......

it is VERY sad you fail to recognize the value of pets

[galileoreloaded]

22. I value the 875 6 year olds who need a single course of $4 antibiotics

well over my sisters rat terrier who received a $3500 ACL surgery.

I'm not the one who is sad.

[Liberal_in_LA]

23. stop it

[galileoreloaded]

25. stop what? providing allegory to back up my assertion? thats the core of DU

we make choices in life. those choices are subject to scrutiny.

[KurtNYC]

27. And you choose to present false choices so you can judge others whom you know

little or nothing about (?)

The first thing they teach you in Lifeguard training is: protect yourself. If the Lifeguard drowns no one gets saved. My point here being that people need to healthy and satisfied before they are in a position to help others and that is part of what pets do -- they round our lives and balance us. We all need to be as whole as we can be so that we CAN be in a position and mindset to help others.

My dogs will go right to a person who is crying or in pain. Somehow they seem to care about everyone, every stranger. They inspire the hell out of me.

[Safetykitten]

30. Why not lay some of your choices out for us to peruse?

[Skittles]

36. LOL, it would be like shooting fish in a barrel

[galileoreloaded]

56. at least you accept that you are making a choice. N/t

[roody]

26. Domestic animals are not the reason

for poverty.

[Arugula Latte]

32. Why not blame the military and its industrial complex?

That's what's really sucking up the money in this country.

We should have excellent "free" healthcare and higher education, but we don't. Don't blame cats and dogs for that.

[galileoreloaded]

33. I do.

[Arugula Latte]

34. Well okay, then.

Apparently Fluffy and Bailey are worse than lobbyists for Exxon, G.E. and Halliburton.

[galileoreloaded]

35. no, fluffy takes resources from needy people just like nameacorp

but fluffy takes them with the implicit approval of their "progressive"owner.

i don't own pets and i don't sponsor corporate fascism for exactly the same reason.

but others are free to do what they wish, but i hope they understand what that is. they usually don't.

[fizzgig]

48. how do pets take away resources from needy people?

[MADem]

53. Why, because people who don't have a pet would of COURSE run right out and spend their

money on the NEEDY, donchaknow! That is ALL they would do with the money they saved! They wouldn't gamble or drink, or spend their money on wild women or men, and song, and they certainly wouldn't fritter it away on foolish hobbies or trips or something else they might enjoy.

That's the halfassed argument being shopped, here.

It's a total load of horse poop (oops, no pets, so no horsies, either...how about people poop, then?), but there it is....!

[Skittles]

37. which is why I am an active supporter of Doctors Without Borders

believe it or not, I can do that while still taking care of my pets

[hollysmom]

46. I think I understand now

You have not had pets, so don't see what they can teach children and people about humanity, but you have your sister spending money on something you believe is foolish, this an issue that is more complex than just spending money.

Well, it is your opinion and you certainly have a right to have it, I have owned dogs and sat for other's cats (as long as 6 months after my mother died until I could find a new owner for a very old cat) - there are are a lot of plusses for animals, and surely some negatives. In life, you focus on what you think is important, but I don't think you can judge others based on those beliefs. That makes life too black and white - there is no calculation that can make this into an equation - Animals also produce benefits - there are working dogs and service animals - are they also without purpose? Stroking animals can reduce blood pressure and reduce someone's medication, Pet's alleviate depression and probably reduce destructive behavior of humans. They can make someone who is alone feel loved - is that with out value? My dog gets me up in the morning and moving, otherwise I would probably waste a lot of my life. She makes me get out and speak to people, when in person I am terminally shy.

There are many choices we make to make like in wasting energy and water ( I pay the minimum water bill but waste money by living in a house and paying exorbitant taxes, way more than I contribute to charity). My brother-in-law grows ornamental plants - he could be growing food for the poor, but likes these plants instead. My sister spends money to fly up and visit me once a year, she could stay home and donate that money and we could never see each other again - it is all choices by liberals.

[hughee99]

28. Why are you worried about health insurance when there are people in the world who can't even get

health care or food?

[Floyd_Gondolli]

42. You must be a riot at parties

What an asshole.
(And I don't give a fuck if it's hidden)

[magical thyme]

45. so we're supposed to sacrifice our furfamilies in order to enrich the 1% insurance companies?

Seriously? I had insurance, the best HMO at the time. Harvard Health and those motherfuckers told me it was "all in my head" and left me to die. Wouldn't run a single test. My weight had dropped from 110 to 84 within weeks, I had severe insomnia, night sweats, and more. Turned out I was septic and my dentist saved my life by prescribing prophylactic antibiotics for a month before removing my wisdom teeth.

My animals are my family. My dogs keep me warm at night, scare away potential predators (including/especially the 2-legged rats) and give me a reason to get out of bed in the morning.

Insurance companies can go fuck themselves. They stole enough of my money before leaving me to die.

[Niceguy1]

51. what does that have to do with owning pets?

We are free to spend our disposable income on whatever we choose....

[olddots]

8. Isn't this pretty much the same story in any big city ?

n.t

[ZOB]

10. Cases like THIS have some bearing on acceptable breeds in apartment buildings:

http://dogbitelaw.com/diane-whipple/the-diane-whipple-case.html

"n January 2001, two dogs killed Diane Whipple of San Francisco as she tried to enter her apartment. In the year that followed, shocking details emerged about the case, and criminal charges ranging all the way to murder were filed against the owners of the dogs, Marjorie Knoller and Robert Noel."

[WCLinolVir]

12. I am from the Bay Area and the owners were just heinous.

They did nothing to control their dogs.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/15-years-to-life-in-S-F-dog-maul-death-3268437.php

[WCLinolVir]

11. How awful for pet owners.

I must say, I have never told the truth about my pets. I would never move without them. I live in a house that needs work, and I stay there and do it because my pets are safe and happy. If my landlord ever were to ask, I would say I'm pet sitting. It has been a juggling act hiding my cats sometimes! Two are sixteen, one is 14, and I have moved them cross country. I am grateful as I often just feel awful in the morning, but I get up to take care of my companions. For people coping with a chronic illness, pets are therapeutic.
If ever there was a scourge upon earth, it is the humans.

[Liberal_in_LA]

18. i snuck in a cat when i lived in a no pets building. after several years, manager was

Going to enter for repairs while I was at work. I told him to keep door shut because I had a cat. He replied "yeah , the cat I see i n the window". He'd known
About the cat and didn't care

[Skittles]

38. in my younger poorer days I was busted by a maintenance man

I had hidden the food bowl and litter box but my cat ran in while he was there and started howling for food.....I said sheepishly, "Obviously he is mine....are you going to tell on me?" The maintenance man laughed and said no, and he didn't.

[Liberal_in_LA]

39. good maintenance man. lol.

[OwnedByCats]

17. I once lived in an apartment

complex that did not allow any dogs. I did not have any myself at the time, but quite a few of my neighbors did. One even had a husky who would be tied up just outside their patio doors for when she needed to go outside - right there in plain site! I could not understand how they got away with it. Then there were a few with smaller dogs. I was even asked advice by my neighbors about their dogs (they knew I worked with them) but I thought that was pretty brazen lol. I guess they assumed as I was a dog lover I would not whistle blow.

And of course, me being me, I never reported them. I cared too much about the dog's welfare. As much as their owners were breaking the rules, I didn't want them to end up in a shelter or homeless. No one else reported them either. My only problem was that I had really wanted my own dog but was too scared to violate the rules. Just because they got away with it, didn't mean I would.

[Liberal_in_LA]

19. trust me, the landlord knew about the dogs

If they are Google tenants, they will let it slide

[OwnedByCats]

43. Yeah they had to have known

It's just one of those things where some people are allowed, others not

[Prism]

50. I'm in this situation now

Ostensibly, my apartment building is no pets. Meanwhile, half the tenants have cats. I've been wanting a cat for awhile, but I've been reticent given the official policy. But this week I'm thinking, screw it, I'm heading to the shelter. The landlord never visits, my apartment's pretty private, and I have no plans to have an outdoor cat. Mix in no carpets to be ruined, and it seems low-risk.

Hopefully.

[OwnedByCats]

54. I wish you good luck

in your hunt for a new kitty!

It's a lot easier to hide a cat than a dog of course, they don't need to go out for potty and usually quieter than dogs. This apartment I lived in allowed cats, but only two, and they had to be declawed - well I wasn't doing that. My cats weren't destructive but I did lie about them being declawed since they never asked for proof. But I was too chicken to try it with a dog.

[Safetykitten]

29. Manhattanites should check out Santa Barbara for no-pet insanity. Truly out of control.

[Duer 157099]

31. Life without pets would be

death

[ariesgem]

47. I'm a pet-friendly property manager in Altadena, CA

It took some time, but I convinced the owners to allow pets at our complex.

Tenants with their pets are some of the best tenants I have because once they find a place to accommodate their "babies", they stay put for years and for the most part abide by the pet polices put in place because it's too difficult and expensive to find other accommodations. Their pet deposit along with the security deposit covers the cost any damages.

I've seen more damage in apartments caused by some tenants with children then I do with tenants with only pets. Most of the damages caused by pets tend to be to the tenant's own furniture and belongings. Most of them have carpet steamers and are fanatic about keeping their carpets clean. Some (but not most) of my tenants with kids move out and leave stained dirty carpet (kool aid, mud, magic markers, gum etc..), broken mirrored closet doors from playing (at $500 a mirror set), marked-up walls, etc..

Landlords could actually profit in the long-term if they open up to having responsible pet owners as tenants.

[fizzgig]

49. that is what makes me so angry about pet rent and non-refundable fees

i should be able to get back every dime that did not go toward repairing any damage my cats may have caused. i know that kids are going to do more damage than my cats, but no one gets charged additional fees or rent for having any.

[OwnedByCats]

55. Thank you

for being an advocate for people and pets like me!

[PasadenaTrudy]

57. Pets over kids any day! n/t