No Pets Allowed…

These is one of the worst phrases a pet owner can run into when they’re looking for somewhere to live and unfortunately it is extremely common. Even rental properties that allow pets often have many restrictions or pet owners are required to pay premiums, pet deposits and monthly ‘pet rent’ on top on regular rental fees. Many place restrict pets to a certain number, one or two, or they restrict them to a certain size, maybe 25 lbs or less.

Today, with the financial crunch causing many people to lost their homes, ‘No Pets Allowed’ is also causing many pet owners to lose their pets. They feel forced into surrendering them and sadly, there are even too many who don’t even care enough to take the effort to surrender them to even have the chance at a second chance.

Ok, here’s a story… there was woman who basically lost everything due to her stupidity in choosing the wrong kind of guy. He walked of with everything he could, which was pretty everything they owned and left her with a house in foreclosure, an empty bank account, a defunct business and a houseful of dogs and birds to try to provide for.

Luckily, she managed to find wonderful homes for the birds, some beautiful canaries and finches, almost two dozen of them but she couldn’t bear to be parted with the dogs. At night as she curled in the pile of blankets and pillows. all the furniture she had, on the floor of the house with no electricity or heat, they curled around her and licked her tears and gave her the only comfort she knew.

Finally she knew she had to find some place to live before they claimed the house so she took her broken down, barely running old SUV (the guy took her new truck with everything else) and started looking for some where she could live with her dogs which she refused to give up. She would have lived in her vehicle rather than lose her babies.

Place after place she looked… ‘no pets allowed’ she heard again and again. The places that did allow pets were either absolute dumps or they wanted too much more to let her have her babies that there was no way she could possibly figure a way to manage.

Some nights she curled in the back of her old SUV with her dogs, the temps dropping, all sharing the warmth of each other. She was getting to the point where she really thought she had no options, she would have to give up her babies and she couldn’t imagine living without them, literally.

She was about at the end of her rope when she came across an ad for a place that actually allowed pets, miracle of miracles, and she made an appointment to see it. She didn’t expect much. Amazingly enough when she showed up, it was an adorable little house, clean and neat and it even had a doggie door and a fenced in concrete kennel outside with a cute little yard besides.

Then came the hard part… she had no job and no money but somehow she had to convince the home owner to rent this house to her. She told her story, straight out, asking for no sympathy and promised that she would find a job and keep the house in perfect condition, that her dogs were well mannered and house trained, everything she could possibly think of to convince him to give her a chance.

Someone must have been smiling down her her because he did just that, he gave her and her babies a chance. Anyway, to make a long story short, she did find a job and although she was working for not much more than minimum wage and it took three weeks pay just to pay the rent to start with, she lived in that house for two years. There werew many weeks that she lived on Ramen noodles to make sure her dogs ate well and she worked 60 and 80 hour weeks to make ends meet.

Her babies were happy and healthy and well cared for and when she moved out her landlord was sincerely not happy to see her go. He said the house was in better shape when she left then when she moved in and she got every penny of her security and pet deposits back.

So you see, sometimes pet owners, thought most are not in as dire of a situation, are very grateful just to find a place where they can peacefully live with their babies. If they are truly animal lovers they tend to go above and beyond what is required. I’ve heard that so often from people who were just happy to have a landlord give them a chance. They turned into dream tenants because they didn’t want to take a chance of losing a home where they could live with the pets they loved so much.

Honestly, no, this is not always the case and I do understand why many landlords to not allow pets but I do wish more would take the chance. Sometime they wound up with the best tenants they ever had.

As for the woman in the story… I am living happy and healthy and so are my babies! We enjoy a nice little home with someone who puts up with my eccentricities… LOL The dogs have a big, lovely yard to run and play in and the best food they could possibly imagine. They are spoiled beyond belief and will be to the end of their days.

They are the only thing that kept me going some days when things were as harsh as I could have ever imagine. They are my lifeline and because of one compassionate landlord who did not say ‘no pets allowed’, who gave me a chance, I am here to tell my story and to, hopefully, help others… to educate… to raise awareness. No, things are not easy and they probably never will be, my ‘job’ is far from lucrative financially but the benefits are immeasurable and most importantly to me, my babies are I are still together to share whatever may come our way… all because one person did not say ‘no pets allowed.’

So, for all the landlords our there, sometimes it’s worth more than you can possibly even imagine to allow pets. To so many people, they are more, much more, than just a dog or just a cat. To some people, they can be a reason to go on. Sometimes ‘no pets allowed’ can be a death sentence as so many people who work in shelters can tell you.

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