SOME LANDLORDS (Long one)

As many of you know we spent most of the summer as displaced people. Due to a poorly placed tarp during re-roofing, a monsoon, tons of rain, we ended up in a motel for three weeks, dogs (except Cooper) in boarding while our real house was gutted due to the rain rot. (No pony with rain rot ever looked as bad as our living room....)

Anyway eventually a placement company found us a house not far from where we really live. The Landlord who shall at least at this point remain nameless, had a no-pet clause in the contract but, let's face-- he was going to make a BUCKET of money off our insurance company if he allowed the dogs in. So he did. And we had them bathed and cleaned and nails trimmed before we took them to the "new" (read: Rental) house.

Now we did notice on moving in that the last tennants, who I believe were forcibly evicted, had kicked in both front and back doors, splitting the door jambs which had not been fixed altho the doors had new locks. For the most part the house was clean altho there were crumbs inthe drawers, no towel rods in either bathroom... but this was the house. See? Clean. No piles of poop on the floor, no puddles of pee...

Ok. SO. Sept 9th OUR house was done and we were ready to move out. I called the Landlord for several days ahead of time--- we are leaving on the 9th we are going to be gone on the 9th if you want a walk-through we will be leaving the house on the 9th and we got no response. On the 9th the guys came and took the rented furniture. I swept and swiffered the laminate floors, I vacuumed the carpets. We had picked the backyard perfectly clean-- the dogs were back at the kennel, and we went over it and over it, getting every bit of poop.

While we were there, we had raccoons in the ceiling, mice in the cupboards which I trapped with old fashioned, kill'emnow traps. The sewer backed up and the pipe had to be replaced in the front yard  and when they laid sod, we watered it.
We trimmed the bushes, cut the grass, planted flowers, kept the yard picked up, bathed the dogs, threw sheets over the rented furniture (not the Landlord's) and kept the dogs downstairs.
Nobody puked in the house, nobody pooped on the floor, nobody peed on the walls.

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So Now the Landlord starts calling. It seems the "pet smell" from our "five dogs" was overhwhelming.
It is strange that the Insurance company people, the re-habbers, the movers, the guests we had never mentioned the overwhelming pet smell. (Nor have we been able to locate the mysterious 5th dog.)

Well anyway they never showed up for the walk through when I left. We called them maybe 5 times after that asking for a walk through and were never able to get one scheduled in fact at one point I was told "Oh we're not worried about YOU". This guy rents to Section 8. We were NOT section 8, our insurance people almost doubled his usual usurers rent.

Now they are saying that they cleaned the carpet twice to get rid of the "pet smell". This would be a living room and one bedroom where the dogs were allowed. Then because it was still there they cleaned again with a deodorant. (Yes, are you, too wondering why they didn't do that to begin with, if the smell was so bad? I have been wondering that myself.)
And then
AND THEN!! It was still soooooooooo bad, that they RIPPED OUT THE CARPETING and put in new and you know what it STILL STINKS IN THERE!!!!

Here are our dogs stinking up the rental house. See the urine and poop everywhere? See the mud on them? Disgraceful! Owners should be whipped.

So now, of course, the Landlord wants MORE MONEY. $2000 more. He tried to collect from the company that paid the rent for us while we were there, and they paid what they thought was reasonable, called us, and when I hit the ceiling they refused to pay him more.

He had his secretary call me. Oops. Maybe not a good thing, since I was already furious. Maybe his secretary got in three words or maybe not. I reminded them that we did not kick in the front and side doors and split the door jambs like the people before us, or put the dings in the metal door to the fridge. I reminded her that we took care of the lawn and the house and called about raccoons and trapped mice and had they checked to see if something dead was in the house (maybe that 5th dog). I told her we were better tennants than the last 10 people they rented to (I had this on good authority from the neighbors) and that I wasn't going to roll over and whine just because they were trying to rip us off. She said
"But you had that SICK dog"--- referring to Cooper, whose only problem is a missing limb and the fact that yes, he probably does have cancer crawling around his body someplace, but we haven't found it and besides today is his 11th Birthday.

When the call ended I told the secretary to tell Mr.__________ what I had said and also to tell him to "Take a hike". She laughed. She said she would.

There we are except now he is still trying to collect $2000. I am not even sure he replaced the carpet, because he declined all walk-throughs, even from the placement company. I asked them to pass the word that Mr._________'s office is not to contact me again or they would be contacting my lawyer.

This guy owns another house on that street with broken gutters and a guy who yells and screams and smacks his wife andkids around, who threw his wife through their window right after we moved into the rental. This is who he usually rents to. The neighbors we had all said they were glad to see us and sorry we left. I still talk with them. The house behind us had tennants evicted by the Village 3 times in a row. Not for non-payment: for criminal activity.


Sure wish I knew where that 5th dog was, though. I wonder if they counted the neighbor's beagle, Maddie.

                   Nigel at the rental house, looking for the 5th dog.

WARNING: BETTER BE A REAL DOG PERSON

Nigel went out in his cart again this morning.
We need to adjust the stirrups again, because in spite of our attempts, the tops of his back feet still hit the ground.

But what had me excited is that on his journey from out of our yard to the sidewalk, he paused by a tree in Roger's yard (One the dogs water regularly on walks) and.....a few tiny dribbles of urine appeared!!!!
This is the first and only indication I had had that he could, in fact, control his bladder. A few yards later, he did it again. This time I attempted to manually express his bladder and was marginally successful. This is very encouraging. It means once he is in the cart and upright I may not have to catheterize him as I have been, or at least, not as often. Altho I get very little out.

Nigel is not a very friendly Basset. He is an afraid junkie. He is afraid of everything. Last night he said hello to Roger but todayRoger has his truck on the lawn and three men helping him re-roof, and all the noise and changes in the usual scene really scared Nigel, so that I practically had to drag him past Roger's house.
He is also becoming chafed in the stifle, where his leg and body meet. And then his back feet still come in contact with the cement. These are, I trust, matters that can be fixed easily by Nigel's rather unhandy owners.

Nigel, comin at cha.

Nigel has figured out a couple of corners, but not all of them, and not the concept. That he has wheels that stick out further than his legs probably will never catch on with him. As far as he is concerned, it is simply magic. Somehow, this thing we make him wear goes with him when he takes off. Without it,  he is a seal. With it, he is Hermes, Unbound.

Well perhaps not quite. But he is getting it, and I am learning how to get him into the cart and out, by myself. Getting him out is harder than getting him in. His legs stick at the hock and I have to support his rear and use two hands to extricate him.
If this sounds like a complaint, it is not. We are so very pleased we can hardly stand it. Shortly, we will accept this for what it is, and go back to discussing other dogs, other topics of broader interest. Maybe.

OK: For sure

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Well it seems as if it's really been a long haul, from the day that Nigel went down in the rear until today.
It hasn't been, actually, that long.
However in the time that has passed I have gotten good at certain aspects of dog care that I never thought I would be doing-- in fact things I said I would NEVER do: not that it was unpleasant but I thought any dog that needed those particular things to survive had no quality of life.
And also here is Nigel, hauling his pretty useless rear end around like a seal-- another thing I said I would NEVER tolerate....here we are, doing those things and watching that rear end slide across the floor....

The moral of course is, never say never at least where your dogs and family are concerned.

Yesterday was the first day that Nigel was willing to share my bed with EVERYONE. Conley was actually on it first, then Nigel, and then Llewis crept up. Yesterday I think Nigel felt the best he has, and I backed off on the Tramadol. He woke up this morning surly and snarky and I think I let him do too much sliding around the house, and I did put him back on Tramadol for the day.
He has never been the Happy Happy Basset in the house and is perfectly willing to show his displeasure to the other dogs especially.

And then today, it happened:

His Wheels Arrived!!!!
Eddies Wheels sent their amazing wheels. I am stunned at how lightweight they are and what a feat of engineering. I am not a techie but even I can see the care and precision that went into making this device.
I know in this photo Nigel looks very unhappy. He had been in the cart about  three minutes. His next move was to try to get up on the couch wearing the cart.

We took him out in back into the yard, but the others were so freaked and excited about the cart that I believe it frightened Nigel just a bit. He surely knows he cannot move quickly and feels very vulnerable with the others. So when they went in, I opened the gate, and when he saw the gate open, Nigel took off.
He hit the sidewalk at warp speed and his tail wagging a mile a minute. I CAN MOVE I CAN MOVELOOKOUT!!
Unfortunately I was unable to let him go very far. Partly because he has not had any exercise for several weeks, and partly because about 300 LITTLE kids were about to descend on him. He is not a fan of children. These are little kids-- 4, 5 yrs old. They tend to grab. I had very bad visions of Nigel feeling trapped........

So we turned around and came home, but he seemed very pleased. Tomorrow I will try to get some photos of him looking happier. Eddies Wheels wants one for their calendar!

Thanks again to all the wonderful people who have supported, encouraged, advised, laughed and cried with us on this unexpected and enlightening journey.

ALMOST LIKE IT USED TO BE

Yesterday evening I was getting ready to get Nigel out of his pen to do one last urinary catheter before bedtime. I was holding his rear up with a towel, and Llewis came into the room. Nigel knew he was leaving the pen, and HE WAGGED HIS TAIL!! All the work  and doubts I have had vanished at that instant. He had not wagged his tail-- or been able to-- since he went down in the rear. It was one of the things that made me the saddest, that he could no longer wag his tail, and there it was-- the tail wagged.
Yesterday I put him on my bed.
He has been there before but the other dogs stay far away.
Yesterday his brother, Llewis, slowly and cautiously climbed the 3 little steps to the bed and, one eye cocked on his explosive brother, proceeded to curl up at the foot of the bed.
Nigel said nothing. Llewis inched closer. Nigel did not even lift his head. And then, they were sleeping together, as they used to do.

Altho I cannot leave them alone on the bed for more than a moment or two (I shove my office chair next to the bed to keep Nigel from fumbling off the side)
it is nice to see them together.
Nigel's burning desire is to be whereever we are, which means in the living room as well as out here, but he cannot negotiate the step into the house and when he drags himself he tends to try to go under the table and gets hung up in the chairs.
His neck is healing nicely from the lumpectomy. I believe the drain comes out Monday.

You can just see the incision below the white partial collar on Nigel, on the left.
(I have to get a new tablecloth for the holidays. They are laying on the only one I have, which I love. But in the crazy days right after the move home I could not find half the sheets and blankets, and so.....)

This is Nigel's usual home. It is 4x4 feet and there are two dog beds under the quilt along with a waterproof covering, just in case. Since he seems unable to urinate on his own, I don't worry about it too much. Because of his apparent gastric health and the food I feed him, his stools are simply a pick-up. We are anxious for the cart to arrive but he could not use it yet anyway, with the incision on his neck, which needs another week or 10 days to heal.

This is the large version of his Illinois DL, sent by Jackie Chazey: There is a smaller one for him to carry in his pocket when he finally gets the cart and gets going.
Many thanks again to the Drool community which has supported and encouraged us and Nigel in every possible way.

THIS WAS MY HORSE

This was my horse. His name was Buddy. He was sorrel and had a scraggly flaxen mane and tail. He had the biggest nostrils I have ever seen. He was probably a quarter horse. He was a kid's horse. He was bomb-proof. When I got him he was 8 yrs old. He had been a kid's horse then, too. There wasn't much we could think of, our little gang of riders, that he had not been through already.
There wasn't a mean bone in his big body. He could do rotten things, like step on your sneakered foot and then turn without picking up his shod hoof. He could easily brush two giggling girls off his back by suddenly going under a limb.
He thought nothing of going the other way when he saw me come over the horizon with a halter.

I loved it when he breathed in my face. His breath was sweet smelling. On rainy days I would go out to the barn and lay on his back in the stall and read, and listen to the rain on the roof.
Once coming down an asphalt road in the rain he slipped and went to his knees. I jumped off, thinking he might go clear down, but he stopped, struggled to his feet and glared at me as if he were insulted that I thought he might actually fall with me on his back.

      That's all. I just wanted to introduce you. He was a good and loyal friend.
                           I just thought you should know each other.



FORMER NEIGHBORS/ DOG WHEELS

Went to a meeting yesterday for the "Neighborhood Watch" group. Of course it was actually for a different neighborhood--the one I just left, 2 blocks away. It seems the house all the neighbors are worried about (with complete justification, I might add) were entertained the night before last by a "Drive-by". The police refuse to add "Shooting" to it, even though shots were fired, because no one was hit. I don't know if that is a Cop distinction or a legal one.

There is another house further down on another street that has been complained about. The Cops park their cars-- not plainsclothes cars but their own or something that is even more non-descript--about a block away and watch the house on a fairly daily basis. I spotted them immediately: who sits in a car for a couple of hours watching some guys play basketball a block away? When you drive by on your way to errands and he's sitting there, well ok, but when you come back three hours later and he is still sitting there? Well at least they're trying.
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And Nigel.
Here we are with Llewis with his rogue leg, Cooper with only three, and now Nigel who, basically, has only two.
He has some pain.
He doesn't pee on his own.
He knows when he is pooping but cannot control when it happens.

We built him a 4x4 foot pen (ex-pen) and took down two crates which has caused great consternation among the crateless (Llewis). Nigel is learning to help up in the front by sitting and then when we ask if he is ready, he starts forward. I think the towel we were using to lift his rear was hurting him as he is much less snarky without it.

The belly band is off for now and this was taken whe he was still living in a crate. He has a kind of dazed look frequently, and I don't know if it is the Tramadol or his situation. He does not seem to enjoy being outside. We move him around, into the living room and so on. Since he isn't dribbling pee the incontinence is not a problem. I used to be able to diaper children but I am teling you, the real experts can do a Basset. I cannot.

Again this was before the pen was set up and we were discovering how badly he wanted to lay stretched out (or on his side) but could not in the crate.
It is a very different experience for us and I am anxious to get  his cart but also uncertain: he is such a wuss about new things.
I tell people about the cart and I can see in their eyes the image they are contructing, and I tell them "No matter what you are thinking it looks like, it doesn't. I have actually seen them used but I never thought to examine one. This company, Eddies Wheels, even makes carts for quadraplegic dogs. I cannot imagine how it works but apparently it does.

                                             Nigel says

I SHALL RETURN

THE JOY OF DOGS

It is one a.m.
About  two hours ago I decided to go to bed.

This is the bed I decided to go to sleep in.

It doesn't look like much in the photo, but trust me, when you are tired it is  a wonderful place to be. A safe haven. Warm. A cocoony kind of place.

It is also

Unfortunately

Next to the dog crates.

When the dogs are in their crates. When they are not, my bed is fair game , especially for Cooper.

This is what the bed looks like with Cooper on it. You will note, perhaps, that there is no tired and worn person in this bed. I may have mentioned that it is a TWIN bed made, I suspect for conjoined twins, at that.

You may notice a lack of space for humanoid forms.

Machts Nicht!!

Remember I said the bed was next to the dog crates.

Llewis is in the other room, quite content. Conley, bless his piratical little heart, is asleep in his crate, by choice.

Cooper has my bed.

Nigel woke up about two hours ago an decided he had had just about enough crate time to last forever and he by god wanted out.

This would be great if he could walk and were not incontinent.

He is not sure what position he wants to be in or which direction he wants to face.I flip him around and he snarls. I hope he didn't mean it because I ignored it.

Howver, I still have nowhere to sleep.

Sweet dreams, everyone else.