Condo resident bucks rules for love of pet

Article Courtesy of The Palm Beach Post

By Emily Minor

Published January 15, 2007 

Even in the wacky world of homeowners associations and condo living, some things are a slam-dunk.

Residents get one parking space.

There's a shower at the community pool. Otherwise, how could residents - and their one registered guest - take the obligatory rinse-off before swimming?

And you can't tell a blind man to get rid of his companion dog.

After that, it's pretty much a free-for-all.

Florence Badami, 77, is aware of these kinds of rules. She's one of those shake-your-head stories - a woman who lives in a development and has a dog, even though it's against the rules.

And a yappy dog at that.

"She's just doing her job," she said, without one ounce of guilt.

When Badami first moved into Stanford development in Royal Palm Beach, she and her husband, Philip, had one dog, a Shih Tzu named Puppy. And that was OK. The rules said they could.

But within a few short years, the HOA changed the rules, grandfathering in the residents with pets.

"People were not picking up after their dogs," Badami said Monday. "I used to walk my Puppy, but I always carried a bag."

Others, apparently, were not so kind.

Puppy could stay, but any new, incoming dogs and cats were banned.

This went on for 10 years or so until 2005, when there were two dramatic changes in Badami's life.

Her husband died in May of that year. Puppy died a month later.

"When I took her to the vet, there wasn't much they could do," she said about the dog they'd had since 1989.

"She was old, and that was that."

Except it wasn't.

"I was in very bad shape," said Badami, who sought advice from her doctor.

And guess what? The good doctor told her to get another dog. She needed it, he said - the companionship, the feeling of security.

"I told him I wasn't allowed, and he said, 'Go get it.' "

And then he wrote her a note.

Two years later, she's fighting with her HOA. As of early December, she'd racked up $900 in fines.

"I'm not paying it," she said. "I'll go to court and fight."

By everyday statistics, 63 percent of American households have at least one household pet, and it's not always because the kids want a dog. More and more, household pets, particularly dogs, are brought into the home to perform a specific duty.

Today dogs sniff out low blood sugar in diabetics, predict epileptic seizures and help paraplegics live independently.

And by most accounts, the animals also help ease depression and loneliness.

Florida bill attracts backers

Maida Genser, who lives in Tamarac, turned from retiree to activist after she was told to get rid of her two cats.

"It seems to me that the worst discrimination against pet owners is in the senior complexes," said Genser, who started Citizens for Pets in Condos in mid-2006. The nonprofit is online at www.petsincondos.org.

Last year - and now this year, again - she's working with Florida legislators to change the laws here.

California, of course, is ahead of us on this. In 2001, California lawmakers passed a law allowing "anyone who lives in association housing to have at least one companion animal."

In Florida, state Rep. Peter Nehr, R-Tarpon Springs, and state Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville, are sponsoring the 2008 bill.

Meanwhile, Badami's Shih Tzu, Sushi, keeps her company.

"She comes up and sleeps with me at night,' said Badami, who doesn't drive and says most of her friends have moved. "She's my little girl.

"She's my whole world now because I'm all alone."

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