Article Courtesy of the St. Petersburg Times

By CHANDRA BROADWATER
Posted September 25, 2006

Even though she lost her case, Dee Bordonaro isn't giving up.

The 62-year-old resident of the Greens at the Heather found out last month that the Weeki Wachee condo association won a battle to keep Bordonaro's 5-pound toy Shih Tzu and service dog, Chloe, from living with her there.

But Bordonaro has since caught the attention of a state disabled rights group that is determining whether it will help her launch a legal fight to set a precedent for others in her situation.

"I won't give up," Bordonaro said, sighing, in her kitchen at the condo. "Then that would mean all of this would be for nothing."

In some ways, it would be easier just to forget about it all. Bordonaro and her husband, Joe, 64, are moving out of the Heather in October. After a long, complicated search, the couple finally found a home to rent within their budget.

Chloe, a white ball of fluff that Bordonaro likes to adorn with pink bows and doggie dresses, will be allowed there.

But deep in her heart, Bordonaro thinks the ruling from the Florida Commission on Human Relations isn't right. Even though commissioners agreed that she fit the criteria for someone in need of a service dog, they ruled that the Heather did not discriminate against her by keeping Chloe in exile.

Because no one else was allowed to have a dog after the condo association made its no-pet policy in 2004, and because Bordonaro got her dog after that, she was not treated unfairly, the commission stated.

Neither the condo association president nor the group's attorney returned phone calls to discuss the ruling.

Bordonaro shakes her head in disbelief when she thinks about the reasoning behind it.

"I still can't believe it," she said. "I can't believe I lost."

The whole thing started in September 2005 when three doctors advised Bordonaro to get a pet. A neurologist, an internist and a therapist each said an animal companion would help take her mind off her health problems. Along with multiple sclerosis, she has depression and diabetes.

So Bordonaro bought Chloe.

Within weeks, the dog lifted her spirits. She stopped taking Xanax - she had taken four a day on top of the Prozac that she takes for depression. Her debilitating MS attacks didn't happen as frequently.

Bordonaro liked to watch Chloe run around outside in the yard. The tiny licking machine always greeted others passing by.

But when faced with eviction from the condo, Bordonaro started visiting Chloe at the home of her daughter, Chris LaRocca, in Spring Hill. Or LaRocca would bring the dog to her mother when she was too sick to leave home.

The three still visit sometimes in the condo parking lot.

Along with the stress of trying to bring the dog home, the Bordonaros have faced other problems. They were supposed to move into their new, handicapped-accessible home for Dee this month.

Then the financial problems of Coral Bay Construction Co. surfaced. The home was never built. The couple now pray that they will be able resell the lot they bought in the Royal Highlands area.

But they are happy to have their new home. And slowly, life is becoming a bit less stressful as the days pass.

Working with the Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities gives Bordonaro hope. As the Tallahassee group sizes up the merits of her complaints, she hopes to make a legal mark in the new world of service dogs.

Because they have only recently become more prevalent in the state, not many homeowners or condominium associations have policies to accommodate service pets.

In Bordonaro's case, the Heather thought her choice of a companion pet was "unreasonable," attorney Paul Nessler Jr. wrote to the human relations commission, "when a bird or fish could satisfy her physician's medical recommendations while keeping in compliance."

That one makes Bordonaro roll her eyes. So does packing for the move. But she's more than relieved for the new start - especially with Chloe in tow.

"I believe we're going to feel so much better," she said. "Just getting out of here will make me happy. There's too much aggravation in these walls."