New Yorkers will tell you
that passing a co-op board interview can be as tough as getting into Harvard.
But it may be rougher still for Rover.
In addition to answering
endless questions about your finances, what you do and who you may or may not
know, many co-op boards now require dog interviews in hopes of avoiding
distressing problems down the line. Those problems might include dogs that bark
all day, frighten neighbors and other pets with aggressive behavior, or even
bite.
How should you prepare your dog for a co-op board
interview? Some owners rely on simple approaches like making sure their pets
are well fed or tired from a long walk beforehand. The process has led some to
take more drastic measures, though, including DNA testing to prove a dog’s
pedigree, Xanax or therapy to keep a dog calm, photo shoots to show its best
side, letters of recommendation and, increasingly, certificates of good behavior.
The pet industry, naturally, has responded to the need with special boot camps
and programs that will declare your dog a model citizen.
The American Kennel Club
offers one such certificate for graduates of their Canine Good Citizen program. About
1,300 dogs across the country graduated from the program in 1989, when the
kennel club began offering it, according to Dr. Mary Burch, the program
director. Last year there were 65,000 graduates.
Certifying your dog’s
good behavior isn’t just a New York experience, Dr. Burch said; “the
legislatures of 42 states have passed resolutions endorsing the program.” More
co-ops, condos and rentals across the country, she added, “like a vacation
rental agency in North Carolina and a condo in Oregon, ask for this more
frequently.”
New York City has 75 approved American Kennel Club
instructors and evaluators who conduct approximately 2,500 tests a year, Dr.
Burch said. Instinct Dog Behavior
& Training, in East Harlem, is one, founded in 2009 by Brian Burton and his
wife, Sarah Fraser, both certified dog behavior consultants and professional
dog trainers. They work regularly with dogs whose owners are seeking
certificates to help pass apartment interviews.
The couple have also been
asked to write letters of recommendations for dogs they have trained. When
Instinct opened, Mr. Burton said, he would see “a handful a year” of people
getting their dogs ready for interviews. Those clients have since tripled.
It’s not just New York,
or eventhe United States, that is scrutinizing dogs as a part of resident
evaluation. Melissa Ayre and her husband, Eric Welles, encountered screening
for their dachshund-hound mix, Mr. Milo, when they moved to Sydney, Australia,
late last year.
First there was a
quarantine to deal with, then approval from “the strata,” the board of the
rental building’s management company. “We worked with a relocation specialist
who warned us that strata are notoriously unforgiving when it comes to renting
with animals in an apartment,” Ms. Ayre said. “The strata doesn’t meet with the
animal personally; they look over the dog’s résumé and letter of recommendation
and approve or deny from there.”
Before moving, the couple
enrolled Mr. Milo in classes at Instinct. “Sarah wrote a glowing letter of
recommendation and luckily, Mr. Milo was approved almost immediately,” Ms. Ayre
said. He now spends his days happily bounding along Bondi Beach.
The Canine Good Citizen
program teaches a dog how to master 10 skills, from sitting when asked to
playing well with others. “The dogs pass in usually three or four sessions,”
Mr. Burton said. One-hour private lessons cost $175, but Instinct also offers
group “training camps.”
Some pet owners take the
quick and easy route to get their dogs interview-ready. “They sedate them,”
said Darryl Vernon of Vernon & Ginsberg, a lawyer in Manhattan who has
represented several owners and tenants in pet issue cases.
Others resort to
exhaustion. A broker of high-end rentals and sales in NYC, had a client who had
to go before a co-op board that had a weight restriction on animals. The client
was concerned that her dog might be too heavy and too energetic to pass. “She
was nervous so we strategized,” The broker said said. “She ended up taking the
dog for a two-hour run right before the interview.” It worked: “The dog fell
asleep and it lost a few ounces.” Pass!
Some New York buildings
are strictly pet-free, while others impose weight restrictions or prohibit
certain breeds: Dogs, of course, are not a protected class. “A board can reject
a dog because they don’t like it,” “or the building has too many dogs already
or you’re moving into an apartment next to someone who doesn’t like
dogs.” Rentals, too, have the right to know what dog they are allowing in
“When a building rents it does not only a credit check but a
criminal-background check, to know that people coming into the building aren’t
convicted felons,” “You’re bringing someone into the building who will not
cause a problem.” Same with their dog.
Breeds that are often
banned from buildings include chow chows, Doberman pinschers, pit bulls and
Rottweilers, Dr. Burch said. These are the same breeds that can be difficult to
insure, and are often reported by insurance companies, she added, “as ones that
when there has been an incident such as a bite, someone was hurt and the claims
were costly.”
But Dr. Burch offered a
solution: “Some of the country’s biggest insurance companies, such as Allstate,
Liberty Mutual and the Hartford, will insure breeds of dogs they wouldn’t
otherwise if the dog has Canine Good Citizen training.”
Breed might have been a
problem for Hudson, the dog that Sean McNeal and his wife, Melissa, adopted
from a city shelter. “He was on the list to be euthanized,” Mr. McNeal said.
The couple was hoping to rent an apartment on the Upper West Side that limited
dogs to 60 pounds, which happened to be Hudson’s weight, and that also assessed
pet behavior.
The McNeals enrolled
Hudson in Instinct to teach him some manners. And they went the extra yard. The
shelter had told them that Hudson was a German shepherd and pit bull mix, which
the McNeals were afraid would quash their chances. “I knew we had to do
something,” Mr. McNeal said. On the hunch that the shelter had gotten Hudson’s
breed wrong, he had the dog DNA-tested. The result: “Hudson is a mastiff-Akita,”
Mr. McNeal said.
When the McNeals had the
testing done four years ago, their veterinarian sent a blood sample to a
genetic testing lab, which charged the McNeals $150. Online businesses like Wisdom Panel sell kits, starting at less than $100,
that involve swabbing a dog’s cheeks for cells and mailing the sample in for
testing.
“Co-op boards can deny a
pet for any reason, but not the wrong reason,” said Steve D. Sladkus, a
founding partner of the law firm Schwartz Sladkus Reich Greenberg Atlas who
specializes in real estate issues. “One of the wrong reasons is disability
discrimination. If I need a pet because of a physical or emotional disability,
like depression, and I’m rejected, the board could be faced with a
discrimination suit.”
But the disability ruling
can be abused. “Some people try to skirt the issue by citing disability
depression,” Mr. Sladkus said. “People are increasingly making requests, some
bona fide, some not.” Those citing disability need to provide a letter from
their doctor, stating that an emotional support pet has been prescribed.
One co-op building, 1150
Fifth Avenue, has a dedicated dog interviewer, Hilary Adams Zwicky, who is
affectionately known in the building as “the dog whisperer.” “I was asked to do
it because I was the only one on the board who had dogs,” she said. “And I love
dogs, all dogs,” including the two Shih Tzus, Poppy and Lucy, she shares with
her husband, Henry.
Ms. Zwicky’s interview
process is friendly. “I’ll have them over for cocktails,” she said, referring
to the owners. The dog is invited, too. “Sometimes I introduce the dog to the
girls, my little helpers, to see how they get along.” If the dogs sniff one
another, things are going well. “I’ll touch the dog, to see how it reacts to a
stranger. I’ll ask if it’s had its proper shots, if it’s been spayed.”
So far, in the five or so
years she has been screening pets, she has interviewed about 10 dogs and not
rejected one, although she has recommended that some “attend boot camp to calm
down energetic behavior. But I’ve never had a problem; they’re all nice dogs.”
“Hilary believes that
nice families have nice dogs,” said Lisa Macris, a resident of the building.
She and her husband were living in Connecticut when they applied to buy an apartment
at 1150 Fifth Avenue, and Keeler, their papillon, stayed home during the board
interview.
But Ms. Zwicky grilled
Ms. Macris about Keeler. “Hilary talked with me about our dog, a lot,” she
recalled. “We talked more about our dog than about our kids.” All went well. “I
showed her pictures,” Ms. Macris added. “And I might have mentioned that Keeler
came from the same breeder whose papillon had won Best in Show at Westminster.”
Source: The New York
Times
