Everything was going swimmingly until now!

I live in an apartment, and I have mentioned this several times. My apartment complex does allow pets, which is one of the reasons why I chose to live here. On my move in day, I did not bring my dog with me. I came down to get the papers signed, pay me fees, and have my stuff moved into my apartment. I am not a big girl, I am not buff, I have puny arms, and heavy lifting is not something I am capable of, so my dad came down to help move my furniture in for me. I needed to drive him back home, it’s only a three hour drive, and get some more of my stuff, I have a bunch of stuff and didn’t start packing early enough to get it all loaded into my car and the U-HAUL. So when signing all my lease papers and paying the fees, I was asked if I had a pet. I told them that I do have a dog, but he wasn’t with me moving in at the time. I explained that he has spent the past year living with two others dogs, and I didn’t know how he would handle and adjust to it being just him and myself. I told them that I was going to take things slowly with him, and that I wasn’t sure if he would be okay living here without canine company. I was actually worried about this. He is my surrogate child, I love this little dog, and spoil him rotten (Bowled over, and over bowls). I was terrified that he would be miserable here without the other dogs and that I would have to let him live with the other dogs. The separation from him would be awful! I bring him everywhere with me, and we have practically been inseparable from the day I brought him home.

The apartment people were understanding about all this, and didn’t ask that I pay the nonrefundable pet fee, since he may not be a permanent resident. So my stuff got moved in, and I drove Dad back home to pack up the rest of my stuff and to get my little boy. The next day, with my car packed and my baby strapped into his car seat, we headed to our new home. I spent that weekend unpacking, and getting things into their proper places. I made sure to take my dog on plenty of long walks, so he could get to know the area, and to pay attention to him while I was unpacking. We stayed the weekend here, and since I was in a new state and city, I didn’t know anyone here. I had unpacked everything, I didn’t realize that you have to set up appointments with the cable company at least a week previous to getting them to come out, and classes weren’t set to start for about two more weeks. I decided that I would go back home and spend one more week there. I come back, puppy in tow, and we start our lives down here. He has taken some time to adjust, but I think he is pretty happy here. Aside from a few odd, newly developed personality quirks (he is slowly becoming more human-like everyday) he has adjusted to life here very well. Today I get a letter on my door notifying me that tomorrow and the day after they will be conducting a sprinkler system inspection, and will be in and out of apartments in during these days. Well, I have ***SHOCKER*** forgotten, conveniently forgotten  to pay the pet fee.

I know that I am supposed to and all that, but really?! People don’t have to pay kid fees, and my dog has not made any messes in the apartment. His feet are wiped before he is allowed on the carpet, he doesn’t go potty in the apartment, I vacuum weekly, he weighs like 15 pounds and rarely barks so he doesn’t annoy the neighbors, I pick up and dispose of his droppings. In all honesty, I have been worse and made way more messes in this apartment. I have knocked over more than one glass of red wine on the carpet, I apply my makeup while sitting in front of a mirror and spilled black powder shadow on the carpet, and tracked mud through the apartment- this is all just off the top on my head. Tell me a kid that makes less mess than my little dog? It’s not like I got a puppy and am house training it, nor am I trying to cloister a way too big dog in a way too small space. My dog is a mix between two dogs that are bred to be a lap dog and sit all day, and that is pretty much what he does. He doesn’t like to go on very long walks, he get tired and sits down to rest. Truth be told, he rarely is even on the carpet or anything. He is usually on the couch, chair, or on my bed. I know that the actual cost of pet deposit really isn’t a big deal and all, but at the same time the holidays are coming up, and as a student, I am living on a fixed income. Also, I think it is stupid. That is what I paid that big ass move in deposit for, to fix shit that gets messed up while I am living here. Just another way to scam money from me, and I refuse to be a lemming and fall for it! Plus, I spent entirely too much money last month, and the last thing I want to do is fork over anymore. So I am going to have to find a doggy day care and stash away his plethora of stuff or try to figure out what time they will be coming by so I can conveniently have him out for a little bit. Not to mention that I really don’t like the idea of having strangers in my place while I am not here, but that’s a totally different topic all together.