Dogs and stairs

[Ash]

Is it bad for dogs to walk stairs?

One of our neighbours two flights down is raging a silent war against the dogs in the building - our two and two others. He says the pee in the lift (ours didn't, I think the other neighbour's pup did), so he cleaned the lift with a horrible smelling chemical and then put a sign "NO DOGS IN THE LIFT - BY ORDER". We talked to him but he wasn't ready to talk, he just stuck with his line, that dogs should not go in the lift. No use complaining to the manager here, he's against dogs too, he won't be of help.

Anyway, what this neighbour now does is, when he sees me going out with them at night, he brings the lift up to his floor and leaves the door open. So when I come back I have to walk up two flights with the dogs. I have seen him twice rushing out to close the lift door to cover his tracks (his door is right opposite the lift) just before I came round the corner - or so he thought. He had probably waited at the window to see me coming back and then misjudged the time I took to get up to his floor ... so I saw him and I know he does this.

Lassie had a broken leg when he was little and he limps. And Shida is 12. Is it alright if I walk up with them?

I don't know what to do about this guy. I don't want to start a major fight as I have heard more than once about Indians not feeling shy to poison pet dogs if they don't like them ...

[davet]

i sure as heck don;t have answer for a neighbor like that but at the hospital where i work onten if we are taking a streacher patient out we hit the little red button and once in a while forget to unhit it...i am sure you could do that too and leave the elivator on your floor but that would just aggrevate the situation....i guess consultation without confrontation is the only answer but some people are stubborn...good luck

[E's]

If your ugly neighbor resides two floors down from your apartment, and stops the elevator so that you have to climb stairs to his floor... that makes at least three flights of stairs.. or more? I've lived in highrise apartments myself, but not when I had dogs - frankly, I've never understood how people manage this, even with a working elevator. What size are your dogs, and what are their ages and types? My large, agile dog has been going up and down a standard flight of stairs several times daily (more often when she was younger) since she was 2 years old. When she was 5, one vet (not her regular vet) wanted me to begin keeping her off the stairs, but that is impossible to do: my study and the computer are up here, which means my work (such as that is these days) is here, I spend a lot of time here and Win is a companion dog... we adjust, especially since my failed knee surgery... both of us climb and descend more slowly and carefully... but 3 or 4 flights even twice a day? You may try gradually to get your dogs in better general condition. If one or both are small enough, you could take them down one at a time and carry each part of the way back up...

But my only realistic suggestion is that you and your husband and your dog-owning neighbors find a civil way to negotiate. Try ignoring the ugly man's peevish actions. Speak to him pleasantly, even take him a pie or a potted plant after while - and just continue using the elevator often. If it can be arranged, one of you stay upstairs and bring the car back up to your own floor, then the one walking the dogs signals by cell phone or whatever to close the door and allow the car to come back down... No confrontations: Always polite, always jolly, always enjoying the moment calmly and appearing sure of yourselves. "Oh hello, Mr. ----! How are you today?" Or even, if he has blatantly thwarted your use of the elevator, smile as you pass him and make a pleasant remark about how well the puppies do when they have more exercise...

I have no idea how "things" work over there, but here, if I had a lease or other proveable permission/understanding re keeping pets in my quarters, and I obeyed the rules of this understanding, and someone harassed me or interfered with these rights, I'd have them talking to police and/or being reported to my city's housing authority - or maybe even taken to court if they persisted... But that's these days; my position NOW. Truly, I do remember what it is like not to have such rights. And even now we have a psycho who owns a four-plex behind our property, who hates Winnie (the dog never did anything to this woman but as I say, the woman is a nut) and both Winnie's vet and police cautioned me to "check the perameters [sp?]" in my yard when Win is out there... So I do know how you feel on that score. But IMO you cannot let fear intimidate you: fight back, not with force or spite, but with quiet, subtle planning.... I wish I could be of more help.

[Ash]

Thank you E's, for your input.

We live on the 4th floor, the guy on the second. So I have to walk up with them two flights of stairs. He doesn't do it in the daytime, only at night, probably so noone sees him. So, for the dogs that means once a day two flights of stairs. I remember reading somehwere that 'dogs shouldn't walk stairs' but can't remember why. Just wondering if it's really bad for them? Mine are 9 and 12 years old. Shida is a little too fat, so maybe the additional exercise is actually good for her?

Carrying them, no way, they are 20 and 25 kilo, and I have a back problem. Getting my husband to keep the elevator up while I'm out and then send it down when I come back is also not feasable since I go out with them late when he goes to bed already (our rythms are very different).

I also don't think that talking to the neighbour again will help, he seemed so stubborn the last time. I have never talked to this man before.

Nothing in our lease about pets either. My landlord allowed us moving in with them but there is nothing written down. The manager of the building informed me that it is not accepted if they do no. 2 anywhere in the compound, and that's okay. We go far with them, they don't make a mess here. Although it bugged me when he said that to me, because he said it with lots of threats inlcuded (otherwise they have to go etc etc), when on the other hand rubbish is lying and flying around everywhere, cracks in building walls are not repaired, people spit their pan (this red stuff Indians often chew) everywhere on the stairs ... THAT is all okay apparently Nobody bothers.

Many Indians just don't like dogs, especially Muslims (the manager is one).