Dog Days Are Over

Aldrin's Dog: Adobo (Bo)

"Dear immature neighbors downstairs,

Karma is a bitch.

Just remember who is on top.

Love, the mature neighbors upstairs."

Upon my return from winter break, my boyfriend was informed that he would be leaving for Iraq. He had to pack up all of this possessions, place it in storage, and a bunch of other stuff within a week and a half and leave for training. Since he didn't have enough time to drive Bo (our dog) to Florida, I kept him at my apartment complex in hopes of finding a place for him near me so I can still keep an eye on him and make sure he's okay. Things were fine for a while, but as soon as my downstairs neighbors found out that we had a dog, they started to harass us.

1. Wednesday approx 10:30pm. The girl from downstairs banged on our door really loud. Bo Barked and we sent him to his crate. The girl left a message stating "Shut your fucking dog up. You're not even supposed to have them assholes".
   
2. The next Wednesday approx 10:15pm. Me and my roommates were all doing hw and Bo was on the floor chewing a toy. The neighbors downstairs banged on their roof because we were apparently being loud.
3. The next Thursday after that (my birthday). People came over and we were just having a good time. A guy from downstairs came to our apartment and said for us to stop jumping. We were at the table.
4. The next day (Wednesday). There was no school due to a snowstorm. My roommates and I rearranged our rooms and watched a movie before going to bed at 12. At 2am, someone was banging on our door loudly and of course we all woke up scared. Bo barked. The next day i noticed our doormat was missing. They threw it in the snow. Real mature.

After incident No.1, my roommate Chris & I went downstairs and apologized. I told her what the scenario was and that the dog would not be with us for a long time. She looked like she understood and we thought we were fine.
After incident No.2, we thought maybe it was something else and that we just were assuming they were mad at us or something.
After incident No.3, I was pretty pissed because it was my birthday and they were telling me to be quiet at my own birthday party?! First of all, they have loud partied too sometimes, but I never minded it. Also, this was when I realized that they were just using Bo as an excuse to make us be quiet all the time... sort of like "be quiet or else we will tell".
When incident No.4 happened, we knew for sure that they were immature. Here we were trying to be considerate and walk with lighter steps and keep Bo from getting excited. I would take him to the dog park so that he would get tired and just sleep or chew on his toys at the apartment. Chris, Vida, & I went downstairs to confront them and we even went down there to try to talk to them and ask them what their problem was. Haha Chris even brought down a pen and paper to try and come up with rules or something. When she answered the door, she denied taking our doormat and throwing it in the snow. I really hate liars.

Last night, I came home, collected the mail from the mailbox and went to my room. I opened a letter from Berrytree and it stated that it has come to their attention that we have a dog and that we violated the lease, therefore we will be evicted and that we need to find a different apartment. Also, they said that we have to pay $200.00 plus $25.00 per day that he was in this apartment. As i read and re-read the letter, my hands shook and I was terrified. Just thinking about leaving this apartment, having to find another apartment, paying for all the things accumulating in my head... It was just too much. It didn't help either that my boyfriend was about to board his flight to Iraq in less than 5 hours. I called him and basically had a severe breakdown. What should I do?!

The next day, eyes all puffy and my face looking all crazy, I managed to put on enough make-up to conceal all the craziness on my face and Chris and I went to go talk to the manager, Carol. She was nice about the whole ordeal. I told her about my boyfriend leaving (ugh and sadly i was an emotional wreck) and then i went on to tell her about how Bo was with us for a few weeks but he is currently with a caretaker now. She told me that Berrytree was in the process of allowing pets (starting August) and she was going to look into it and see if I could have that capability earlier. That was a relief! She also went on to say that she would not have known without people complaining. She said that 3 different people complained of barking. Bo never barks! He only barked those two times when people were banging on our door! She also said something that shocked me. She said that the people undearneath us complained of urine coming from our patio onto their patio! LIES! LIES! LIES! They must have heard me trying to train Bo to pee on the pee pad that I had bought but he would not pee on it at all! He would just look at me with his "im not sure what you're talking about" face. LOL the girl LIED! The only places Bo ever went to the bathroom would have been across the street or over the railroad tracks. He never peed on the patio! OMG I went all crazy after that.
Anways, she had the fees waived and said we don't have to pay anything and she was going to look into getting me permission to keep Bo at the apartment. Also, she was going to look into our harassment complaints. I've been doing some payback too. All day, I've been stomping around.
Things are still looking up. I'll keep you all posted as to what happens to the downstairs neighbors and what will happen to Bo.

Here's a little video to end on a happy note. The dog days are really over! :)

Florence and the Machine "DOG DAYS ARE OVER" Music Video from LEGS MEDIA on Vimeo.