Citizens for Pets in Condos

"creating a win-win situation for both people and pets"

Citizens for Pets in Condos, Inc.* educates the public on the health benefits of animal companionship and about responsible pet ownership in order to increase acceptance of companion animals in common interest ownership communities. We believe that association rules should concentrate on irresponsible pet owners, allowing a win-win situation for responsible animal guardians and
animals who would otherwise be needlessly euthanized.

*a 501-c3 tax exempt corporation.
Read more about the organization.

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"It's truly disheartening that so many pets are turned into shelters all over the country simply because their owner's living arrangment does not allow them. The pet population is completely out of control and so many loving companions are euthanized because there is not enough space in the shelters. Many more pets would have a chance at life, and many more peoples' lives would improve--if only more housing areas allowed animal companions." (comment on
OUR online petition)

Click here to read the draft version of the Emotional Support Animal bill.

Click here to read what happened this year, what we suggest as next steps...

Do you need to find a place NOW where you can keep your companion animal(s)?

Go to our housing help page.

Give a talk for Citizens for Pets in Condos:

View/download a presentation on the Health Benefits of Companion Animals. (download PowerPoint Viewer from HERE if you don't have it)

PLEASE DONATE
or
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Quick Links:
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Emotional Support
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Florida legislators
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Links to other animal
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Trusts Act
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vclick here daily to "feed
an animal in need" for free
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Jennifer Santiago, award-winning reporter and anchor at CBS4/MY33 in Miami has done a series of interviews on pets and condos. She supports Citizens for Pets in Condos.

Watch this space.

More
celebrity
sponsors
to
come!

Meet the "poster child" for Citizens_for Pets
in Condos

How could ANYONE want to make someone give up this sweetheart?

Many people write to us. Read their letters and stories.

Read Why Change is Needed

AARP Ensorses Open Door

Read about some
success stories

People have all kinds of excuses why pets should not be allowed in condos.

Bah! Humbug!

Read our answers to some common issues.

News for cats and dogs - Opening Minds, Saving Lives: The No Kill Equation

Citizens for Pets in Condos in the news!
(with video clip):

Fighting to Keep
Your Pets
in Condos

Ensuring a "Yes-Pets" Rule

In the News

HealthyTalk Radio

Stay informed! Sign up to get e-mail updates

Join the discussion group

Sign our guest book

Why “Pets in Condos”?
A Civil and Property Rights Perspective,
by Barbara Feeney, Advisory Board, Citizens for Pets in Condos

What are the main problems
with pets in condos?
(Creative Conflict Resolutions)

Letter to Florida Representative Peter Nehr from Sharon Brown, Board Member, Citizens for Pets in Condos

We collaborate with
Open Door Miami (a project of Miami Pets Alive), The Pet Project, Florida Pet Network, Florida Pet Pages, PetsTV.com, Pets911, Cyber Citizens for Justice,
Treasure Coast Health Council, Pets-OK, Florida Pet Book, BocaDog Magazine, Pets for the Elderly Foundation, Woof Patrol, Vacation Guides/Traveling Petowners of America, Pet Friendly Agent, Peace River Refuge & Ranch, United Wag, Share-A-Pet, LOHV (League of Humane Voters), Open Door (a project of Animal Rescue Coalition, Sarasota, FL), and other groups interested in creating a win-win situation for people and their animal companions.

See page 15 of The Florida Department of Elder Affairs
"Disaster Preparedness
Guide for Elders"
for a guideline about Pets and Disasters

Featured Collaborating Organization:

check our ad in

Florida Pet Book
http://www.floridapetbook.com/

Slideshow
(click on the
orange button) :

Seniors with Pets

Citizens for Pets in Condos, Inc. advocates for replacing no-pet deed restrictions with more reasonable pet guidelines.

See some examples here.

Allow responsible animal guardians to have companion animals. Put the onus instead on irresponsible pet owners who ruin it for the rest of us. Pets are not the problem; irresponsible owners are.

We currently have a petition drive to allow pets in condos in Florida.
California has a law to that effect.*
We want the same thing in Florida!

*California AB 860, signed into law in 2000 and effective Jan 2001 states that:

'No governing documents shall prohibit an owner of a separate interest within a common interest development from keeping at least one pet within the common interest development subject to reasonable rules and regulations of the association." The law also applies to mobile home parks. Under California law, "governing documents," by the way, includes "operating rules."'

Male Cat Age 3
This beautiful and gentle 3-year old male was rescued, BUT someone who doesn’t like animals and is coincidently on the Board, complained. As of July 2008, he is once again homeless.

SPECIAL MESSAGE OF IMPORTANCE

When Florida State Representative Julio Robaina learned how many people signed our
petition to allow pets in condos, he said he would help us. He was the sponsor of the 2007 Emotional Support Animal bill. He has committed to work again on this issue in the 2008 Florida legislative session. Florida State Representative Peter Nehr is the sponsor of the 2008 Emotional Support Animal bill.
NOTE: Citizens for Pets in Condos does not support any political parties or candidates.
We do support positive legislation for pet owners/guardians.
Let them know your story and that you are behind their efforts.
Tell everyone you know to do the same.
You can reach him in his Tallahassee office at (850) 488-6506 or via web-mail.

Our petition results have already influenced Rep Robaina to introduce legislation in 2007 to clarify the right to have Emotional Support Animals (just PART of what we want, handling only the most extreme cases). Unfortunately the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives and his "leadership" team quashed the bill. They worked behind the scenes to keep our bill from going to the floor of the house for a vote, even though it had made its way through several committees. Tell Representative Robaina and your own Florida legislators that you want a law similar to AB 860 in California that allows condo owners to have at least one pet, IF WE CAN GET 50,000 SIGNATURES. If you have not already signed our petition, please click here. If you have signed, there is more you can do. Tell other people to sign online and print off our paper petitions, flyers, and mini-ads and get the out there!

Help make sure this cutie pie gets to stay with her guardian - sign our petition.

Many thousands of potential responsible pet owners, mainly seniors, have been arbitrarily denied the possibility of pet ownership.

90 million American households have companion animals. If almost 65% of all US households have pets*, why is it 0% (allowed) in most condominiums in south Florida? If 40% of all US households have dogs, why is it 0% for seniors in south Florida? DOES THIS MAKE ANY SENSE TO YOU?

Proactively denying the ability to have animal companions is not justified. A better alternative is to rescind privileges if they are abused.
Citizens for Pets in Condos, Inc. does NOT support irresponsible pet owners.
Time for the repetitive subliminal message from FloridaPets.net:
"Doggie pooper scoopers, use them, always, everywhere you go. Good human."
Citizens for Pets in Condos, Inc. mainly deals with getting pets allowed in common interest ownership communities (condos, HOAs, co-ops and trailer parks). It is bad enough that some landlords do not allow responsible tenants** to have pets, but here we are talking about home owners who do not have the right to live the way they want. A few irresponsible people can ruin it for everyone else.
Since so much of this kind of lifestyle interference happens in south Florida, it begs the question whether there is some form of prejudice against seniors going on. Huge numbers of people retire in 55+ communities where the rules are
incredibly more restrictive than in other types of communities and more so than in condos in other parts of the country
There are ingrained (and old-fashioned) attitudes that seniors either unable or unwilling to be responsible about their animal companions. Another issue, underlying reluctance to have pets in 55+ communities, is the worry about what happens to the pets if the owner becomes incapacitated or dies. (Wouldn't it be better to give the animals a chance to live, instead of euthanizing so many*** because no-pets rules are so prevalent?)
A 2005-06 survey by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, or APPMA, shows that three-quarters of dog owners consider their dog like a child or family member; more than half of cat owners feel the same way. Attitudes are different than when some of the oldest seniors were young. Some people remember when people did not even allow pets inside their homes. Part of the issue with pets in Florida is OLD THINK.
*latest pet statistics It is difficult to count how many people hide pets in common interest ownership communities. We would have to get information from pet food stores and veterinarians because people are terrified of having their companions taken away from them - too terrified to fight this injustice.

**see this other petition for renter's rights to have pets ==> click here Check out the story related to that petition.

*** Tri-county area leads nation in pet euthanization. In 2001, animal shelters in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties took in 112,197 strays and unwanted pets. Almost two-thirds -- 70,514 -- were put to death. In 2004 - 2005, Miami-Dade County executed 17,221 cats and 23,308 dogs that were either abandoned by their owners or found on the streets.

''Too many precious animals are euthanized just because they are homeless,'' says Dr. Sara Pizano, director of Miami-Dade Animal Services. "We need the entire community to come together to solve this crisis.''

This woman was denied her life-line, in spite of a legitimate doctor's letter.

click here to find out What to Do for Now If You Are Asked to Remove Your Pet

While it is difficult to keep a pet, you may be able to keep a helper animal, either due to physical or emotional disability.

Citizens for Pets in Condos, Inc. is all about making changes so you don't have to be considered sick to do something that is entirely normal - have an animal companion for all of the many benefits it could have.

Click here to read about the many health benefits of having companion animals.

Opponents will give you all kinds of reasons why pets should not be allowed.

Some thoughts on some issues related to allowing pets.

Make a tax-exempt contribution. ========================== Donate through Network for Good Donate through First Giving ================ Donations by check to "Citizens for Pets in Condos, Inc." can be mailed to PO Box 26071 Tamarac, FL 33320
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