Pets and Home Remodeling
Fitzpatrick-I’ve worked on many remodeling projects where the household included dogs, cats, some lizards, you name it. Hitherto, the only trouble I’ve had is making sure the critters don’t claw or eat tradespeople or skedaddle out a gate or door left open or between the legs of delivery people.
I’ve never encountered what I’m going through now with my two dogs. We moved into a house five months ago and the Chow Chows took awhile to adjust. When I would run errands, the younger male would hurl himself at the 50-year-old plate glass sliders in a fit of anxiety that I was leaving him in this strange place. And for Lü, the place was strange for close to three months.
At three-and-a-half months, we commenced full-fledged landscape Armageddon. The Chow Chows were relegated to one 20-foot-by-20-foot fenced space outside, while inside, the multiple glass sliders of this mid-century modern afforded them ample view of the three to eight strange men tromping through their territory every day. Then one came inside to strip wallpaper. Another entered to remove light fixtures. Then—as one of the visiting tradesguys christened it—the Chow Down began.
The trainer called me back after the desperate Saturday night message I left her on my way to the doggie ER with two bleeding dogs and an ice-pack on my own leg wounds. Chows are territorial, she said. The younger male feels helpless with all the strangers around. He lashes out at the nearest creature, the 12-year-old female who raised him. The Empress P.Wei doesn’t take this crap and dishes back some of her own. Muzzles were over-nighted and the trainer is showing up tomorrow to Cesar-Milan their butts.
Dog fights are terrifying. Especially when they’re between the fuzzy ones closest to you. Especially when you get bitten. After the dogs’ snarling and barking ended, my husband and I took up with our own. “You spoiled him!” my husband yelled. “You didn’t have to tear up the yard so soon after moving!” I hurled back—plus a few other things.
As the swelling in my leg wound and my cried-out eyes slowly went down, I began thinking about how remodeling affects household pets. The trainer assured me that she’s seen this before and was in fact currently working with a Shepard who was attacking its housemate in a similar situation. Think about it. For those of us with large, guard-type dogs, we tend to like the fact that they make strangers think twice about stepping foot on our properties. How are the dogs supposed to know the difference between a good stranger and a bad one? How confused, and frustrated, must they be when we tell them, “No, no, bad dog, don’t bark at the five strange men wielding metal tools in the backyard.” Animals remind us how difficult and how unnatural it is—for how most of us live today—for hordes of people on agendas, armed with strange and noisy tools and sometimes yelling at each other, to swarm through our homes.
Remodeling any part of a property is one of the most stressful things you can ever put a household through. An intensive remodel is like open heart surgery; even if it’s needed, it’s a major trauma to the organism. The very spirit of a place can be temporarily scattered and violated. Those of the home’s inhabitants, like pets, who are innately linked to the land and the hearth can feel equally destabilized. It’s important to consider carefully whether all members of the family are in a physical and psychological position to handle this.
I’ve never encountered what I’m going through now with my two dogs. We moved into a house five months ago and the Chow Chows took awhile to adjust. When I would run errands, the younger male would hurl himself at the 50-year-old plate glass sliders in a fit of anxiety that I was leaving him in this strange place. And for Lü, the place was strange for close to three months.
At three-and-a-half months, we commenced full-fledged landscape Armageddon. The Chow Chows were relegated to one 20-foot-by-20-foot fenced space outside, while inside, the multiple glass sliders of this mid-century modern afforded them ample view of the three to eight strange men tromping through their territory every day. Then one came inside to strip wallpaper. Another entered to remove light fixtures. Then—as one of the visiting tradesguys christened it—the Chow Down began.
The trainer called me back after the desperate Saturday night message I left her on my way to the doggie ER with two bleeding dogs and an ice-pack on my own leg wounds. Chows are territorial, she said. The younger male feels helpless with all the strangers around. He lashes out at the nearest creature, the 12-year-old female who raised him. The Empress P.Wei doesn’t take this crap and dishes back some of her own. Muzzles were over-nighted and the trainer is showing up tomorrow to Cesar-Milan their butts.
Dog fights are terrifying. Especially when they’re between the fuzzy ones closest to you. Especially when you get bitten. After the dogs’ snarling and barking ended, my husband and I took up with our own. “You spoiled him!” my husband yelled. “You didn’t have to tear up the yard so soon after moving!” I hurled back—plus a few other things.
As the swelling in my leg wound and my cried-out eyes slowly went down, I began thinking about how remodeling affects household pets. The trainer assured me that she’s seen this before and was in fact currently working with a Shepard who was attacking its housemate in a similar situation. Think about it. For those of us with large, guard-type dogs, we tend to like the fact that they make strangers think twice about stepping foot on our properties. How are the dogs supposed to know the difference between a good stranger and a bad one? How confused, and frustrated, must they be when we tell them, “No, no, bad dog, don’t bark at the five strange men wielding metal tools in the backyard.” Animals remind us how difficult and how unnatural it is—for how most of us live today—for hordes of people on agendas, armed with strange and noisy tools and sometimes yelling at each other, to swarm through our homes.
Remodeling any part of a property is one of the most stressful things you can ever put a household through. An intensive remodel is like open heart surgery; even if it’s needed, it’s a major trauma to the organism. The very spirit of a place can be temporarily scattered and violated. Those of the home’s inhabitants, like pets, who are innately linked to the land and the hearth can feel equally destabilized. It’s important to consider carefully whether all members of the family are in a physical and psychological position to handle this.
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