The Pig with a Point

People love their pets. I understand. Really. My wife and I had a dog. Hew was our first born. A neighbor saw how we treated him, and a few weeks before we got our daughter, he called Elliott over, looked at him and said, “You're about to become a dog.” So, I get it. We would do anything for our pets, and sometimes that runs afoul of your condo or HOA documents.

Most older documents simply note that only common household pets are allowed and not poultry or other farm animals. And in such situations, you could be in a bit of trouble as was one recent association in Springboro Ohio.

The Country Brook Homeowner's Association filed suit against Rick Price for keeping a pig in his home. Mr. Price's wife, Katherine is originally from Vietnam, who moved here when she was six. One of the hardest things she had to leave behind was her pet pig, so she and Mr. Price bought a pot-bellied pig to help remind her of her original home and heritage as pigs are traditional pets in Vietnam. In a nod to her new home, she named their pet pig Arnold Ziffer after the pig in the old sitcom Green Acres. The homeowners association was not amused.

The association quickly adopted a provision that barred livestock and poultry noting only household pets could be kept on a Lot and determining Arnold was not a household pet. The problem was no one had defined household pet, so the Prices countersued.

In its analysis, the Court noted “household”' is defined by Webster's New World dictionary as “all the persons who live in a one house family, or family and servants.” A “pet” is “an animal that is tamed or domesticated and kept as a companion or treated with fondness.”

The parties agree Arnold was domesticated but the association claimed he was not a household pet. The Prices pointed out Arnold had a bed inside the home, not outside, as did their Siberian husky Jax, and Arnold spent a lot of time outdoors in their large, fenced yard when he wasn't sleeping, which he did most of the time. That's probably understandable as the certified pot-bellied pig weighed, according to the Prices, 150 pounds, but he sure looks on line closer to the 300 pounds claimed by the Association. Clearly the stress of lawsuit caused him to operate a bit.

After reviewing all of the fact, the Court ruled in favor of the Prices. It noted in its decision, “… Arnold is a domesticated animal that is regularly kept and fed by the members of the household inside the house, and is in every way treated as a companion animal, as opposed to a livestock or utility animal.” The court also recommended the Association pay all legal fees of the Prices. Arnold took news of the decision lying down.

It appears the Associate made two primary mistakes. First, it changed the rule doubt animal after Arnold had settled in, making it look, at least in the eyes of the court, that this was a discriminatory practice under the Fair Housing Act. Second, the better way to handle such items is to simply amend documents to note that all pets are allowed unless, as determined by the Board of directors, subject to the right of an owner to appeal to the owners, the pet has become a nuisance. With such language, it doesn't matter what size dog you have, for instance. If it barks all day (or night) going, it can be deemed a nuisance and the owner forced to remove it.

Based open this language, my Yoda, the one who educated me many years ago, once had a case about aa pet. At a hearing, the Court asked him if an owner could have a horse? He had the perfect answer. “Sure judge. As long as it's in the Unit and note bothering anyone, why would we care?” And isn't that the point? Get away form number of pets, sizes of pets, whether the insurance industry notes it as a dangers dog (which changes nearly every year), get away from everything, and treat owners like the adults that are at least chronologically, and let home have whatever they want in whatever number they want, unless and until it becomes a nuisance.