5 hours, 4 Yorkies, 1 UES co-op board interview
We've tackled the subject of how to get your dog approved by a co-op board before. As we noted then, not all boards request a canine interview--and those that do usually make the requirement known well in advance. Not so for one Manhattan couple applying to a white glove Upper East Side co-op recently.
"Five hours before the interview, the managing agent called and requested that the dogs"--four Yorkies--"attend the interview," the couple's broker tells us.
Cue panic.
"Needless to say, we were concerned about how four small dogs would behave at an interview," says the broker, who described her client's application package as "complicated" to begin with. "It seemed akin to a nursery school interview for toddlers, except we didn't know anyone who had successfully brought quadruplets to a nursery school interview."
As the hours ticked by, dog trainers, brokers, and the brokerage's executive management team were consulted. Strategies were debated and shot down.
Should the housekeeper wait in the lobby and retrieve the dogs early, or should they stay for the whole interview? Should the dogs be walked through the fancy building or carried? What should they wear? Should they be drugged ahead of time?
The final plan: Feed the dogs a gigantic meal, take them for an enormous walk, and dress them as adorably as possible.
Four matching cable-knit Ralph Lauren dog sweaters were purchased, and the exhausted and presumably dazed (but impeccably turned out) canines were divided into pairs according to personality type and stuffed into two separate carrier bags.
"It was as if the dogs knew they had one chance to impress," says the broker. "They sat quietly with their heads peeping out for the whole 45 minute board interview. The board agreed they [and their owners] would make perfect neighbors."
Related posts:
How to get your dog past a co-op board
4 neat ways to use an investigative lawyer in a co-op or condo
