Long story short, finding a place to rent that accepts pets, is next to impossible in Sonoma County. I say that with a great deal of frustration and worry, having attempted to find such a place over the past several days.

To date, 25 inquiries have been sent to people with places to rent and not a lick of a response but for one gentleman who admitted we sounded great, but he wanted to “keep his place pristine.” I guess he’s not planning to rent to anyone with children either.

I have found myself writing letters of inquiry not touting my children or income, but my dogs’ and cats' achievements. The dogs sound like they are honor students being peddled to the best colleges in the country, instead of just a roof over their heads.And the cats sound like spoiled children who are hand fed the best from day one, instead of the companion they are. I have touted their training, their achievements and that they are house-trained, but zilch, nyet, forgetta about it. I admit that taking on a renter who has three dogs, two cats and eight chickens is going to get a major “forgetta about it” from 99.9-percent of the landlords in Sonoma County. But i just have two cats and have dreamt about getting a dog since i was eight and have not yet been able do so.

Several colleagues with multiple pets have offered up advice on how to use certain “key” words when researching rentals on line. For example, you don’t put in dog or cat but “country”, “farm” or “acreage.” That helped but the options are few, unless renting along the river, where the river literally runs through it, sounds appealing.

This struggle is not unique. When Amy Cooper, the director of Sonoma County Animal Care and Control took over the agency last summer, she struggled to find housing that would accept her two dogs.

Job losses, foreclosures and other calamity have resulted in a near record number of animals being surrendered to area animal shelters. The plaintive words, “landlord will not allow,” is the reason many have placed on the forms accompanying these animals, who lives have been turned upside down. The most heartbreaking part is a behavior called “owner searching,” which occurs in the days or weeks after being dropped off at the shelter. Every new face they see, their tails and body twitch with anticipation that perhaps this is their person coming back. You take these dogs for walks and you can see them scanning the environment and searching faces for a spark of recognition. It just kills you.

One suspects the increase in requests for service dog tags is partially because of landlords refusing to rent to people with pets. It does violate the spirit of service programs but a desperation is starting to set in. In the begginging of making a ADD for criagslist it read "

Stating a discriminatory preference in a housing post is illegal, is prohibited on craigslist, and can be expensive:

• you can be fined more than $10,000 for each discriminatory ad, plus damages in court, plus loss of license if you are a professional
  
  
• avoid phrases which could be interpreted as discriminating by race/color/origin (e.g. 'hispanic area'), religion (e.g. 'christian home'), age / familial status (e.g. 'no kids'), disability, sexual orientation, or source of income
• the words you choose can cost you - get the facts and avoid being prosecuted under fair housing law

 well if this is dicriminatory so should the words "No Pets" its hard and overwhelming at times but i have had enough and i am shure you have had enough too. let change this let us make a difference. let us make a pet friendly sonoma counrty where they cannot discriminate against pet anymore no matter what they might be. let us make fair housing actually fair!!!!!