" Always Getting Underfoot"

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We worked in Bellevue years ago with a client that wanted to downsive, sell her home and get a "fresh start." Apparently the neighbors in the cul-de-sac were not, in her opinion, very nice to her. The home was a typical split level home that we see in so many Eastside neighbohoods. 

When the client answered the door I was a little shocked. She was in her 50's, well dressed and needed to leave for her corporate job in about 45 minutes. I was surprised because our clients typically are a bit older, but this is totally out of the ordinary. 

She invites me upstairs to have a look around and I noticed, as I walked into the living room and around to the dining room, that there was a crunching sound under my feet. It was almost like I was walking on a gravel path. I look down and noticed the dried piles of tiny dog feces scattered everywhere throughout the living room and dining room. 

Okay, that is pretty gross but not the first time I have found animal feces, or dead animals (thats for a later blog), in a clients home. The good news is that her 4 tiny "yappers" were alive and well. She had four small dogs, which I cannot remember the breed, that were very yappy. At one time, she would let them outside when she would go to work. The neighbors had been complaining about the barking (explains the not nice neighbor comment) so she now keeps the dogs inside the house while she goes to work. Again, not the strangest arrangement I have ever heard of. 

Well, here is where I thought it was odd. The dogs would have the run of the house during the day and they would defecate and urinate all over the house. The problem is that the client would never clean it up. She would leave piles of feces as the were deposited and if they got in the way of her walking path she would kick them under the furniture. Yep, when you moved the furniture there were massive amounts of dried dog feces. 

The odor was such an issue that we had to wear masks while working in the home. As part of the listing process, the realtor was going to do some light renovations such as replacing carpets, for obvious reasons, painting and a solid deep cleaning. When they got to the point of pulling the carpets they realized they were going to need to replace all of the subflooring. The urine had soaked the carpet to a point where the sub floors started to buckle. 

What I found to be interesting is that throughout the entire time we were meeting with the client and working in the home she never once made comment about the fact that there was dried dog feces piled up all over her home; it was like it was never there.

Well, we got her moved and the home empty. Hopefully there is a lovely family living in the home and all the neighbors are now happy. I am not sure what became of the woman and her four dogs. I can only hope their new living environment was better for those four little yappers. 

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