Article Courtesy of The Orlando Sentinel
By Mary Shanklin

Published March 27, 2018

An Orlando veteran fighting his condo association board to keep his dog is now serving on that same board.

Robert Brady, 70, was elected to an uncontested seat on the voluntary association board at the beginning of the year when five candidates were running to fill five open positions on the Orange Tree Village Condominium board.

“They think he’s a vicious dog. But they don’t know Bane,” the retiree said. “They think he’ll attack, but he’s nothing but a play thing. Right, Bane?”

The month before he joined the board, he lost an non-binding arbitration bid to keep the dog he’s had for four years. The association limits dogs to 35 pounds and Bane weighed more than 40, although his owner said the dog has lost weight on a strict diet during recent months.

Now Brady is pursuing a lawsuit and a fair-housing claim, both against the condo association, and is hoping to get service-dog training in a bid to to keep Bane.

Peter McGrath, the attorney for the condominium association, did not respond to requests for comment but in the past has said that the association must enforce its rules — no matter the circumstances.

With his brown-and-white mottled pet at his side, Brady said his dispute with the board had nothing to do with his decision to serve on the group. He said his late wife was on the board while she was alive and he said he knows the complex on Curry Ford Road well after living there 45 years. If the subject of the dog comes up at board meetings, he said he’ll have to leave the room.

When the Orlando Sentinel first reported the condo-association tiff over the dog in December, readers and pet groups from around the country called the newspaper with offers to give Brady places to live or dog-training assistance. Service dogs have become an increasing point of contention as they become more common in communities, workplaces and offices. The animals’ success in aiding veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder has been refuted by the Veteran’s Administration in part because training the dogs can cost more than $30,000.

A preliminary study released last month by researchers at the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine showed that overall symptoms are lower among war veterans with service dogs. The pilot study was co-funded by the Human Animal Bond Research Institute and Bayer Animal Health.

Brady said Bane has helped him cope with difficult memories. Orlando Veteran Administration psychologist Matthew Waesche wrote in an October 2015 letter that Brady was under his care and that the dog appears to help keep his owner’s mental-health issues in remission.

A dog-training group and veterans offered to take Bane on for a service-animal program that spans seven months. Before he can be accepted, the group has to determine if the dog has the right temperament and is trainable, Brady said.

On the legal front, Brady’s attorney Jonathan Paul has filed a fair-housing complaint being considered by the City of Orlando. The association failed to consider the disabled military veteran’s protected rights or his documented need for an emotional support animal, Paul said.

Orlando officials had no update on the complaint, saying the city takes fair-housing cases seriously and investigates them through its Human Resources Office. Details remain confidential until the matter is settled.

Brady’s attorney also filed a Jan. 10 complaint in Orange County Circuit Court stating the association and property management group Arthur David Properties Inc. discriminated against Brady by refusing to waive the weight requirements, even though they knew of Brady’s medical conditions related to three tours of duty with the U.S. Army in Vietnam.

“As we sit here today,” Paul said, “we are currently traveling down two roads and hoping one comes to a resolution sooner rather than later.”