Home Sweet Home: A Dog's Perspective on Right-Sizing

Next stop: Overture Sugar Land! In this final excerpt, our distinguished author, Chancey the dog, explores the wonders of life at Overture. Blinded by diabetes, Chancey has to learn his new surroundings by feel. As he becomes acclimated, he discovers this new adventure includes the best of 55 and over community amenities.

I love Hank and Marla, but seriously, selling the house was beyond annoying. First of all, we had to deal with 14 years of accumulated stuff—theirs, the family’s and of course mine. Then there was the issue of realizing the furniture in your home won’t fit into an apartment. This was especially annoying since I was so familiar with the furniture layout in the house. New furniture would indeed be alien to me, but I had my trusty sense of smell to help sort things out. With a little trial and error, I’d figure out the new lay of the land.

On our last visit before moving day, they put me down to roam the open spaces in the apartment and I got a pretty good idea where the living room, bedrooms and kitchen were. Ok, so I bumped a few counters but that is how I learn. That diabetes may have affected my sight, but it didn’t ruin my brain. To Hank and Marla’s surprise, I navigated with ease even finding the back door to the patio and my yard.

“Let’s try the hallway,” said Hank. With my harness on, they walked me carefully down the hallway, pausing at the door. Hank opened the door and I went through. We practiced three times. It was a breeze. Actually, there was a breeze. Hank called it the wind. When we walked back from my dog park—yes, MY dog park right in my backyard!—I stopped to feel the breeze he calls wind.

Whatever you call it, when you been out in the heat it’s great! We crossed over a big space I could not identify and wound up at the office. I love the office because the humans in there always give me a treat. It is my special treat. How thoughtful of them. They always offer Hank and Marla candy. Wait, candy? Hmmm. No one offers me candy. Another hallway leads to the gym. I am not allowed in the gym and frankly, I don’t care. What am I going to do in the gym anyhow?

Next, we visited the party room, which I am allowed to walk through. I didn’t hear any party noise, so why was it called the party room? Weird. We then passed through a door to the outside that eventually leads to my dog park. I found out later we can also get there by taking the elevator to the second floor. My own dog elevator! They tell me there is also a cinema on the second floor, but I’m blind. So, helloooo! There is also a nature trail near my park which will probably be more fun for Hank and Marla and a great place for them to meet other humans. Which is fine…as long as they don’t ignore me.

All in all, this place is awesome. I think we are going to be happy here. What’s not to like? I’m ready to move in!

Next stop: Overture Sugar Land! In this final excerpt, our distinguished author, Chancey the dog, explores the wonders of life at Overture. Blinded by diabetes, Chancey has to learn his new surroundings by feel. As he becomes acclimated, he discovers this new adventure includes the best of 55 and over community amenities.

I love Hank and Marla, but seriously, selling the house was beyond annoying. First of all, we had to deal with 14 years of accumulated stuff—theirs, the family’s and of course mine. Then there was the issue of realizing the furniture in your home won’t fit into an apartment. This was especially annoying since I was so familiar with the furniture layout in the house. New furniture would indeed be alien to me, but I had my trusty sense of smell to help sort things out. With a little trial and error, I’d figure out the new lay of the land.

On our last visit before moving day, they put me down to roam the open spaces in the apartment and I got a pretty good idea where the living room, bedrooms and kitchen were. Ok, so I bumped a few counters but that is how I learn. That diabetes may have affected my sight, but it didn’t ruin my brain. To Hank and Marla’s surprise, I navigated with ease even finding the back door to the patio and my yard.

“Let’s try the hallway,” said Hank. With my harness on, they walked me carefully down the hallway, pausing at the door. Hank opened the door and I went through. We practiced three times. It was a breeze. Actually, there was a breeze. Hank called it the wind. When we walked back from my dog park—yes, MY dog park right in my backyard!—I stopped to feel the breeze he calls wind.

Whatever you call it, when you been out in the heat it’s great! We crossed over a big space I could not identify and wound up at the office. I love the office because the humans in there always give me a treat. It is my special treat. How thoughtful of them. They always offer Hank and Marla candy. Wait, candy? Hmmm. No one offers me candy. Another hallway leads to the gym. I am not allowed in the gym and frankly, I don’t care. What am I going to do in the gym anyhow?

Next, we visited the party room, which I am allowed to walk through. I didn’t hear any party noise, so why was it called the party room? Weird. We then passed through a door to the outside that eventually leads to my dog park. I found out later we can also get there by taking the elevator to the second floor. My own dog elevator! They tell me there is also a cinema on the second floor, but I’m blind. So, helloooo! There is also a nature trail near my park which will probably be more fun for Hank and Marla and a great place for them to meet other humans. Which is fine…as long as they don’t ignore me.

All in all, this place is awesome. I think we are going to be happy here. What’s not to like? I’m ready to move in!

Hank, Marla and Chancey are now living happily ever after at Overture Sugar Land, busy making new memories and enjoying the best of Overture’s 55+ apartment home community amenities. Publishers are eagerly awaiting Chancey’s sequel about his fabulous new life as a member of the Overture family.

Henry (Hank) Radoff is a recently retired attorney in Houston, Texas and author of the book, “Taking Chancey”. He has always been a pet lover. He authored a movie script entitled “The Guide” which features a dog that guides survivors to safety during the Holocaust, has authored a second book entitled “Breaking Free, a Journey for Survival”, and is working on his third book, “Chancey’s Overture”. He and his wife Marla, adopted their dog, Chancey, who is officially the boss of their home.