Co-op boards trying to evict residents for things like smoking and four-legged tenants are nothing new, but trying to remove an Afghanistan war vet and his family because of the adorable shih tzu he uses to deal with PTSD? That's low, Trump Village in Coney Island.
Though there are reportedly quite a few canines living in the no-dogs-allowed Brooklyn housing complex, the problem with vet Euguene Ovsishcher's pup possibly isn't just that it has four legs and tail. Though Ovsishcher got the dog, Mickey, last August, the building's management says it didn't notice it until February and now they're rushing to force either the dog or his owner out of the building (it is much harder to evict a dog if it has been knowingly allowed in a building for 90 days). Adding a bit of intrigue to the whole thing is the fact that this all began just as Ovsishcher's wife, a certified public accountant, decided to run for the building's co-op board. Hmmm!
Meanwhile, Ovsishcher—a Russian immigrant who spent seven years in the Army, first with NATO troops in Kosovo and then firing 105-millimeter howitzer cannons in Afghanistan—and his wife and kids are vowing to fight to keep Mickey, who has reportedly been a real balm to the vet's psyche. For example:
Mickey woke [Ovsishcher] from nightmares by sensing something was wrong and barking, settled him down when he was alone and anxious, and even checked up on him “like a registered nurse” when he had a fever.
“Take a look at his face,” Mr. Ovsishcher said, comparing Mickey to Chewbacca, the hairy character in the “Star Wars” series. “You can’t stay anxious or angry or whatever. You look at that face and you start laughing.”
And the neighbors, even those who aren't particularly fond of dogs, appear to be on their side: "It's not an issue. I mean, there's very little I as a person can do about it. On my floor we happen to have two," one Trump Village resident told WABC.
