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31 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,N ovem ber 29,2018 insidehalton.com 905.337.1400 ext 116 cafe@sjucc.ca www.terracetakeaway.ca St. Joseph's Ukrainian Catholic Church 300 River Oaks Blvd. East (at Trafalgar) Oakville ON Homemade Ukrainian Food all prepared and easy to warm up O P E N Thursdays 1:00 - 6:30 pm Saturdays 10:30 am - 1:30 pm Sundays 10:00 am - 12:00 pm terrace take-away StJoseph's ChristmasMarketplace Saturday Dec. 1, 2018 • 10:00 am -4:00 pm Unique Artistry • Handcrafted Items & Gifts Homemade Baked Goods • Hot Meals Available Sometimes my clients don't notice their pets are under foot or smell less than delightful. Don't get me wrong, I love animals and they love me: cats, dogs, rab- bits, birds, whatever beastie has full run of the place is OK with me. Most owners are im- mensely charmed by their pets and love to share. Some dogs demand constant pat- ting and approval or are re- nowned dribblers who adore playing hide and seek with my shoes, gloves, tools and anything else I momen- tarily put down. Some are highly strung and explode suddenly at the slightest movement, filling my visit with the sprightly anticipa- tion of sudden coronary ar- rest. One client's muzzled dog, looking like a canine Hannibal Lecter, enjoyed ramming me from behind whenever I turned my back. Some cats are the kind you can pick up, purr to andyou can pick up, purr to andy set safely aside having shared a lovely little fore- head-to-forehead bump. With others, you risk pull-With others, you risk pull-W ing back a bloodied stump. I've learned not to sweep my arm under a bed without looking first. Fortunately, many petsFortunately, many petsF are sweethearts the whole time, and I love them to piec- es. I can't help hugging the creatures. Those pets I like to refer to as "trained." Often clients apologize for not cleaning their petfor not cleaning their petf boxes. I thought one client had used black earth in the cat box and told him litter is much easier for a cat to dig into. He shyly admitted it wasn't black earth. It had been litter, once. At what point do you not notice your pets have been seeking alternate locations in your home to "visit"? I remember a colleague of mine, Alison, recalling an episode of Hoarders in which a woman had a horri- ble fruit fly problem and traced it to two rotting pumpkins in her living room. "How bad is it in your house," Alison pondered, "when you don't notice you've got two rotting pump-you've got two rotting pump-y kins in your living room?" The answer is: very bad. If you love your pets, tend to their facilities - and any errant pumpkins past their prime. It'll bring a little therapy to your home. Stephen Ilott is a profes- sional home organizer with decluttering.ca and author of The Domestic Archeolo- gist. For more information, visit www.decluttering.ca or contact him at info@declut- tering.ca or 416-460-8098. OPINION BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, BARK, MEOW SOMETIMES CLIENTS DON'T NOTICE THEIR PETS ARE LESS THAN DELIGHTFUL, WRITES ILOTT STEPHEN ILOTT Column