The Big New Yorker Book of Dogs by The New Yorker Magazine

Author:The New Yorker Magazine [Gladwell, Malcolm]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 978-0-679-64476-7
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2012-10-29T16:00:00+00:00

Still, Helmsley’s relationship with dogs reflected some of the distemper of her dealings with humans. According to Silverstein, one of Helmsley’s friends, seeing how much she loved Trouble, gave her another Maltese, who was named Double Trouble. “But Leona never liked that dog, so she got rid of it,” Silverstein said. “That was usually Leona’s solution. It was what she did with people.”

For all Helmsley’s love of Trouble, her will certainly made life complicated for the dog. She stipulated that Trouble, when her time came, join Leona, Harry, and Jay in the family mausoleum. (Leona also established a three-million-dollar trust for the “perpetual care and maintenance” of the mausoleum, directing that it be “acid washed or steam cleaned at least once a year.”) According to Carlisle, however, a joint human-canine burial is not possible at Sleepy Hollow. “Under New York law, animals can’t be buried in human cemeteries,” she said. “Leona could possibly be buried in a pet cemetery with Trouble, but not the other way around. That was an error in the drafting of the will.” (Trouble is still alive, so it’s not clear where she will be buried.)

The twelve-million-dollar trust for Trouble also created problems. The will stated that custody of Trouble should go to Rosenthal, Leona’s brother, or to her grandson David, and the trust agreement directed them to “provide for the care, welfare and comfort of Trouble at the highest standard.” But neither man wanted the dog. After the will was made public, Trouble received death threats, which may have had something to do with their refusal. (Both men declined to comment.) So the trustees had to find the dog a home. Moreover, the bequest to Trouble was so self-evidently excessive for a single, aging dog that the trustees decided to take steps to reduce it.

As a guardian for Trouble, the trustees settled on Carl Lekic, who is the general manager of the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel, in Sarasota, Florida. According to his affidavit in the case, Lekic had known Trouble since she was born, because Leona spent several months a year, late in life, at the hotel. “When I visited New York on business while Mrs. Helmsley was alive, I would also see Trouble and would pay attention to and play with her,” Lekic said. The trustees agreed to pay him five thousand dollars a month to take care of Trouble. Lekic estimated annual security costs for the dog of a hundred thousand dollars, grooming costs of eight thousand dollars, food costs of twelve hundred dollars, and veterinary care of up to eighteen thousand dollars.

But how many years would Trouble likely live? To answer this question, the trustees sought an affidavit from Dr. E. F. Thomas, Jr., Trouble’s veterinarian. Trouble was nine years old in early 2008 and had, according to Thomas, “several ongoing medical problems,” including hypothyroidism and compromised kidney function. In the light of her medical issues, and the patterns of Maltese generally, Thomas estimated that Trouble was likely to live only three to five more years.

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