Pet Custody Disputes

[wolfie3]

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Hello. I would love to hear from people who have been involved in a pet custody dispute following separation/divorce. I am a University lecturer (in England) specialising in animal law and I am undertaking research on pet custody disputes. There is very little research on this area of law and yet it appears that thousands of couples in the UK each year are involved in a dispute over who is going to get the family dog when they separate. If you have been involved in a pet custody dispute over a dog and would be willing to talk to me about your experience please contact me at my University email (you can google me, Debbie Rook, to find my email address at Northumbria University).  I would like to give a voice to pet owners to ensure greater understanding amongst legal professionals and academics on this issue.

 

[dogmatize]

There is some support and advice available for owners with legal wrangles although the laws as they stand need to be brought up to date to take into account modern day attitudes to pets. Trevor Cooper is regarded as the most experienced dog law solicitor .He has a website - doglaw.co.uk.

 

[gypsysmum2]

Good luck with your mission. The first thing that needs changing is that dogs must have a change of status from a mere "belonging" to that of a family member. Perhaps to keep the dog haters happy we should call them "minor family members" or something similar. Of course we should not limit it just to dogs. Cats and other animals can mean just as much to people.qui

A further area for you to consider is the problem of finding accommodation for the person who wins custody of the family pet. So many people have to relinquish their much loved pet due to landlords imposing restrictions on pets in properties. I am sure that children do just as much damage in a property as many pets.

 

[leashedForLife]

Excellent topic to investigate, good on ya.  
I'm in the USA, & here it's becoming more common to share custody vs vindictively "steal the dog" from the primary caregiver.   That was a common strategy for decades, b/c sadly divorce is - like all other legal encounters under Amerikan law - adversarial. // No lawyer will counsel for amicable separations; they're out for blood & they want their client's pound of flesh, as does the opposing counsel.
Thank God, that's changing, & the dog's welfare is becoming more important.  Some lawyers advocate for whichever client has invested the most time & emotional gelt in the dog - who bought the pup, adopted the pup, attended training classes, took the dog to the vet, takes the dog on hikes etc, right down to the nitty-gritty details of care:
who takes the dog out 6 or more times daily to void?
 

a special note:
Everybody enjoys using a dog as date-bait - take the dog out to charm passersby, & maybe score... more-often a M tactic, but Fs aren't exempt; just fewer.
Taking the family dog to the local, every couple of weeks or months, & ignoring her or him the rest of the time, isn't a signifier of deep attachment, LOL.

I say this having had several non-dog folks of the male persuasion - straight, gay, all sorts - ask me if they could "borrow" my dog "for a walk". // Nobody ever asked to borrow my Akita, LOL, nor my BSD-Groenendael, who was skittish & took time to warm-up - it was Beauregard De Dawg that they asked about, 'cuz he was adorable, interactive, & easy to manage.    

I hope U get many responses - it's another aspect of dog-law that needs attention sooner rather than later.
- terry