A Quirky Column about Dog Walking Adventures in the City of Dog-Owning Love

Dog Custody

Friday night in Fishtown, I met a friend of a friend who joked about losing two dogs in two previously unsuccessful relationships.

“And I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said. “I didn’t cheat on my girlfriends, treat them like shit or anything and they wind up with the dogs.”

He’s over it, but hasn’t wanted to get a new dog with his new girlfriend yet. But I had to commend him. He relinquished control and didn’t make the dog custody battle an unnecessary mess. Cool.

Unfortunately, he could be in the minority. So often today people talk about sharing custody with their dogs after a divorce or breakup of a serious commitment. So, every few days, or every weekend, or every other weekend, the dog or dogs are shuffled back and forth between the once happy, but now in a power struggle, couple. I even know of someone who drives her huge Great Dane between Philadelphia and upstate New York where her ex-husband lives.

Ri-fuckin’-diculous.

That’s what I have to say. And, as a child of divorce who knows that kids, not parents, pay the biggest price of failed relationships, I say one person has got to just let go. I mean, seriously. We’re talking dogs here. And I don’t mean to minimize. But, let’s think about it folks. Dogs that must endure going back and forth between households of a once intact couple are being used as pawns. Either pawns of a power struggle, or pawns of a long, drawn-out dependency issue in which the couple cannot completely sever ties.

Again, ri-fuckin’diculous.

For me, there is no gray area on this issue. And, I realize breaking up is a process so I'm not so cold-hearted on the issue. But leave the innocent dogs out of it and get through the process without using them. Please!

And when I hear about adults actually shelling out a shit load of cash to lawyers these days over dog or cat visitation rights and custody battles, I'm disgusted. I guess this is the type of behavior a patriarchal, capitalistic, money- and power-hungry society cultivates and, well, it pisses me off!

God that felt good! Oh, and hope y'all have a good Memorial Day Weekend.

Photo credit to dharmabom60 from flickr