Our Dog Ownership Dispute Team at Martyn Prowel Gartsides Solicitors dealt quite recently with a case involving a stolen dog and a lady’s refusal to return a dog to his rightful owner after temporarily looking after him.
Miss R had relied upon the trustworthiness and friendship of a neighbour to look after her dog when she was in need of help, but that neighbour then refused to return the dog claiming that she was now the rightful owner.
Miss R’s situation related to her beloved Shih Tzu dog, whom she had brought to the UK with her, from Poland. We’ll call him Bobbin for this article to protect the parties’ identities. Miss R and Mrs J were neighbours who became acquainted and subsequently friends, walking their pet dogs together on a regular basis. When Miss R and her former partner’s relationship broke down, Miss R needed to move away and had to move, temporarily, into shared accommodation. This meant that she was unable to take Bobbin with her and she made plans to return him temporarily to Poland to be looked after by her mother. Mrs J, however, suggested that rather than spend the time and money on travelling to Poland for Bobbin to be looked after, she would take care of him whilst Miss R was in shared accommodation. The agreement was that when Miss R was able to move out of shared accommodation and was in a position to have Bobbin back, he would be returned to her.
During this period, Miss R continued to make payments in respect of Bobbin’s expenses, food and veterinary costs and continued to make arrangements for his appointments with groomers, the vet etc. Mrs J, during this period, was also happy for Miss R to visit frequently and to take the dog for walks etc. Everything appeared to be going swimmingly and Miss R was very happy with the arrangement and grateful to Mrs J for her kind assistance and for allowing Bobbin to stay with her during this very difficult time.
Eventually, Miss R was ready to take Bobbin back as she had made a decision to move back to Poland to live and therefore intended to take him with her. It was at this point that the relationship significantly broke down and Mrs J’s true intentions became apparent. Mrs J left a voicemail message for Miss R confirming that Miss R would not be taking the dog to Poland and that she “would be keeping the dog”.
Our client therefore attended at Mrs J’s property to ask why she had changed her mind and why she would not return the dog to her. What our client received then was a torrent of abuse and vile language from Mrs J and her acquaintance who screamed and shouted at Miss R that she had no rights over the dog, that she should not dare to come to their property again and that they were keeping the dog.
Video footage of this incident was shocking to watch and as one can imagine, Miss R was in quite a state of shock and distress when she first contacted Martyn Prowel Gartsides Solicitors about trying to get her dog back. We advised Miss R that, legally, Mrs J has no legal right whatsoever to claim any possession or ownership rights and responsibilities over Bobbin and we then wrote to Mrs J in similar terms, setting out details of the Law in relation to such matters and advising that if the dog was not returned to our client within 14 days, we would issue Court proceedings. Just two days after that letter was sent, Miss R contacted us to confirm that Bobbin had been returned home to her safely and enclosing a photo of the dog playing in the park, quite happily ignorant of the upset and distress that he had caused.
Of course, had the temporary arrangements been noted in writing, either on a signed document or, even, by email/messenger/text discussions, this may have prevented Mrs J from taking steps to assert any such rights of ownership over the dog as Miss R would have had evidence of the intentions of the parties at the time. Hindsight is, as they say, a wonderful thing and this sort of case should teach us all a valuable lesson in ensuring that evidence of the agreements reached is obtained.
If you have any issues or concerns in relation to ownership or possession of your dog, or other pet, please contact our Dog Ownership Dispute Specialists on 02920470909 or [email protected], for prompt and expert advice.