Hey folks,
I have a friend that was given a dog by her friend who owned two but found it too much work to have them both. She was given the dog when it was 6 months old and had it for 5 years before giving it back to the friend for her to look after it while she was on holiday for a couple of weeks. When she came back from holidays the friend refused to give the dog back or even let her see it. (great friend eh?) The dog has now been back with the original owner for a year as my friend doesn't know how to get it back, and has assumed that since she never had any papers to prove ownership of the dog then she doesn't have a leg to stand on, legally.
Does anyone know what the actual law is regarding this? Does the ownership need to be transferred by written contract or would an implict (and obvious imo) transfer of ownership be sufficient?
Needless to say she'd like her dog back.
If anyone knows the answer or knows an animal or dog specific lawyer it would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
In Switzerland a gift cannot be taken back again. As the original owner probably has all the ID papers, then it would be very difficult to prove ownership.
Has anyone asked the dog which owner it prefers?
I know nothing of pet law (especially in Switzerland), but this was just a quick thought.
If your friend chooses to go the legal route, I would tell her to compile any documents she has that might be useful in getting her dog back. Apartment rental agreements that mention her dog, dog training certificates, previous dog-sitter agreements, veterinary documents (vaccination records for the past 5 years) with her name and address on it and also the dog breed/age, ANIS documents showing the dog breed/age, residence of the dog, and the name of the 'owner'
photos of her with her dog (over 5 years)
For starters, your friend needs to look up the 'Tiere sind keine Sache' revisions to the animal welfare law:
http://www.tierimrecht.org/de/tierkeinesache/index.php
As one might expect in Switzerland, there is indeed a whole body of law governing what constitutes ownership, transfer of ownership, etc.
I would recommend that your friend start by writing the Tier Im Recht foundation, giving exact details , and ask for their advice as to the best way to proceed.
TIR are a fantastic resource when dealing with the legalities surrounding animal welfare, ownership, responsibility and liability:
http://www.tierimrecht.org/
(I don't wish to comment further as not all details are known, and any assumptions made might not be pertinent or helpful.)
ETA:
TIR are happy to correspond in English.
Thanks all for your help - I'll contact TIR and hopefully we'll get some positive answers.
To try and establish which owner was better we asked the dog how it's life was under each one but apparently it was "rough" under both...
Not much help in this case, but if a dog is microchipped and registered to the legal owner, this sort of case would not happen. Surely the original owner has had to do the dog ownership course, and this would be done with the dog's name + owner, no?
If the dog is happy and settled, I think it would be cruel to move it again- as said, it is not a toy.