I was pleased to act on an important animal rights matter a few months ago in Owen Sound.
I represented the defendant who had possession of a rare dog. She and her boys were giving the dog love and affection and had arranged to have the dog “fixed” at the vets.
My client had been gifted the dog by an acquaintance.
Life was great with the dog for many months, until out of the blue, my client was sued by a commercial dog breeder, who claimed to have title to the dog.
There was a Superior Court hearing where the breeder laid out affidavit evidence indicating that the dog had only been loaned to the person (the acquaintance) under a “Foster Agreement” and thus argued the traditional “property rights” law that title to the dog remained with the breeder and argued that the dog should be returned to the breeder immediately, even though the trial of the matter could be years away.
The judge broke legal ground in Ontario by using the “best interests of the dog” in her written decision to let my client and her boys keep the dog pending trial.
One wonders down the road how this will affect any future disputes between breeders and “foster animal families”- most likely the law will develop as a mirror image of child custody and access law in that regard.
I will stay tuned to see if any other Canadian judges follow this written interim injunction decision.