Posts tagged "new jersey"

PetSmart encourages customers to bring their pets to the store when they shop. But when it comes to employees' pets? Not so much.

PetSmart gave New Jersey resident Eric Favetta the axe after he brought his 3-year-old Belgian malinois, Gizmo, to work with him one night, the (Newark) Star-Ledger reported.

According to the Star-Ledger, Favetta, a former dog handler at military units in Afghanistan and Bahrain, had worked as an operations manager at PetSmart since July 2008. Last spring, because of his success cleaning up the Wayne, N.J., store, he was transferred to the busy Seacaucus, N.J., store to help make improvements.

One night in December, PetSmart staff asked Favetta to work a special overnight shift to get the store spiffed up for a viewing the following day by potential business partners. "I brought my dog with me because I knew if I didn't, he would have been home alone all day and all night until I returned home at 6 a.m. the next day," Favetta told the Star-Ledger.

Favetta put Gizmo in the store's empty daycare facility and got to work. Two weeks later, he was fired for "theft of service."

PetSmart spokeswoman Jessica White told the Star-Ledger that the daycare service is an item the company charges for, just like the toys and treats on the store shelves. Using the facilities for free, she said, qualified as theft.

It isn't just kids who get caught in the middle of bitter custody battles.

A pair of New Jersey exes have racked up $40,000 in legal fees as they battle for permanent custody of their pet pug, Dexter, reports the New York Post. Eric Dare, a New Jersey policeman, and Doreen Houseman, a customer-service manager, headed to Salem County Family Court on Wednesday for a third round of legal arguments.

Dare and Houseman ended their thirteen year relationship and engagement in 2006. Since then, the two have been in a tug of war over six-year-old Dexter. Dare, who was originally awarded custody, claims he let Houseman share the pooch with him when they split. Houseman, who had originally sued for custody, appealed the decision, claiming that Dare had given her the dog after they broke up, reports the New York Post.

According to the New York Post, Houseman won her appeal last March, when three appeals judges disagreed with Judge John Tomasello's original ruling, which compared Dexter to a piece of furniture. The decision set a new precedent: that pets have "special subjective" and "sentimental value," which should have been considered in the initial decision.

According to court papers, the appeals process got even more heated when lawyers for the Animal Defense League and Lawyers in Defense of Animals filed paperwork urging the court create a rule "that requires consideration of the best interest of the dog."