MADRID, Spain (AP) - A divorce court judge has granted visitation rights to a man who missed his dog.
The judge in southeast Alicante province said the Spaniard gets the animal on weekends and his ex-wife has custody during the week.
In the middle of their tug-of-war is a pint-sized pooch known as a griffon.
The couple's name was not disclosed. They were described in newspapers as a middle-aged couple living in the town of El Campello.
The verdict was handed down in March but only surfaced this week when the man's lawyer was overheard swapping stories at a lawyers convention.
The attorney, Jose Luis Gonzalez, said the woman had argued that it was she who bought the dog seven years ago so it was hers to keep.
But the judge ruled the dog was like the rest of the couple's property and had to be divvied up somehow.
Gonzalez said the verdict was a victory for animal rights. "It shows that a dog is not just an object," he said from Alicante.