Tennessee judge decides canine custody case

It was a dog day in Circuit Court at Memphis.

Judge Robert Childers was on the bench, but where Zena would end up was the question yesterday.

Zena belongs to -- well -- back to the question.

Two days of mediation between the standard poodle's divorcing owners -- Lisa and John Roberts -- didn't produce a settlement, so it fell to Childers.

During an hour-long hearing, the court gave the man possession during the week -- partly because he has an outdoor job and can take Zena along. The woman gets the pet from 6 p.m. Friday to 6 p.m. Sunday.

Since Tennessee law recognizes pets as property, the issue is possession, not custody.

Attorney Dorothy Pounders represents Lisa Roberts and recalled a similar Memphis case about five years ago involving two golden retrievers. That resulted in another split possession.

She also said there was a Jackson case about the children's pet pig, but that was resolved through mediation.

As Pounders put it, "They didn't have to litigate the pig."