New Breed of Mediator Helps to Resolve Bones of Contention
Pet mediation is the subject of Veronica Dagher’s April 30, 2012 article in the venerable Wall Street Journal, entitled “A Dog’s Bark Is Better Than Litigation’s Bite.”
During my years as a litigator, I’ve actually encountered several acrimonious lawsuits involving dogs – one of which resulted in a court order to debark a neighbor’s dogs.
As a result, the concept of pet mediation does not seem altogether frivolous. In fact, as Ms. Dagher’s article points out, pet mediation may be useful in the case of a “custody dispute” accompanying a divorce, or a neighbor dispute over barking or rowdy dogs. If the problem can be solved in two hours by a mediator charging $250/hour, then the participants can leave without ill will, feeling their leashes have not been yanked too hard. And if the mediation fails, maybe the parties were just barking up the wrong tree.
None of the mediations involved in Ms. Dagher’s article involved cats.
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