When couples separate, sorting out who gets to keep the furniture is always complicated. But it’s usually easier than deciding who gets to hold on to the family dog. In the courts however, these two very different questions are treated the same way. However much our senses might tell us otherwise, to the law a dog is simply a “thing” – something to be purchased, owned and transferred. This needs to change. It’s time for the legal system to recognize that companion animals are not furniture.