Divorce Support Forums: Dog Visitation

OK, so - for those of you that have children, I'm sure this will sound totally trivial. But I love my dog as much as I believe anyone is able to love a pet. He's adorable, and loving and snuggly. And honestly, I'm not sure how I would have been able to get through the last month without him - let alone the million nights my stbx decided not to come home after a bender.

We were doing shared custody of the dog for a while until I found out about the adultery. Besides, it didn't really seem fair to the dog to have him shuttle back and forth between our places - he was confused and anxious. It had to stop anyway, so I took the dog full time at the start of June.

So here's my guilt again. Technically the dog is mine (I purchased him before we got married, in the eyes of the law dogs are no different than other personal property) so legally there's no issue. But I know my stbx loves this dog as much as I do - and I'm wondering if I'm keeping the dog from him as a way to punish him. I'm obviously angry and want to hurt him, and this seems to be the only thing that does that. On the other hand, it's really unhealthy to communicate with the stbx right now, and since I don't have children I can really do the no contact thing.

The thought of talking to him when I go on vacation to take the dog conjures up both longing and nauseousness. Am I just stressing about this for no reason?

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