I love pets - especially dogs.  I have to admit to being a little weak on the cat side of things but then one does not own a cat.  All that being said, I think ownership implies responsibility.  You are responsible for your pet’s well being and behavior.  If I fail to properly restrain my pet and he wanders onto your property and eats your cat or bites your child, I have a big problem.  If my pet trespasses where the property owner doesn’t like pets or is afraid of stray dogs and takes action that harms my pet, my grief will be that much greater because I failed to fulfill my responsibility and properly restrain my pet.  At least that is how it should work in a sane world. 

Vermont’s highest court is being asked to decide what a dog’s love is worth.

The state Supreme Court on Thursday was to hear a case that began in July 2003, when Denis and Sarah Scheele, who were visiting relatives, let their mixed-breed dog wander into Lewis Dustin’s yard and he fatally shot it.

Now the Scheeles are asking the court to carve out a new legal doctrine that a dog’s owners can sue for emotional distress and loss of companionship, just like parents can when they lose children.

“We’re still working toward having the courts recognizing the true value of companion animals. They’re members of the family, not mere property,” Sarah Scheele, 58, said from her home in Annapolis, Md., on Wednesday before flying north for the court hearing.

Dustin’s lawyer, David Blythe, said Dustin never intended to kill the Scheeles’ dog, Shadow, and “has always regretted that it happened.” He said Dustin fired an air pellet rifle at the dog in hopes of scaring it off the lawn of his home in Northfield, a community of about 6,000 residents just south of Montpelier in the heart of the state’s Green Mountains.

The shot Dustin fired penetrated the dog’s chest and severed an aorta, and the dog died on the way to a veterinarian’s office.

Dustin, 76, has said he was aiming at the dog’s rear end. He did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment Wednesday.

He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty and was given a year probation. He also was ordered to perform 100 hours of community service and pay $4,000 in restitution to the Scheeles.

But the Scheeles weren’t done. Sarah Scheele gave up her work as a meeting planner and has devoted her time since the dog’s death to advocating for animal welfare and caring for the six special-needs dogs — most of them abused in the past — the couple has adopted in recent years. Denis Scheele, 50, continues to work as a plumber.

  The entire article is available here.