The following item is not fiction. It came from the Calgary Sun.

CNEWS
Fri, June 18, 2004

Court sets dog dough settlement

By DOUG BEAZLEY, SUN MEDIA

EDMONTON -- When parents split, it's usually the children who suffer. But if you're a St. Bernard with expensive tastes, you can make out like a bandit. In what could be the first decision of its kind in Alberta, a Court of Queen's Bench judge recently awarded monthly "dog support" payments to a woman caring for her ex-common-law's four-year-old St. Bernard.

"Weird, huh?" said Ken Duncan of Warburg, the losing party in the case. "I consider myself a pretty fair person. But there's no way that dog is eating $200 a month."

Duncan and his ex-partner, Barbara Dawn Boschee, were together for six years before they split up last summer. She's now claiming $1,500 a month in spousal support; she could not be reached for comment yesterday.

In a decision filed Wednesday in Edmonton, Justice Donald Lee postponed settling the spousal support until Duncan discloses his income and expenses.

But he ordered Duncan to pay Boschee pet support payments of $200 a month, retroactive to a year ago. Boschee is looking after Duncan's dog, 'Crunchy,' because he can't find an apartment that takes pets.

"So now I'm out something like $2,200 to start with," said Duncan.

The decision cites "the cost of, and time required for, feeding and looking after the dog" as justification for the sum.

"A St. Bernard dog obviously costs more to maintain and feed than the usual smaller variety," said Justice Lee in his decision.