Delaware judge orders ex-couple fighting for custody of their Goldendoodle to privately ‘auction’ him like 'property'

A couple who once happily welcomed a pet into their lives was forced to go through the legal procedure when they decided to part ways. A dispute arose over the possession of their beloved 5-year-old dog Tucker, a Goldendoodle. While both partners wished to get custody of their pup, the couple was not ready for a mutual settlement. However, the judge had to make the toughest choice to settle the dispute by "auctioning" the animal.

According to Boston25 News reports published on Tuesday, November 18, 2025, Karen Callahan and Joseph Nelson were neighbors who began dating in 2019, before moving in together at Nelson's residence in Bear, Delaware, where they jointly parented their canine companion Tucker since 2020. Unfortunately, the couple parted ways in 2022, but a dispute soon arose between the two over their canine, since both requested Tucker's custody in court filings. As reported by Courthouse News Service, Callahan asked the Justice of the Peace Court in 2022 to have Tucker returned to her after the breakup. The court sided with her, but Nelson challenged that decision and took the case to the Court of Common Pleas.

After a two-day trial, the Common Pleas judge found that Callahan couldn’t argue Tucker was wrongfully taken since both partners legally owned him. She then took the matter to the Superior Court, which upheld that ruling, and later brought the case to the Court of Chancery. In May, the state’s top business court listened to arguments on whether the case should be dismissed. Judge Bonnie W. David came up with an unusual way to settle the issue. She ordered the couple to bid against one another in a private auction. The person who wins gets Tucker, while the one who loses the bid gets the cash.

In her ruling, Judge David said, "Dogs are property, but they are not furniture." She noted that while the decision may cause pain to one of the parties involved, she felt that the auction was the "fairest option." "While a few courts have applied a best-interests standard when resolving ownership disputes over a companion animal, none have explained why that approach should prevail over the common law default of a value-maximizing auction," she explained. Referencing a quote from Rudyard Kipling's poem "The Power of the Dog," the judge opened her opinion about the possible sorrow that could happen when one gives their "heart to a dog to tear."

While Karen Callahan wanted the judge to consider a "transparent auction," her ex-partner, Nelson, wanted the judge to take a call that was in the best interest of Tucker. The judge decided to "partition" Tucker, where the law requires the property to be physically divided between the owners when there is a disagreement between two parties. A 2019 report by Stateline stated that there has been an approximate 22% increase in pet-related custody conflicts compared to previous years, with dogs being the most disputed pet animals, accounting for over 88% of the cases. As stated by Judge David in the case of Tucker, the study also notes that 20% of the attorneys surveyed observed an increase in courts treating pets as an "asset" in divorce cases.