Former Couple Battling Over Custody Of Beloved Dog

GREENWICH, CT — After breaking up and ending their engagement, a former couple is now fighting for custody of their dog after the woman took the 5-year-old pet to her parents' home in Riverside, a lawsuit filed in New York Supreme Court on July 22 claims.

Keith Glanzman filed the lawsuit against his ex-fiancée, Jenna Demasi, asking her to return Frankie, a Boxer/Beagle mixed breed, and an $11,500 engagement ring.

According to the lawsuit, Glanzman adopted Frankie five years ago when the dog was two moths old, and claims he's the dog's sole owner.

On July 3, 2021, Glanzman proposed to Demasi, his girlfriend of several years, but the couple broke up in late June 2022, the lawsuit says.

On the morning of June 27, Glanzman texted Demasi and told her not to take the dog from the New York City apartment they shared, the lawsuit claims.

Demasi went into the apartment that afternoon, knowing Glanzman would be at work, and took Frankie to her parents' home in Riverside, the lawsuit claims.

Glanzman demanded that Demasi return Frankie and the engagement ring, but she refused, the lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit says Glanzman had been diagnosed with anxiety following two seizures that occurred in 2018 and 2019, and his therapist "directed him to seek emotional support" from Frankie.

"According to Mr. Glanzman's licensed therapist, the presence of Frankie is necessary to Mr. Glanzman's emotional/mental health and Frankie's presence mitigates his symptoms," the lawsuit says.

In an affidavit filed on Aug. 2, Demasi called Glanzman's claims that he's the sole owner of Frankie "baseless."

She said before the dog was adopted, the two agreed Glanzman's name should be on the adoption application since she lived in a "small New York City apartment" and Glanzman lived in a "rented home in the suburbs with a backyard," the affidavit says.

Demasi claims they adopted and took care of Frankie together, and she originally found the dog on a pet adoption website. Demasi also claimed that Frankie is her emotional support dog, and provided a letter from her therapist.

In her affidavit, Demasi said she told Glanzman in July she would return the engagement ring simultaneously with the end of the lease in August for the former couple's apartment.

She said in the affidavit she will now arrange for the return of the ring, and she will deliver it to the jeweler where it was purchased so Glanzman can pick it up.