London: In the United States, lawyers are reporting a sharp rise in the number of custody battles for family pets, says a telegraph report.

American courts are now regularly ruling on what should happen to dogs in divorce cases, making heart-wrenching decisions on which partner will get custody of the animal. "The incidents seem to be increasing markedly and judges have to deal with them," The Telegraph quoted Joyce Tischler of the Animal Legal Defense Fund.

For instance, Jennifer Keene, who not only faced the collapse of her marriage but dealt with the trauma of breaking up their canine family too. She and her husband were the owners of Moxxy, an Australian cattle dog, and Sixxy, a pointer mix. As part of their divorce, they agreed to take one dog each.

However, the experience was so depressing that the dog trainer from Beaverton in Oregon wrote a book to help other couples going through the same experience, We can't Stay Together for the Dogs.

Lorrie Elliot, an animal lawyer from Seattle said: "It would be much better if we had a law that said animals are more than property."