The Haifa Family Court has recently dismissed a lawsuit filed by a woman seeking custody of the dog she once shared with her ex-husband. The plaintiff asserted that her bond with the dog was profound and that she had invested the majority of time and resources in its care. However, Judge Efraim Tschisik ruled in favor of the ex-husband, citing concerns that shuttling the dog between homes could be detrimental to its welfare.

The dispute ignited in the wake of the couple's separation when the woman sought to maintain a relationship with their shared pet. Following a heated exchange of text messages – where legal threats were met with counter-threats of harassment complaints – the matter escalated to the courtroom. Initially, the court issued a temporary arrangement, allowing the dog to stay with the woman from Monday to Thursday and with the defendant from Thursday to Monday.

In her plea, the plaintiff painted a picture of devoted care, claiming responsibility for the dog's primary needs, including food and even the installation of a tracking chip. She argued that her ex-husband's refusal to share custody was driven purely by vindictiveness, noting his lack of prior pet-owning experience. The defendant countered these claims, asserting his status as the dog's registered owner and primary financial provider for its care, including medical treatments and vaccinations. He further emphasized that the veterinarian recognized him as the dog's de facto owner.

After considering the evidence, Judge Tschisik sided with the ex-husband. While acknowledging that some aspects of the dog's care had been shared, the judge determined that the defendant was indeed the primary owner. The ruling stressed the importance of a clean break between the former spouses to prevent further deterioration of their relationship. In the judge's view, the best interests of both the dog and the parties aligned in this instance, justifying sole custody with the ex-husband.

"Throughout the dog's residency, the responsibility for care, vaccination, and interaction with authorities fell primarily on the defendant," Judge Tschisik wrote in his decision. "The fact that some grooming and caretaking duties were shared does not warrant denying the defendant's status as the more dominant owner, a fact corroborated by the veterinarian's testimony." The judge further opined that constantly moving the dog between households would not serve its best interests, concluding that establishing a single, stable home for the pet was paramount.

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Are fleas, barking, and picking up poop putting you off adopting a dog? Israeli startup Digital Pets Company might have a solution for you. The Digital Pets Company is launching artificial intelligence (AI)-driven 3D digital dogs.

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Combining AI, extended reality (XR) and blockchain technologies, the company is attempting to create an emotional relationship with a virtual being. Each digital dog is unique in its appearance and personality, powered by the startup's proprietary PetOS technology.

The company's mission is to create interactions that mimic real-life relationships between people and dogs. Users can name their digital pets, train them, and play with other people and their digital dogs.

Itay Hasid, co-founder and CEO of The Digital Pets Company, explains that "In the coming decade, we will see more and more virtual spaces where people will spend time and create new interactions.

"These spaces will be very empty and lonely without suitable content, which connects people and establishes substantial social relations. Dogs, which are man's best friends, make us happier and help us connect with new people. I believe that artificial intelligence, animation, and multisensory communications that combine voice, sight, and touch, will make it possible to create true relationships, exactly like in the physical world, and fulfill social and emotional needs," says Hasid, who co-founded the venture in July 2021 with Maciej Miarecki and Amit Yogev.

All the digital dogs, along with their visual and personality traits, are secured as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum blockchain. Each NFT will belong to one digital wallet owned by a specific user. The NFTs will be stored as ERC-721 tokens and hosted on the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS). Each NFT is connected through the proprietary PetOS to an actual Digital Dog.

Digital Dogs will be used across different virtual environments in the metaverse via the company's proprietary SDK. The Digital Pets Company will sell NFTs that will allow digital dog owners to get to know their dogs and train them through one-on-one digital interactions. The owners will use tokens which will help train the digital dogs by providing positive incentives, much like real-life dogs. The startup will develop social interaction in digital playgrounds where people and dogs will be able to socialize.

For potential digital pet parents, the company has made a demo available that features Laika, which is says is the first-ever digital dog.

The Digital Pets Company has raised pre-seed funding from Outlier Ventures, Hawk Digital, MaxStealth and the angel investor Dr. Rafi Gidron, co-founder of Chromatis, which was sold to Lucent for around $4.8 billion in 2000, in one of the biggest exits in the history of Israel.

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The 11-foot yellow serpent, named Belle, is one of her family's many pets, living happily together on an animal sanctuary on Moshav Ge'a in southern Israel.

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She was named after Belle, the female character in Walt Disney's popular animated film Beauty and the Beast, who dons a yellow ball gown in a famous dance scene in the movie.

Inbar said Belle is good company during a coronavirus lockdown that has kept schools closed over the past few weeks.

"It helps me pass the time because I really like to hang out with snakes and sometimes I help snakes shed [their skin] and I help them to be happy during coronavirus," Inbar said.

Sarit Regev, Inbar's mother, said the two grew up together.

"Inbar was raised with all these animals and she was raised with the snakes. When Inbar was little she swam inside the bath with the snake and now she has grown up and the snake got bigger, so they swim together in the pool. It's very natural for us," she said.

"There are people that say – 'you're crazy, how can you do it, you don't love your kids,'" said Regev. "It's a lovely life to live like this. When a kid grows up with animals he becomes a person that loves other people, he becomes a person that cares about others and not about himself," she said.

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