A Brooklyn woman has been reunited with her beloved dog after a judge ordered her neighbor — who refused to return the pet after agreeing to dog-sit while the owner battled Crohn’s disease — to finally give the pooch back.
Valerie D’Angelo reclaimed her pup, a terrier-mix named Grace, on Wednesday after a Brooklyn Supreme Court ruling granted her full possession.
The ruling came more than three months after neighbor Catherine Feijoo-Nickell offered to dog-sit as D’Angelo recovered from the illness — but then refused to return Grace.
“[Wednesday] was a long day at court, but I always had faith I would get her back,” D’Angelo said. “Lots of friends were very supportive, but to actually have it happen, I don’t even have the word for it. It really made me have hope in life again. Finally, I got something that was really healing and terrific.”
D’Angelo, 65, adopted Grace from Sean Casey Animal Rescue in 2018 as a remedy for the grief and loneliness she experienced after losing her 18-year-old son, who had committed suicide five years earlier.
Courtesy of Ezra Glaser
Valerie D’Angelo filed a suit in Kings County Supreme Court against a neighbor whom she accused of stealing her terrier-mix, Grace. (Courtesy of Ezra Glaser)
It was late last year, when D’Angelo was laid low by seizures and debilitating bowel pain brought on by Crohn’s disease, that Feijoo-Nickell offered to dog-sit while she recuperated, according to the suit. The two women live in the same building in Kensington.
Feijoo-Nickell offered to look after Grace when she learned D’Angelo was about to drop her temporarily at a no-kill shelter.
But about a week after Feijoo-Nickell took Grace, she came to D’Angelo asking for the dog’s papers, saying she was going to taker her to the groomer and that she planned on keeping the pup.
“This woman said to me, ‘You said we’re keeping her.’ I said, ‘No, my words that day were you’re keeping her until I’m better,’” D’Angelo said.
Courtesy of Ezra Glaser
Valerie D’Angelo, left, filed a suit in Kings County Supreme Court against a neighbor whom she accuses of stealing her terrier-mix, Grace (pictured). (Courtesy of Ezra Glaser)
D’Angelo said Feijoo-Nickell proceeded to dodge her calls for about another month before D’Angelo caught her neighbor in the halls and demanded her dog back, to which the defendant replied, “You know, Grace has a different life now,” according to the suit.
“They’ve taken advantage of the fact that I’ve had some issues,” D’Angelo said. “Losing your son, it’s a big issue, but that’s what the dog was for and that’s what makes them so heinous.”
A judge issued a temporary restraining order on March 5 requiring Feijoo-Nickell to surrender Grace to Sean Casey Animal Rescue, where both she and D’Angelo were permitted supervised visits with the pooch as the case wound its way through court.
“I spoke to [Grace] each day at the shelter,” said D’Angelo. “She was licking my face. I cleaned her and brushed her teeth. I stayed for about three hours.”
After Wednesday’s ruling, D’Angelo was able to visit Grace — and take her home this time.
“She was more bouncy,” D’Angelo said. “She must have known she was going home when I came to pick her up.”
Feijoo-Nickell argued in court that D’Angelo gave her the dog and claimed that D’Angelo had planned on abandoning Grace prior to Feijoo-Nickell offering to take the pet in, court documents show.
Kings County Supreme Court Judge Francois Rivera wrote that Feijoo-Nickell offered no evidence to support her argument in his decision to award D’Angelo possession of the dog.
“Nobody should have to go through what Valerie did to get her dog back,” said D’Angelo’s lawyer Ezra Glaser. “I’m glad the court had the dog returned to its rightful owner.”
Feijoo-Nickell did not return messages seeking comment.