Posted: November 20, 2008, 5 a.m. EST
A Playboy playmate and her estranged husband are locked in a custody battle over a Chihuahua named Bonnie.
Joshua R. Lang claims the dog belongs to him, and has asked a California judge to order March 2008 Playmate Ida Ljungqvist to return the dog, whom Lang says he bought in February, or allow him visitation with the dog during alternating weeks.
In a sworn declaration, Lang says he has spent “an enormous amount of attorneys’ fees on this issue” because he believes the cause is worthwhile.
“I love Bonnie and miss her tremendously,” his declaration says. “She is like my child and I want to have her returned to me, or in the very least I want to exercise custody of her.”
Ljungqvist’s lawyer, Jeffrey S. Helfer, countered that his client received the dog as a gift during difficult times between the couple and has no intention of returning the dog.
“For her to return the gift will not happen,” Helfer wrote in a letter to Lang’s attorney.
Lang dismissed Ljungqvist’s claims in papers filed with the Santa Monica Superior Court. “At no time did I tell Ida that Bonnie was a gift for her,” Lang says.