Q: if a dog was given as a gift to me as a child can my mom take her away.
All the papers and the chip inside of the dog state her name but I was too young for them to put my name down and I never thought it’d become a legal course taken by my mother to remove the dog from my home that I live in separately with my father. Is there anyway I can protect my dog from being removed and taken to live with her since the dog was a gift to me and I offered to pay her for the cost. What can I do to keep my dog with me
A:
Even though you are a minor you can own property. I can't say that in your situation the dog was given to you and became your property. There are probably two sides to the story. Typically pets are bought as family pets for the entire family even if the family says that the pet is for one particular person. As you describe the situation, the dog was given to you exclusively and is your dog. I doubt it is that simple. One or both of your parents probably helped pay for the care and feeding of the dog. True ownership means being 100% responsible for all related chores and expenses.
Another part of the issue is that you are a minor child. Your parents can give you things and take the things away from you as part of parenting you until you become an adult. Ideally this is done for your safety or for some other reason like to make sure you are doing what you are supposed to be doing, such as doing well in school. So if your mother removed your dog as part of disciplining you she may well be within her rights as a parent.
These are basically educated guesses as this isn't an area I normally practice in, ie determining the property rights of children as against their parents. Probably the best thing to do here is to discuss the situation with your father and let him deal with your mother and be your advocate as to your rights to have the dog. He can file a lawsuit called replevin to get the return of the dog as your guardian ad litem if the dog is truly your property.
If your mom's need to have the dog is emotional, you might want to consider working out a shared custody arrangement where you and your mom both have days to have the dog. The frequency would depend on how close your mother lives to your present location, but if it is really close you could go there and walk the dog every day.
On the other hand, if your mother is taking the dog as a way to manipulate you to spend more time with your mother, this isn't healthy parenting. This needs to be addressed by the family law court through a petition to modify parenting time.
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