![](\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/dog-fight-3-1.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=300)
<\/p>\nanimal custody
\n<\/h3>\n
Bad to the bone: NYC pup allegedly dognapped twice by owner’s ex-lovers
\n<\/h2>\n
Woman loses custody battle for ex’s dog, still vows to ‘bring Honey home’
\n<\/h2>\n
Woman ordered to share custody of her dog with neighbor: suit
\n<\/h2>\n
Execs who appeared in ‘Trainwreck’ at war in dog custody battle
\n<\/h2>\n
Barry Myrick is barking mad.<\/p>\n
The pest-control professional is in a fight with his former employer, M&M Environmental in Queens, over his loyal partner \u2014 a bedbug-sniffing pit bull mix named Roxy.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s my best friend,\u201d said Myrick, who even has a tattoo of Roxy on his leg. \u201cI committed to her long ago, and nothing\u2019s going to come between me and her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Myrick, 37, had worked with Roxy for four years, inspecting commercial and residential properties, before he was laid off from the company in March.<\/p>\n
Although the dog had been provided by M&M, which covered her food and veterinary bills, she\u2019s lived with Myrick and his wife, \u00adJoana, since he fetched Roxy from a dog-training facility in Florida. (M&M paid for her training.)<\/p>\n
The pair have been inseparable \u2014 enjoying hiking trips to Bear Mountain and vacations in Woodstock \u2014 ever since. \u201cShe\u2019s a part of our family. This is the closest to kids we\u2019ll have,\u201d said Myrick, who doesn\u2019t plan to have children.<\/p>\n
But things turned ruff when, not long after the pandemic started, he chose to be laid off rather than pivot and work for M&M as a COVID cleaner without Roxy. He returned his company vehicle, credit cards and equipment, but not his pup partner \u2014 explaining that a manager had said to him, \u201cYou\u2019re going to keep Roxy, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
On June 25, M&M sent a letter to Myrick calling the dog \u201ccompany property\u201d and demanding that she be returned immediately. When Myrick refused, M&M pursued legal action, reporting that Roxy was stolen and leading the Queens District Attorney\u2019s Office to slap Myrick with charges of grand \u00adlarceny.<\/p>\n
Still refusing to give up Roxy, Myrick in August surrendered to the NYPD. \u201cI spent 15 hours in jail. I wouldn\u2019t wish that on my worst enemy,\u201d said Myrick, who shared a cell with some 20 others. \u201cThe stories I heard were unreal \u2014 someone beat their stepdad with a baseball bat. I couldn\u2019t tell anyone I was there for a puppy.\u201d<\/p>\n
M&M told The Post, in a statement, that the company always intended to rehire Myrick and that managers expected he would return to work by June.<\/p>\n
But Myrick had moved from Brooklyn to Philadelphia in May, and says he would not have left the city if he believed he would get his job back.<\/p>\n
He admitted to The Post that in 2016, he signed a contract that \u201csaid that if I were to be terminated or if I were no longer working there, I would have to return Roxy.\u201d But he alleged that M&M forfeited its claim to her when the company laid him off and didn\u2019t ask for her back.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they left the dog with him in March, [M&M] made no arrangement … to get the dog or pay for the dog in the interim,\u201d said Myrick\u2019s lawyer, William J. Kurtz.<\/p>\n
For now, a Queens judge \u2014 citing prior divorce-case custody rulings \u2014 is letting Myrick keep Roxy until the case is settled. M&M, however, said Roxy is a working dog and this is a case of ownership, not custody.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/dog-fight-2.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=300)
M&M lawyer Gary Port said that, per the 2016 contract, the company owns Roxy and noted that training a dog like her can cost $15,000. \u201cMy client did not give this guy a gift of $15,000.\u201d<\/p>\n
Port added that allowing Myrick to keep Roxy would set a dangerous precedent: \u201cMaybe he is attached to Roxy \u2014 maybe he wants to set up his own business.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the last thing I\u2019m thinking about,\u201d retorted Myrick, who\u2019s currently collecting unemployment, adding that he understood the company\u2019s concerns. \u201cMy only concern is to not be separated from her. I\u2019m not starting a competing business in a pandemic with no money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Myrick insists that Roxy, who came from a troubled background, wouldn\u2019t bond with another trainer. \u201cShe\u2019s not a golden retriever who will be happy-go-lucky with just anyone,\u201d he said. \u201cShe has eyes for no one else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Loved ones have tried to convince him to walk away. \u201cMy family said, \u2018Give the dog back, you\u2019ll get another one,\u2019\u2009\u201d recalled a defiant Myrick. \u201cBut I\u2019ve emptied out my bank account, spent time in jail .\u2009.\u2009. what else can they throw at me? I\u2019ll fight this to the end.\u201d<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/01\/dog-fight-4.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=300)