Doggie Heir Comes Out of New Court Fight Unmarked

A dog named Master Teddy who inherited his owner’s $102,000 house and fought off her relatives in a courtroom wrangle won another legal round today--this time to save his hide from the tattooer’s needle.

When Celeste V. Crawford died in 1984, her will said Teddy could live in her Silver Spring home for the rest of his life, with a friend of hers allowed to live there to look after the dog.

Her relatives first went to court because they did not want to wait for the 13-year-old dog’s death, but a judge ruled they cannot inherit and divvy up proceeds from the house’s sale until Teddy dies.

Fearing another white spitz could be substituted for Teddy, the six heirs this month sought to have a judge order a veterinarian to tattoo Teddy’s hind leg.

The heirs said the tattoo would positively identify the dog’s body and serve as a safeguard against possible dognaping.

Today, just as a hearing on their new dispute was to begin, lawyers for both sides reached an out-of-court settlement that would enable the dog to be identified after its death without a tattoo through veterinarian’s X-rays and photographs.