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Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Sharing custody of a pet after a breakup is a major new-relationship red flag.

So, a while ago, I met a guy who, six months prior, had broken up with his girlfriend of four years. He and his ex had two dogs, both of which were acquired during their relationship. The two of them shared custody of the dogs, meeting up to trade the dogs once a week. We dated for a few months, and I ended up breaking up with him for a variety of reasons, one of which (not the major reason, but definitely one of them) was this shared-custody dog arrangement.

I think sharing custody of a pet is a bizarre and unhealthy thing to do for several reasons:

* First, I think moving between homes so often is unhealthy for the pet.  Pets need a stable environment and the inconsistency of moving around so often is hard for them to understand.  Consequently, they act out.  His dogs certainly did; they were noticeably unsettled/destructive/anxious when they were coming back or preparing to leave.

* Second, I think it is weird for an person without children to commit to sharing a pet with an ex for the duration of that pet's life - essentially, treating the pet as indistinguishable from a child.  With a young dog, we're talking ten-plus years of the ex being a constant presence in the other person's life.  One of the pluses of dating a person without children is that they have no children.  Of course, we love our pets, but they are not children.

* Third, there is a flavor of codependency attendant to arrangements like this - sustaining a pattern of behavior that has negative consequences for all people/pets involved (the pet, as discussed above, and the exes, who have to keep in relatively close contact with one another *right away* after the breakup to manage the arrangement), rather than doing the emotionally difficult but more mature thing: determining who gets to keep the pet.  Rather than having a clean breakup and moving on, sharing custody of a pet keeps the exes mired in the past. (Ask me how I know!)

All are big red flags for a person who is considering a relationship with one of the exes, as all reveal tendencies toward unhealthy attachment and immaturity.

CMV.
gpt
I think the fact that he is willing to at least communicate with his ex about something like this is a good thing. In his mind, he probably thinks that the dogs benefit from consistently seeing both of their owners, so he is able to put his differences with his ex aside for the good of the dogs.