Cheryl Burke says it is "cruel" to put her dog through a custody battle.

The 38-year-old dancer finalised her divorced from 'Boy Meets World' actor Matthew Lawrence last month but explained it was "really sad" that the pair were having to fight over their French Bulldog Ysbaella and insisted that the pooch was given to her as a gift in the first place.

She told ETOnline: "Oh, I'm gonna cry. It's just really sad, you know. It sucks because, for me, it's just cruel. She's my dog, and it was a gift from my ex, and I hope that this soon, you know, dies down, and he calls it off. Because you're taking, like, my daughter away from me."

Her comments come just days after the 'Dancing with the Stars' professional - who tied the knot with Matthew in 2019 after over a decade of dating but split from him in February 2022 - admitted there is potentially a trial ahead for the pair over who gets to care for their "daughter dog.

She said: "It's still not over because we have to maybe go to trial — well, we are going to go to trial, unless [Lawrence] all of the sudden calls it off. That will happen in January. I'm still just really hurt by the whole situation. That's my dog. Ysabella is my daughter; I'm a dog mom, and that's it. I couldn't even imagine my life — I mean, I could just cry right now. But I couldn't imagine my life without her.”