My dog Zoee is temporarily staying with my mom while her knee heals. We all know that could take up to a whole year. Just the other day we were discussing this and my mom said (jokingly...I hope) "after a year, she's my dog". And I had just been thinking about it that day before. (She's not going to want to give her back.)
I do visit her as often as I can. They live over an hour away from me, so it's not too often. I pay for everything......food, grooming, vet costs. But hopefully it will be less than a year. 2.5 years is a LONG time. I couldn't handle not having her with me that long. The past 7 weeks have been hard enough.

My questions for the person you are posting about is.......who paid for the care of the dog for 2.5 years? Did the "owners" come visit? I honestly can't give an opinion since every situation is different. AND the fact that I am sort of in a similar situation.