ROCKY MOUNT- Animal rights groups usually are in the business of finding homes for abandoned animals, but on Friday leaders of the Franklin County Humane Society stood before a judge to explain why they would not permit a woman to take home a dog she says she lost two months ago.

Crystal Carpenter, who lives in Boones Mills, brought the humane society to court Friday, demanding that the staff return her dog, Coby. But a lawyer for the society, which is also known as the Planned Pethood Clinic, said Carpenter could not prove that the boxer mix dog was hers and that after five days an abandoned animal becomes the property of the shelter or pound that is holding it.

Carpenter said Coby had been missing for more than a month.

Judge George Jones, of Franklin County District Court, ordered the society to return the animal. If the dog isn't returned in 10 days the society will have to pay $500. The society is considering appealing the case.

"I think you all are playing games here," Jones said. "I don't think that's right. It's her dog."

After the white-footed, floppy-eared dog disappeared from her porch June 4, Carpenter said she called the pound, checked a Web site called PetFinder.com and reported her dog stolen to police. She had no luck locating the pooch.

Shortly after Carpenter's dog disappeared, a woman found a boxer 15 miles from Carpenter's home and brought it to Planned Pethood on U.S. 220. Tammy Javier, who is on the board of directors of the humane society, said the staff contacted the pound, posted information but not a picture on PetFinder.com, and placed three ads in The Roanoke Times in July. When she couldn't find the owner, Javier said, she gave the dog its shots and neutered him at the animal clinic. Then, she posted a photo of him on PetFinder.com with the plan of finding someone to adopt him.

That's when a relieved Carpenter saw the PetFinder posting and called the clinic. She said the woman who answered the phone was very enthusiastic, took her name and told her to come by later that day. But when Carpenter arrived on July 15, they refused to give her the dog unless she paid them, she said. Carpenter said she thinks Javier did not want to return the dog when she found out who the owner was because she and Javier had a dispute about a horse several years ago. Javier is a court-appointed humane investigator for Franklin County.

Javier said she told Carpenter she would have to pay $375 to cover shots, neutering and boarding while the dog was missing. According to Javier, that is cheaper than it would have been to board the dog at another facility.

Carpenter said the fees were outrageous, especially because she said that if Javier had brought Coby to the Franklin County pound in the first place, she would have found him right away.

Javier also said she didn't want to return the dog because Carpenter did not have a rabies certificate or license for him. Although Carpenter brought photos, a lawyer representing the humane society said Coby did not have freckles on his chest like the boxer he said a Planned Pethood staff member is taking care of at her home.

Javier said she was also concerned that the dog did not seem to recognize Carpenter immediately. Carpenter said that because so much time had passed, it took Coby a few minutes, but that he eventually started licking her and jumping at her feet.

Carpenter said she drove to North Carolina to adopt Coby so her daughter, Kasey Lynn Carpenter, would have a companion.

"He is the best thing for my 5-year-old ever," Carpenter said.

Carpenter said Javier later told her that instead of paying $375 she could adopt the dog by signing a contract and paying $75. Carpenter said she did not want to do that because the contract said the society could repossess the animal.

Carpenter said she was also upset that the dog was neutered.

On Friday, Javier commented through her lawyer, but in an earlier interview she said she and her staff were not convinced that Carpenter would give the dog a good home.

"We're hoping that we do not have to give the dog back because we're concerned about the welfare of this dog," she said.

The society's lawyer, Tony Russell, stressed that the dispute had nothing to do with Carpenter and Javier's previous disagreement. He repeatedly mentioned the Virginia statute that makes abandoned animals property of shelters, but Judge Jones called the claim "legal fiction."

"There's no ambiguity in those statutes," Russell said. "They were passed for a reason."