The handling of a situation involving a loose dog has a Farrell family upset and without their pet.

But according to the dog warden at the Shenango Valley Animal Shelter in Hermitage, the shelter staff's handling of the situation was routine.

Last Thursday morning, Rusty, a 1 1/2-year-old German shepherd/chow mix owned by Cecile Hannibal of Wallis Avenue got loose from its chain and jumped its owner's fence.

Ms. Hannibal was at work, her 18-year-old daughter Tiffany was in school and her 84-year-old mother Louise Harry was unable to catch the dog.

In the meantime, the shelter and Southwest Mercer County Regional police were alerted that a dog belonging to the Hannibals' neighbor was chasing people.

Dog warden Kathy Whiteman said when she responded to the call and cited the neighbor for letting a dog run loose, she was cornered by a shepherd/chow in the yard.

"It was coming at me and growling and barking like it was going to attack. I only had my notebook for protection," she said.

When Ms. Whiteman learned the dog belonged to the Hannibals, she said she told Ms. Harry that she needed to get the dog under control and get it chained. She also told her the family would be cited for letting a dog run loose.

"She said she couldn't catch it and couldn't control it," said Ms. Whiteman, adding that the neighbor came out and chained the dog for Ms. Harry.

"My mother is 84 years old. How could anyone expect her to catch the dog?" Ms. Hannibal said of Ms. Harry. "She had called me at work, but I couldn't leave, so I knew I would deal with it when I got home." Ms. Hannibal claimed it was the first time Rusty had gotten loose.

When Ms. Hannibal came home from work at 3 p.m., she said, Rusty had gotten loose again, but her daughter Tiffany again had tied him.

That's when, she said, animal shelter staff showed up behind her home and told her she was going to be cited for letting a dog run loose and for not having the dog licensed. Rusty's license expired Dec. 31, she said.

"They jumped out of their van like they were getting ready to arrest me," Ms. Hannibal said. "Even though we had the dog tied up at that point, they said they were still going to give me a fine because the dog was running loose."

"I said, What do you want me to do? My mom is a senior citizen, my daughter was in school, I just got off work. This was the first time the dog jumped the fence," she said.

"They started getting irritated with me. The man kept saying, You can't handle the dog, you might as well sign it over." The man was assistant dog warden David Brown.

Ms. Hannibal claimed she offered to keep the dog in the garage, but the shelter staff kept badgering her to sign it over.

Ms. Whiteman countered that staffers asked Ms. Hannibal to put Rusty in the garage, but she didn't agree.

"I was so upset. I wasn't thinking at the time. It happened so fast. They kept saying I would have $600 in fines, and that they could lock me up if they had to come back," Ms. Hannibal said.

She did not get cited when she signed over the dog.

"She was protecting the public when she signed over the dog," Ms. Whiteman said.

The dog was put to sleep in the gas chamber that afternoon.

Tiffany's father went to the animal shelter the next morning to see if he could get the dog, and that's when the family learned its pet had been euthanized.

Ms. Whiteman said animals that may be aggressive and are signed over to the shelter are routinely put down. In such cases, shelter staff are not bound by a waiting period, she said.

But members of the Hannibal family think theirs was a case of much ado about nothing. They also claim Rusty was friendly and liked to jump on people.

"I'm paying my tax dollars for two police cruisers and the dog warden to pull up to my gate over a dog when there are strays roaming everywhere," Ms. Hannibal said.

"Why are they making such a big deal about a dog that's not a stray, a dog we take care of, a dog that just got loose once?" she asked.