A local woman says one of the most well-known dog advocates in the area won't return her beloved pet.

He said she's not a good pet owner, the NBC 10 Investigators' Lu Ann Cahn reported.

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The woman said at first she was so relieved to find out her lost dog was in the hands of such a fine animal advocate. Now, she is fighting him to get her dog back.

Twelve-year-old Sarge opens his own Christmas presents, likes dress-up parties and sometimes gets in trouble when he picks up things that don't belong to him.

He has been part of the Joyce home since he was 6 weeks old. But he wasn't home Friday.

"I wake up in the middle of the night and pray about my dog and this man who has kept him from us. I don't know what else to do," Susan Joyce said.

"After 48 hours, in the state of Pennsylvania, the dog is legally ours," said Bill Smith, who you might recognize. He was recently on Oprah, single-handedly convincing her to investigate Pennsylvania puppy mills.

Smith runs the Main Line Animal Rescue near Phoenixville. That's where Sarge has been for over two weeks. NBC 10 was not allowed to see him.

"We return strays all the time but, in this case, she couldn't give us any kind of assurances that the dog wouldn't be run over by a car because the dog apparently had just been hit by a car," Smith said.

Joyce said a car hit Sarge in October in front of her Roxborough house, and she's still paying the $5,000 bill to repair his hip. On April 2, she said he left the yard.

Joyce admits she has not been the perfect dog owner. He didn't have a chain or collar. She said she reported him missing everywhere she could think. Days later she put up fliers. And she found out Sarge was taken to the animal rescue.

But Smith wouldn't release him.

"I've learned my mistake, but I don't think that it should cost me my dog that I've cared for for 12 years, that was a huge part of our family. I don't think this man has any right to keep him from us any longer," Joyce said.

"The dog clearly shows signs of neglect. The next day we heard from her attorney," Smith said.

"Even if what Bill Smith were saying is true, and it's not, he has no right to confiscate her dog for two weeks and not return it," said Debra Valenti-Epstein, Joyce's attorney.

Joyce's attorney said her client has proof from the SPCA and Pennsylvania Animal Control that she reported the dog missing the day he disappeared. And so Smith does not own the dog.

"I've know that family for many, many years," Valenti-Epstein said. "It happens. She's human; he's a dog."

"It's not an unreasonable thing for people who spend this much money on the animal to expect the owner to keep it safe after they give it back," Smith said.

He said his rescue has spent over $2,000 in veterinary bills on the dog to neuter, vaccinate him and treat him for Lyme disease. He said he would give the dog back if Sarge's owner would change her ways.

She said she has bought a new chain and tag, but said Smith has no legal right to make demands.

"I'm not going to give up. He's wrong and he needs to return my dog," Joyce said.

Both sides now have attorneys. The Joyce family is threatening to sue.

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