Actually, we don't; you have no idea what that woman told this man when she went to that shelter.
That's what I'm wondering too.
She *may* have lead him to believe that she'd be "fostering" the dog until he found a place to live.
That's the point I keep trying to make, regarding the -other- rescue groups who doing that very thing, legitimately and honestly.
We have no way of knowing this man's general intellect or level of experience with legalese.
He may have, in good faith, surrendered the dog to someone he *thought* would return it in the future.
Another poster had a good point, too.
She may be waiting until the "ransom" for the dog's return hits a higher amount.
It's already up to what...$2000 or so plus another purebred "replacement" dog?
People do spectularly evil things all the time.
A poor and elderly man who lived across the ridge from me had nothing left in his life except a herd of much loved and pampered pet goats.
A "city" guy down the pike showed up one day with an "official" notice that the goats were to be surrendered to him upon orders of the SPCA.
The elderly man wept unashamedly as his "kids" were loaded up and hauled away.
The paper looked "real" and his ability to discern the validity of it was very limited, at best.
[he was in his late 80s, had very little education and had been a poor subsistence farmer/hillbilly all his life]
Not long after, it was discovered that the SPCA had issued no such order, nor were they even aware of the man or his goats.
By the time this was discovered, it was too late.
The ersatz "official" had already taken all the goats to the local livestock auction where they were sold for slaughter, netting him a hefty profit.
The elderly man died alone and heartbroken, soon after.
Never overestimate the understanding of the simple common man or underestimate the guile of those who would seek to deceive them.
In this era of computers and printers, "offical documents" can be created on a whim.
That collabrative statement and possesion of the property -- for a dog is property, chattel -- would give the benefit of any doubt of the verbal contract to the woman now holding the dog, imo.