GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Michigan veterinarian who said she rescued a distressed dog that was tied to a truck is facing a theft charge after failing to return him to a homeless man.

Amanda Hergenreder took the dog on a two-hour drive to her clinic, where she performed procedures to relieve a severe urinary tract infection and remove a rotten tooth. She named him Biggby and says the 16-year-old pit bull mix is thriving nearly four months later.

But the Kent County prosecutor said Biggby belongs to Chris Hamilton, who lately lacks a permanent home in the Grand Rapids area and claims ownership of a dog known to him as his beloved Vinny.

“I just want my dog back,” Hamilton, 57, told WOOD-TV. “I had my dog 15 years. Never neglected him and, you know, we loved each other. I mean, I felt like I lost part of my body after that. Never felt the same after losing him.”

Prosecutor Chris Becker said it is a simple case of larceny, a misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of 93 days in jail. Jury selection for a future trial is scheduled for March 6.

“You don’t have a right to just take something because you feel something’s wrong. … People have a very big attachment to their animals,” Becker told the TV station. “No matter where you are in life, what your stature is in life, be it rich, poor, whatever it is, this is something that’s important to an individual.”

Hergenreder said she was in Grand Rapids in November for a professional conference when she saw the dog tied to a truck near a Biggby coffee shop. There is no dispute that she called the police department and animal shelter and also talked to a shop employee.

“No energy, very lethargic,” Hergenreder said of the dog. “We carried him to our vehicle. It was just very sad.”

Hergenreder said she performed medical procedures at her clinic worth $3,000. She said he runs and plays at her home, adding that she is “starting to slowly see the light come back in his eyes.”

Hamilton acknowledged that he tied the dog to the truck while he walked to a gas station. He said when he returned, about 45 minutes later, coffee shop employees told him “some lady in a van came and took my dog, snipped the rope.”

Hergenreder’s attorney, Miles Greengard, is offering a vigorous defense of the veterinarian. He said she fears the dog won’t get the attention he needs in old age if she gives him up.

“Mr. Hamilton didn’t even take such basic steps as licensing the dog,” Greengard told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “Now he expects a benevolent doctor to give Biggby the medical treatment he’s been denied and needs moving forward, and then give the dog back?

“I think it’s an unfortunate situation all the way around,” Greengard said. “But I’m glad Biggby is living his best life.”

Spotting a dog struggling to stay afloat in a icy Vermont River, Chris MacRitchie never hesitated.

He jumped into the frigid waters and waded over to the dog, gently pulling it ashore where his wife, Erica, draped it with a sweatshirt. The dramatic rescue of the dog Friday afternoon in Berlin, Vermont, was caught on video by his son and has been shared widely on social media.

MacRitchie’s son, Ace, first spotted the dog as they were going through the drive-thru of a nearby Dunkin’ Donuts. When they reached the river embankment, the father of two felt he had no choice but to save the pooch.

“It was like one of those moments everyone probably has in their life like you’re going to make a decision … either trying to get in the water and help her or the alternative,” MacRitchie said. “So, I felt I was obligated to at least try to fetch this dog out of the river, as I have two dogs myself, and I would hope someone would do that for them if they were in that spot.”

The video shows MacRitchie — dressed in a T-shirt, sweats and boots — approaching the river embankment as the dog struggles to get out. He calls out to the dog at first and his wife, Erica, can be heard encouraging him to rescue it.

MacRitchie gingerly steps through the ice and into the river, audibly gasping as he wades about 20-feet toward the dog, which was on the other side of the frozen tributary of the Winooski River. His wife repeatedly shouts “c’mon” to the dog and exclaims “Oh, my God” as MacRitchie lifts the dog, later identified as Arizona, out of the water and onto the icy embankment. He carries it over to his wife.

“The only real stress I had about it wasn’t getting in the cold water. It was the depth. I did not know if it was 20 feet deep or it was 2 feet deep,” MacRitchie said. “When I broke through and I got on my feet and it was like waist high, I was actually relieved by that. In my mind, during the moment, I thought, OK this isn’t that bad. Yeah, it’s cold, but I feel this is a very doable situation.”

After retrieving the dog, MacRitchie called the dog’s owner, Morgan Cerasoli, whose number was listed on the dog tag.

Cerasoli said she had been looking for her dog, a seven-year-old mutt who had originally been rescued from the side of the road in South Carolina, since Thursday. She was heading to pick up her daughter from school, when she got the call from MacRitchie who said he had “pulled a drowning dog” out of the river.” He wanted to confirm it was her dog.

“I started crying, and I told him, oh, my God, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you. Let me pull a U-turn and I’m coming right back,” she said, as she sat besides Arizona during an interview. She said the dog has mostly recovered, though a checkup did find it was suffering from Lyme disease.

After reuniting with her dog, Cerasoli said she saw the video and was brought to tears again — over MacRitchie’s exploits as well as the poor condition of Arizona in that moment.

“It’s brave, it’s selfless, it’s commendable. It’s everything that I think that we were on this Earth to be,” she said of the rescue. “Sometimes it feels like that’s very rare these days.”