— A Raleigh woman who took a dog to the Wake County Animal Shelter last month after finding it in the street said Thursday she is dumbfounded by the accusation that she stole the animal.

Kathryn Nilsson, 24, was charged Aug. 28 with larceny of a dog. She was in court Thursday for an initial appearance, but the case was continued to Oct. 1.

About 20 supporters joined Nilsson at the courthouse, including family, friends and clients of her dog-training business. All said they don't understand why she was charged with a crime after she found a German shepherd mix running in the street near Glenwood Avenue in the Five Points neighborhood.

Nilsson said she knocked on doors and tried to find the dog's owner but was not successful. So, she took the animal to the county animal shelter, where she sometimes volunteers, and gave staff there her name and contact information.

"I didn't want the dog to get hit by a car or anything like that, and I felt like the shelter was a place where that wasn't going to happen to her," Nilsson said Thursday.

A few hours later, Raleigh police connected the dog with its owner and charged Nilsson.

"It is unusual when someone is trying to help and then gets charged. It does happen," said her attorney, Ben Brown.

Joanna Pittman, who owns the dog, said Thursday that she just wanted her dog back and never wanted anyone to be charged or go to jail in the situation.

"I hate that any of this happened," Pittman said, adding that she asked police not to press charges after she got the dog back.

She said she had called police after her neighbors told her someone stole her dog, and officers took it from there.

"That was not my decision. That was completely out of my hands," she said. "I hate it for her."

The Wake County District Attorney's Office didn't respond to a request for comment Thursday, but a Raleigh Police Department spokeswoman said Friday that a magistrate "found sufficient facts to establish probable cause" to charge Nilsson. The department doesn't release facts of a pending case," she added.

Jared Kramer said Nilsson trained his golden retriever, and he called her "amazing when it comes to dogs."

"She’s patient as can be with dogs and people. This is just a big surprise ," Kramer said. "I’m still not sure how this came to any sort of criminality. I have no clue how charges or anything – this makes no sense to me."

"We’re just going to let it play out, and hopefully it will get resolved," Nilsson said. "It’s been really difficult. I’m just trying to take it day by day – cope."