A 70-year-old disabled woman thought she was doing the right thing by letting her dog walk free down the street while she followed it in her car.

Madison police didn't agree.

The woman was cited for permitting her dog to run at large, after an officer stopped her car at about 1 p.m. Monday in the 2100 block of East Mifflin Street.

When she stopped to let the officer talk to her, the little white dog jumped up on to her lap as she opened the car door.

Police were clued in to the woman's routine when neighbors started complaining that the woman was letting her dog run free while slowly following it in her car.

"At the time of the complaints, the officer tried, without success, to contact the pet owner," said police spokesman Joel DeSpain. "Now, after seeing the little white dog strolling down East Mifflin with a car following close behind, it rang a bell and he had the chance to talk to her."

The woman tried to explain to the officer that she's disabled and that is why she walked her dog in the fashion that she does.