If you want to get some picture of what happened in the courtroom that day, this article is a good summary. It's not over until the trial on Aug. 27th though the return is a good sign.
http://www.yankee-shelties.com/piper-returns-home.html
Piper's condition has not been reported other than what was seen in a few pix as posted from the April exam and a few pix where it is clear she has aged more than even her mother who is obviously older than Piper.
Veronica does report that Piper is absolutely velcro to her and had a good time going to a picnic where she was eager to meet people. That is a good sign psychologically. A good grooming and some vet care for a variety of issues and Piper is looking and feeling much better. Michelle (co-owner) is the one taking the emotional hit on this. She has no animals living with her, has moved twice, and her son is very upset why "his" dogs are with others. It is just sickening to hear what she has been through too.
What can all of us do to prevent this from happening to us?
1. Fence your front yard and back yard and pour concrete mow strips to prevent digging and padlock all gates. OK, may be kind of unreasonable, but certainly never leave them in the yard alone. The days of doggy door and dogs drowsing alone in the yard while family works is long gone.
2. Don't be a breeder because at least part of this is resistance to breeders though others with just pets (non-breeders) have reported the same thing happening.
Maybe more practically . . .
3. If you live alone, esp. if you have health concerns or are elderly, have on your fridge and in your wallet a simple sign/card that says "I have ___ dogs and ___ cats -- contact __________ to take them in case of emergency". This allows EMT's and social workers to authorize that person to take the animals. I have heard multiple stories of single people being hospitalized, the animals sent to a shelter, the animals adopted, and they were never gotten back. My mom, in a senior's class, was told to hang pet info and medicine info on the fridge. EMT's look at the fridge for this, apparently.
4. Have your dog wear collars and tags. Rolled collars and breakaway or stretchy collars certainly manage the tangle concern and the choking concern. If there had been a collar and tag on Piper, esp. considering she was staying with a stranger while they were at Nationals, the shelter would have called and it would have been done right away.
5. Chip your dog with a major brand that participates in the lookup website database AND make sure that is kept updated. This was another problem. They found Piper's chip but could only call the vet. If the database in Piper's case had shown multiple call #'s and an emergency back up # it would have gone much smoother.
6. Have on your phone pictures of your animal over time, with family, multiple settings so you can show proof on the spot at any moment. If you use Home Again, you can also get a wallet card with a picture and all the chip info. printed on it.
7. Have a binder with all of your dogs' info from papers, adoption, purchase, vet records, genetic testing, etc. This way you can instantly grab and prove without a doubt you own the dog and you have cared well for it. Who wants to be scrambling in files and drawers for papers when your dog is sitting in animal control?
When the Piper case started last Spring, and again when all this trial stuff surfaced, I immediately made sure my dogs had on their collar three tags, regular info, microchip info, and our county license. Three forms of ID right there. Then I updated my dogs. Two are 24 hour Petwatch and 1 is Home Again. I entered all three in each database. 24-Hour Petwatch did not show up in the one-stop microchip lookup database though they do now. I included an entry for my Mom who will take the dogs no questions asked if something happens. This site is
http://www.petmicrochiplookup.org. Then I pulled together a file of pictures of each dog and transferred to the phone and my husband's phone. I have always kept a binder with a section for each animal going back to when I first was showing cats because we had to take records with us in case of issue. THIS is how everyone can protect your own pets.
I know I keep saying this on this thread, but as new people pick up the story this is vital. I have triggered a lot people, people who have even followed the story, to go into the database and update their chip, to get prepared for an emergency, to (gasp) put collars and tags on their dogs. What's that saying . . . an ounce of prevention?
Another thing, if you can, donate to the Bring Piper Home site. Veronica and Michelle's battle sets precedents for us all. If everyone helped with just small amounts we could protect everyone's pets. We all NEED to win this case.
However, what you said is correct. On the Bring Piper Home Facebook page, all that was shown is as described. No other information was given out. So unfortunately we don't know how much damage was truly done.