Despite a massive national campaign mounted by people who think Tammy Sneath Grimes is a hero, the Blair County woman is headed for a criminal court trial. On Sept. 11, she went into a back yard in East Freedom, unchained a dog and spirited him away. She refuses to return the dog to its owners, who say they want it back.

Thousands of e-mails and phone calls have been sent to Blair County officials, including the police, district judges and the district attorney; to the Central Pennsylvania Humane Society; and to newspapers and radio and television stations. The e-mailers and phone callers want Ms. Grimes to go free. They want the owners of the dog to be arrested for animal cruelty.

Ms. Grimes, 42, of Tipton, admits she took a dog that the owners named Jake. The Web site of her organization, Dogs Deserve Better, shows video of her going to the aid of a frail, thin, old German shepherd-mix that she calls Doogie.

"I will not return him to people who will just abuse him," she told me in a telephone interview last week.

Freedom Township police arrested Ms. Grimes because she does not own the dog and she had no legal right to take him.

A district judge ruled Sept. 21 that there was sufficient evidence for her to stand trial on charges of theft and receiving stolen property. The district attorney dropped charges of trespassing and criminal mischief.

While we all have the right to express our opinions to elected and appointed officials, the enforcement of existing laws is not supposed to be influenced by public opinion.

Ms. Grimes and her supporters have, however, transmitted the message that many people care about animals, and they care passionately.

The main mission of Dogs Deserve Better is a total ban on chaining or tethering dogs.

I've never chained a dog outside 24 hours a day, and neither have my friends or neighbors. It would break my heart to see that. It was a neighbor of Jake's who called Tammy Grimes.

In my neighborhood, I do see tethered dogs. They are well fed, well groomed and I know their owners. The dogs are tethered for 10 to 20 minutes, before their owners go to work and after they get home. The dogs live inside and they are loved.

But their tethering would be illegal under a total ban. My friends and neighbors would cope, but some dog owners would be unwilling or unable to install fences or pens, and some homeowners groups don't allow fences.

Opponents of anti-tethering laws say dogs are turned in to shelters when such laws are passed.

Best Friends, a Utah-based organization with 250,000 members, is proposing a Good Samaritan Law to cover situations such as Jake's.

"If a person has a reasonable belief that an animal is in pain and distress" they could enter property and remove it to take it to a veterinarian, said Russ Mead, general counsel for Best Friends. "It's not a 'get out of jail free' card. You would have to notify the owner and authorities" of your action.

It's not clear to me where the animal goes next under the Good Samaritan scenario, but it sounds as if just about anyone could snatch your pet if they didn't like the way you treated it. It sounds as if Good Samaritans could snatch dogs that are tethered for brief periods of time.

What if the dog in your yard is old and thin and "looks bad," despite good veterinary care? Samaritans could take it.

The laws that protect Jake's owners protect all of us. Jake's owners could have been investigated, and they would have had the chance to present their side of the story. Ms. Grimes snatched the evidence that would be needed to prosecute them.

Would you like to fear that you are putting your own dog in danger by snapping a leash onto his collar for a daily walk? Some of the anti-chaining people think leashes are cruel and that walks on leashes are a form of dog abuse.

This entire topic sounds like good fodder for the regular Pet Tales online-chat from noon to 1 p.m. today. Go to www.post-gazette.com/chat to log in and to see the transcript from the Sept. 21 chat, which included spirited discussion about Jake.