A judge ordered Grace Saenz-Lopez, the ex-mayor of Alice, Texas, to return a Shih Tzu dog that she had illegally kept since its owners asked her to care for it while they were on vacation.

The case caused Grace Saenz-Lopez to lose her job, as she had to resign as mayor on February 1, after the dog scandal started growing and causing controversy.

After a lawsuit that included testimony about flea infestation and degrees of house-brokenness, State District Judge Richard Terrell admonished both sides for “making a big deal” out of a case involving dognapping. He also scolded the two lawyers for not taking the case to small claims court.

"I can't tell you what a spectacle this has been and the multitude of jokes that I've had to hear," Terrell said, as quoted by the Houston Chronicle. "A lot of this is just plain, flat ridiculous," he added.

The strange puppy story started when the Gutierrez family left on vacation and asked Saenz-Lopez take care of their puppy, Puddles. When they called Lopez to ask about the dog, she told them it had died, but three months later, a relative of the Gutierrez family saw the dog, renamed Panchito, and informed its owners. As the former mayor refused to return the dog, the Gutierrez family filed a criminal complaint and a civil lawsuit.

Lopez claimed that the only reason she had stolen the dog for was to save its life, as it was not properly taken care of, but the dog’s owners were outraged to hear her declarations.

The judge had an understanding attitude towards Mrs. Lopez, as he knew she was an animal lover, but he declared her gesture illegal.

"I've known you to be a big-hearted person. You tried to rescue all the feral cats in my office," he told Saenz.

"Regardless of how big-hearted you are, or how attached you became to that dog, you had no legal right to (keep) it," he said.

The dog has now returned to its rightful owners, while Saenz-Lopez still faces two felony counts of tampering with evidence and concealing with evidence.